Expelled From Paradise (Rewritten)
Expelled from Paradise
Amber had made her decision.
She was going to tell them everything.
She was going to confess to Sunset and Pyrrha, to Jaune and Ruby, she was going to confess to all of them. She was going to do what Dove had suggested and trust in the fact that they were good people, kind people, people who cared about her.
People who would forgive her.
They would forgive her because … because that was who they were. That was who they were, and that was all there was to it.
She was still a little nervous as she waited in Team RSPT’s dorm room, but at the same time … the ice in her stomach had begun to melt; it felt warmer down there now, and less unpleasant.
She simply awaited the return of her friends to admit the mistake that she had made.
She would tell them everything, they would forgive her, and then … then they would deal with Bon Bon and Tempest Shadow, she supposed. They would get locked away with Cinder, and then … then something would happen to them after that, she supposed, although she didn’t know what.
Whatever it was … they would be out of her way.
All of Salem’s followers would be out of her way.
And then … and then everything would be alright. Everything would be alright, and everyone would be safe, and … and then, she would have to say goodbye to those good, kind people, and go into hiding with only Dove for company.
Of course, she would have always had to say goodbye to her friends and go into hiding with only Dove for company, no matter what choice she made. At least this way, she got to actually say goodbye and leave them behind on good terms.
As opposed to them hating her for what she’d done because they were too brave to understand.
This had not been an easy decision for Amber. It had not been an obvious decision for her to make — obviously not, or she wouldn’t have made the opposite choice before now — because … because she wasn’t her friends; she couldn’t just do the right thing, no matter, no matter how hard the path or how dangerous the road.
She had to judge on what the choice meant for her safety, for the safety of others too — at least, she tried to keep that in mind — and for her, difficulty and danger were more likely to put her off a road than anything else.
It had been a difficult choice. The considerations were … finely balanced. Because of course, if she told her new friends everything, if she betrayed Bon Bon and Tempest, then … then Salem would keep coming after her. She really would have to hide, then; it wouldn’t just be a case of avoiding Ozpin and Sunset and all the rest, it would be a case of hiding in some dark place, isolated and alone, she and Dove constantly looking over their shoulders for Salem’s next agent come to claim the Maiden’s powers.
That was a worry. That was a worry that had been on her mind, but against that worry was the fact that … that they had protected her, her friends, they had fought for her, and they had won, while Salem’s people who had promised to do the same had been shown to be pretty pathetic by comparison.
While her friends had saved her, for the second time, after Sunset had saved her life and brought her back. That … that earned them something, that made them … it made them seem, at this moment, the more trustworthy side to choose.
Certainly, they were the side who — Ozpin aside — didn’t want to use her for anything.
And they would forgive her; if she had thought that they would not, that her behaviour would be punished by them, she wouldn’t have been able to say anything. Fear would have tied up her tongue, and worse — she still hadn’t told Tempest and Bon Bon what she had decided; until she actually spoke to Sunset and the others, her options were, in theory, open.
Not that she was likely to change her mind. She had made her decision.
And it was a decision that pleased Dove too.
Amber felt ashamed to admit it, but it turned out that she had missed the tension that had been in Dove since she had made her bargain with Bon Bon and, through her, with Tempest and with Salem. She felt sure that that wasn’t entirely her fault — it couldn’t have been easy finding out that Bon Bon had been lying to him all this time — but nevertheless, since she had made her decision, it seemed that that tension had drained out of him. He looked so relaxed now, as he lay with his head in her lap — they were both on Penny’s bed, Penny not being here, Amber kneeling upon it, with her skirt spread out around her, falling off the bed on both sides; Dove lay lengthwise, his head resting upon Amber’s lap, and even as she thought, even as her thoughts carried her far away to the cliff edge to look for Team SAPR’s return, Amber’s hand idly stroked at his face and played with his hair where his fringe covered his forehead.
And Dove smiled up at her, his blue eyes sparkling.
He thought that she was making the right decision. He didn’t have any doubts at all. The fact that he had been willing to stand at her side even though he thought that she was making the wrong decision made her love him even more, appreciate him even more, but now … she was glad that she was making a decision that made him happy.
She didn’t want him to be sad on her account.
And Bon Bon deserved to be punished for lying to him, for lying to someone so good.
Amber hoped that they did something harsh and terrible to her for that. Dove had trusted her, clung to her in Amber’s absence, and she had betrayed him.
It’s alright, Dove. I’m here now, and I won’t leave you again.
She wondered … it was probably, certainly — almost certainly at least — unlikely that they would still want to take her to visit Mistral now; there would probably be some price for what she had done, for the lies that she had told, for the way that…
The way that she had betrayed them, just like Bon Bon had betrayed Dove.
Or worse.
But they will forgive me.
I hope they’ll forgive me.
Dove says that they’ll forgive me.
And I think he’s probably right.
If she didn’t think that, then Amber would not have decided as she had.
I can still…
No. No, I can’t change my mind. Look how happy Dove is. I can’t change my mind to something that would make him unhappy again, I can’t do that to him.
Not unless it’s something that he’d understand.
I’m asking so much of him already; I can’t ask for more than that. I can only ask him to follow me so far.
Unless it’s something that he could understand, and what would that be?
Nothing, because they’ll understand as well.
“Yo, Amber!”
The voice of Rainbow Dash recalled Amber to her surroundings so violently that she jumped, and shuddered a little, and nearly displaced Dove’s head for the violet movement of her thighs made his head bounce up and down as though a horse were trying to throw him.
“I’m sorry,” Amber said quickly, stroking his face to soothe it. “I didn’t mean to, I was…” She looked up, to see that everyone currently sharing the room with her — Rainbow, Blake, Ciel, and Twilight — were all currently looking at her.
Blake had a rather arch smirk upon her face, that looked as though the only reason she was not about to burst out laughing was that she was above such things, at least in such situations as these. Twilight did look as though she was about to laugh, and was covering her mouth in readiness. Rainbow’s smile was a little slighter, but no less fond for it; even Ciel had such a fond smile upon her face, her lips pressed together, the corners of her mouth arching upwards, for all that she seemed to be trying to look disapproving with how stiffly she sat, and on the very edge of her chair, her fingertips resting upon her knees.
“Is everything alright?” Amber asked, looking around them. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” Rainbow said at once. “No, nothing’s wrong at all—”
“Well,” Ciel interrupted her. “I am not at all sure that Dove ought to be lying like that.”
Rainbow frowned. “What’s wrong with how he’s lying?”
Ciel blinked. “It is … his head is…” She gestured to her own lap.
“Country matters?” Blake suggested, in a tone as arch as her face.
Ciel cleared her throat. “Yes, Blake, thank you. Although how you can say that without blushing astonishes me.”
“That’s pretty tame considering some of the stuff she reads,” Rainbow muttered.
“So, for that matter, is a young man lying with his head in a lady’s lap,” Blake pointed out. “Sun has laid his head in my lap.”
“Yes, but we’ve just established that you are a girl of … certain tastes,” Ciel murmured.
“Can you honestly say that you don’t think it looks cute?” Twilight asked.
Ciel hesitated for a moment. “No,” she admitted. “No, I cannot deny that it looks rather sweet, if one can ignore—”
“If you can stop seeing things that aren’t there,” Rainbow said.
Ciel sighed. “I apologise, Amber.”
“It’s fine,” Amber assured her. “I mean … Yang said something today that got me thinking — that got us thinking — about how Dove and I should … about how much I want to … I think Yang got rather embarrassed—”
“In which case, we shall probably get rather embarrassed too, or at least, I shall,” Ciel said. “So could we perhaps set the subject aside?”
“That would probably be for the best,” Dove said. “Some things are best left private.” He smiled up at her. “I’m just glad you’re in such a good mood, after tonight.”
“We all are,” Rainbow agreed. “I called out to you because you were kind of spacing out, and we were worried about what kind of thoughts might be going around in your head—”
“You were worried,” Twilight said. “It was obvious that only good thoughts could be going on in the mind of someone who was playing with her boyfriend’s hair while he lay his head in her lap.”
“I just wanted to make sure!” Rainbow declared.
“I’m fine,” Amber assured her. “I … I’m better than fine. I’m good. I’m wonderful. Because things are wonderful, aren’t they? Cinder is gone, and everything is going to be fine from now on.”
Rainbow chuckled. “That … yeah, that sounds about right, doesn’t it? At least for now.” She tucked her hands behind her head and leaned back, pressing her hands between her head and the wall. “Everything is going to be just fine.”
“For now,” Blake pointed out.
“Yeah, sure, for now,” Rainbow agreed. “There’s always something. But for now, this particular something that we’ve been dealing with, that’s over, and everything is going to be fine. Tomorrow is the last day of the tournament and then … and then we go home.”
“And I go north,” Blake added. “For good this time.”
“And I’ll go back to the lab,” Twilight said.
“And we three, the rest of us, shall have new teams,” said Ciel.
Rainbow nodded. “New teams for a new year at Atlas. A new year with a new purpose. A year without … without so much to worry about, hopefully.”
Blake chuckled. “Hopefully.”
“Yes, hopefully,” Twilight agreed. “Definitely hopefully.”
“Hopefully,” Ciel said softly. “If the Lady will have it so.”
“The Lady might not agree with me, but I think we’ve earned a break,” Rainbow said. “A year when we’re just doing school stuff … well, actually no, not just school stuff. I wouldn’t say no to a few missions, just to remind everyone that we’re the team that gets picked for missions, because we’re the team that gets it done. Team…” She paused. She silently began mouthing words. “If Applejack comes back, and the General lets me keep Ciel, and Ciel, you still want to be on this team with me, then we can get back to Team Raspberry R-A-S-B.”
“Or you could pronounce the C softly, as it is in Ciel, and get to the sound of Raspberry that way,” Twilight pointed out.
“True,” Rainbow agreed. “But, on the other hand, it might be cool to have a different team name, if anyone can think of one that has all of our names in it.” She looked at Amber, and at Dove. “How about you two? Any plans for a quieter year ahead?”
“My year was already quite quiet,” Amber pointed out softly.
Rainbow’s mouth opened without any words coming out. “Yeah,” she admitted. “Yeah, I guess, uh, I guess that it … sorry, it’s just—”
“It’s alright,” Amber said.
“It kind of feels like you’ve been here a while—”
“It’s alright,” Amber assured her. “I just … I’d almost like a year that wasn’t so quiet. Not in the sense of battles or enemies, or even particularly adventure, I suppose, but … something. I think that quiet is what awaits me: a quiet year, a quiet life.”
Dove sat up. “There’s nothing wrong with a quiet life. Our lives were quiet enough before you went away, and they were nice, weren’t they? I was happy.”
“And so was I,” Amber said, taking Dove’s hands in hers. “I was so happy, happier than I was to leave you by far.” She paused for a moment. “I miss the cottage where I lived with my mother, and the woods where we met, and where we kept on meeting. I miss the tree where I would sit, and you would lie” — she looked up at Ciel — “with your head in my lap and let me sing to you. I miss the way the autumn leaves fell down around us. But…” She sighed. “I don’t know, maybe it’s just the part of me that used to love to listen to Ozpin’s stories about the world beyond our little world, that wanted to see it for myself, or maybe it’s the part of me that’s gotten used to having so many new friends, like Sunset and Pyrrha and Ciel—” She smiled in Ciel’s direction. “I know that we’ll be very happy together, you and I, just the two of us…” She glanced down at her hands, holding his, and flashed her teeth in a bright smile. “Just the two of us for a while, at least. But at the same time, it feels like … like a door has just opened on a new world, a brave new world, that was also dangerous despite how brave it was … and now, just as the danger has passed, that door is about to be shut on me.”
“Well, when you put it like that,” Twilight said, “it makes us talking about the new worlds that wait for us next year sound a little crass.”
“Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that,” Amber said. “I would never … you all have so much to look forward to, and you have a right to look forward to it; I just—”
“You wish that you could have some Fluttershy adventure before you have to settle down,” Rainbow said.
Amber frowned. “'Fluttershy adventure'?”
“Nice, gentle, and peril-free,” Rainbow explained. “Perfect for a friend of ours.”
“She sounds like a very wise and sensible friend, whoever she is,” Amber replied. “Nice, gentle, and peril-free adventure, yes, that sounds lovely. That sounds very fine indeed.”
“What about you, Dove?” asked Blake. “What are you looking forward to in the year to come? Or perhaps, should the question be, what kind of year would you like, if you had the choice?”
Dove was quiet for a moment. “Something … something for you to bear in mind is that, unlike you, I actually had a quiet year,” he reminded them. “I wasn’t privy to all of your missions, your battles, everything else. All I did was—”
“Worry about where Amber was,” Rainbow said. “I guess that got pretty stressful, at times.”
“It … weighed on me,” Dove agreed. “And after I … after I gave up hope … then that was a different kind of weight.”
Amber leaned upon him, resting her head upon his shoulder, pressing her body against his to remind him that he had never truly lost her, and he never would, now that fate and Sunset Shimmer had brought them back together.
She felt Dove put one arm around her in turn.
“When I came here to Beacon,” Dove said, “I wanted two things. I wanted to find Amber, but I also wanted to be, how do I say it? I would say I wanted to be a hero, but that sounds a little too grand for my ambitions — it isn’t as though I wanted to save the world or anything — but, at the same time, I wouldn’t have objected to being a knight, or something like a knight, in any case, a knight like in the old stories, like Olivia or Percy or, to choose an example who was a man, like Bors or Owain or Sagramor the Northman. But I learned I wasn’t really cut out for that sort of thing.”
“You do yourself a disservice, I think,” Ciel said. “You have not failed, that I am aware of; indeed, I would not say that you have been tested.”
“I—” Dove began, but then stopped almost immediately. He was silent for a second, then he laughed, or forced a laugh. “I’d say the fact that nobody thought that I was worthy of being tested, nobody thought that I was testing material, that says something, don’t you think? Nobody thought I was on your level, or Blake’s, or Team Sapphire’s?”
“That doesn’t mean much,” Rainbow told him. “There’s a lot of great guys I could name who don’t know what we know; it doesn’t make them chumps: Trixie, Starlight—”
“Neon,” Ciel added.
“You’re all very kind,” Dove told them.
“We are honest, or at least, we strive to be, when circumstances allow,” Ciel said. “From your combat performance, I would rate you higher than Jaune.”
“Jaune’s gotten pretty good,” Dove said, “and that sword of his has gotten a lot more versatile since it was reforged.”
“You could get a new sword as well,” Twilight said. “I could help you come up with some specifications; I’ve designed weapons for my brother, and Rainbow Dash, as well as Starlight’s—”
“Again, you’re all very kind,” Dove said, raising one hand. “But not being able to find Amber, thinking she was gone, thinking that I’d lost her, and then getting Amber back, it’s shown me, reminded me, what really matters.”
Rainbow nodded. “Fair enough. You know what you want, so go for it. Go for it with everything you’ve got. Doesn’t answer the question of what you want out of the year to come, though.”
“Amber,” Dove said. “Just Amber, at my side, or I at hers, however you want to phrase it. That’s all I want.”
Ciel sighed. “For that, Mister Bronzewing, I think you are entitled to lay your head in her lap without fear of further censure.”
Rainbow’s scroll went off. She looked first this way, and then that, before remembering where her scroll was and fishing it out of one pocket.
“It’s from Ruby,” she said. “Team Sapphire’s back. And they want us to go down there. Apparently, there’s something that we have to talk about.”
The ride on the airship back to Beacon had been … uncomfortable, to say the least. Probably the most uncomfortable airship ride that Sunset had ever been on.
Mostly because it had taken place in near complete silence. Professor Ozpin had been of no help whatsoever in that regard, lost in his thoughts as he was, although that was, to be fair, quite understandable.
Sunset would have liked to have been lost in her thoughts too. Even if that meant that she were lost in thoughts of Cinder and her impending fate, which might be very close at hand if she was right. She would like to be lost in thoughts of all the other things that Cinder had said, and which were right and which were wrong and which were worth looking into; thoughts of the Siren at large in Vale, and possible other servants of Salem lurking in Beacon, and the imminent attack and all the rest.
She would have liked to have been lost in thoughts of all such things, not necessarily because they would have been good thoughts — they almost certainly would not — but because at least they would have been better than the thoughts that she had at the moment.
Those thoughts, those other thoughts, those arguably more important thoughts, they still existed, in her mind, and to what extent they were able, they warred against the other thought that occupied her head at present, trying to squeeze out space for themselves, to make the case for their importance. And of course, they were important, more important than Sunset’s own troubles.
But Sunset’s own troubles, which were also in her mind and were the reason why she could not become as lost in thought as she might have wished, threatened to make them irrelevant.
Why was that, you might ask? Had not the allegations, raised without proof, little more than speculation or malicious gossip for all that they happened to be true and accurate, been dismissed by Professor Ozpin and Councillor Emerald? Had not Cinder spoken up in her defence, pointing out that very similar — and false, this time — allegations had been made against Pyrrha not too long ago? No official action was going to follow, she was not going to be hauled off to prison; some might believe what they heard on the news, and her reputation in some quarters might be tarnished accordingly, but that…
If that were all, then Sunset would not have felt such a chill about her. She would not have felt as though she had attracted a micro-climate as cold as Atlas around her and only her, chilling her to the bone despite her aura.
If it had been only the opinion of the general populace that had become, or was soon to become, mixed on her at best, then Sunset would scarcely have given it much thought. She might even have hoped that the vast majority of the people would not believe such a thin tale, without any backing, and that they would continue to regard her favourably for all else that she had done.
If it had only been the opinion of the general populace.
But it was not. It was also Ruby’s opinion; and Ruby, Sunset feared very much, believed it.
She believed the truth, which was much more awkward than believing lies because … because Sunset wasn’t sure; she didn’t think that she had it in her to lie to Ruby about this.
Or at least, she didn’t think that she had it in her to lie to Ruby about this anymore.
Despite the fact that, on some level, in some respects, she ought to lie, for the sake of Professor Ozpin and First Councillor Emerald, both of whom she had rendered complicit in her misdeeds — or perhaps it might be said that they had rendered themselves complicit, not that the difference was material — she ought to say what needed to be said to convince Ruby that all was well, that the accusations against were scurrilous, that there was nothing in it, nothing to worry about at all.
But Sunset couldn’t do that. She just … she couldn’t. She hadn’t been able to at the police precinct, when Lisa Lavender’s words had stolen away Sunset’s own, and she doubted that she would be able to now, either.
She couldn’t lie to Ruby, who had divined the truth already; she couldn’t lie to Penny, Jaune, and Pyrrha either, who believed in her innocence.
She had betrayed their trust enough, it seemed.
I’ve picked a fine time to become honest.
Then again, I suppose if you can’t be honest from the start all the time, then the second best time to start is always right now.
That’s probably what Twilight would tell me, anyway, if I had time to ask her about it.
Perhaps I am lost in my thoughts, after all.
Just not the thoughts that I would prefer to be lost in.
But Sunset could not grow too lost in her thoughts because she could feel Ruby’s eyes upon her, burning into her the way her silver-eye powers burned away the grimm. All through the airship ride, Ruby was staring at her, and every second that passed reinforced Sunset’s impression from the police station that Ruby had read her right — read her better than Pyrrha, Jaune, or Penny had.
She would confront her once they were alone; of that, Sunset was certain.
Once they had left the airship, once they returned to their dorm room, Ruby would confront her; she would demand to know the truth.
And Sunset didn’t think that she could lie to her — to them.
And then…
And then…
What then?
Sunset had really no idea, except that it was unlikely to be good.
And in the meantime, there is a Siren loose in the city, there may be other followers of Salem lurking in the shadows, and Vale may be about to come under attack.
We don’t have time for this.
Which is why they’ve released this information now, of course.
Sunset glanced at Professor Ozpin, who was as silent as she was, and looked even more contemplative.
He would no doubt take steps to handle the impending attack; indeed, he had already begun to do so, and would continue to take more of them. He might, if he believed Cinder, take steps to safeguard the other Maidens whose locations were known to Salem, and to deal with Professor Lionheart. He might even do something about the Siren.
Sunset hoped he did, since she doubted that Team SAPR would be getting around to it.
I fear your swords are out of action, Professor; perhaps one of them will be so for good.
Whatever was about to happen to Sunset, she doubted that she would be allowed to remain as leader of Team SAPR with no fuss, no foul; the capacity for forgiveness that the others possessed was great, but it was not infinite.
The awkwardness — to say the least — between Sunset and Ruby infected the others; no one said anything at all, and Pyrrha’s few attempts to make conversation died pitiful deaths, and since Professor Goodwitch and General Ironwood — who was returning to Beacon with them, not heading to his own warship — seemed no more inclined to speak than anyone else, it meant that the Bullhead which bore them across the rooftops of Vale was entirely silent.
It would have been a relief when the airship finally landed, if Sunset hadn’t thought she knew what was coming next.
The air was bracing as she leapt down out of the airship onto the docking pad, but it wasn’t as chilly as Sunset had felt inside the airship.
There was still no sound as everyone else exited the airship too, all in silence, the only noise being the thuds they made upon the docking pad surface as they disembarked.
It was Professor Ozpin who broke the silence, his voice sounding weary, although — hopefully — that was just from the fact that it was getting late.
“Students, as it is rather late by this point, and Miss Nikos has at least one fight ahead of her tomorrow, I strongly suggest that you go to bed,” Professor Ozpin said. “Glynda, James, I must keep you up a little longer and ask that you join me in my office; we have things to discuss. I will ask Qrow to join us there.”
“Of course, Oz,” General Ironwood said softly. “We’re right behind you.”
“Thank you both,” Professor Ozpin said. Nevertheless, he did not start right away for his office, but lingered on the docking pad, resting his cane upon the surface beneath their feet.
“I know that the end of this night was a little surprising,” he said, his gaze sweeping across Sunset, Ruby, Pyrrha, Jaune, and Penny. “But, if you can, don’t let it take away from your sense of accomplishment. You won a victory tonight. Whatever else happened, or will happen, do not forget that.” He looked a little as if he was trying to smile, but it was hard to be sure because it didn’t get very far, his lips barely even twitching. “Goodnight, children,” he said.
“Goodnight, Professor,” Pyrrha said softly.
“Goodnight, Professor,” Penny said, with a little more volume. “Goodnight, General.”
General Ironwood did smile, despite the circumstances. “Goodnight, Penny. Lead on, Ozpin.”
Professor Ozpin did not reply by words but by his actions; he began to lead the way, the tip of his cane tapping lightly upon the ground, letting out a slight rattling sound as it did so, and General Ironwood and Professor Goodwitch fell in behind him as he led on, following him down the path from the docking pad towards Beacon, heading for the Emerald Tower that rose up out of the darkness, its green lights shining in the sky to guide them in.
Sunset and the others lingered a little, there in the silence, giving the adults a little time to draw ahead of them.
Sunset thrust her hands into her pockets.
Ruby got out her scroll.
“What are you doing?” asked Pyrrha.
“I’m texting Rosepetal, asking them to come join us in our room,” Ruby replied. “They should all be here for this.”
“But Professor Ozpin said—” Penny began.
“I know what Professor Ozpin said,” Ruby said, her voice growing sharp, like the edge of Crescent Rose. “But there’s something that we have to do first.”
Nobody gainsaid her further; Sunset certainly wasn’t going to, little though she expected this to be any kind of pleasant experience for her, and it seemed that no one else felt that they should or could or wanted to either.
Ruby’s thumbs worked across her scroll, sending her message to Team RSPT — and Amber too, perhaps, and Dove as well; how many people were going to be there for this? How many people were going to bear witness to her confession?
And can Rainbow Dash avoid giving herself away when it all comes out? She’s another one I don’t want to get into trouble.
Sunset licked her lips. “Could … could we do this in private, first? Does everyone have to be here for this at once?”
“It’s better to only do it once,” Ruby said, in a voice that brooked no argument.
Sunset didn’t reply, but it seemed like that was the end of that.
The croaking call of a raven briefly disturbed the otherwise silent night.
Ruby put her scroll away and began to lead the way without asking or waiting for anyone else. She set the pace, the rest of them following along as though they were strangers here and Ruby alone knew where she was going.
In a sense, she was the only one who knew where she was going, just not in a strictly literal sense.
And so, with Ruby leading, they arrived at their dorm room, to find that the others — Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Blake, Ciel, Amber, and Dove — were all waiting for them outside the room, having had a shorter journey from the RSPT room than they had had from the docking pad.
“Hey, you guys,” Rainbow said, hailing them with a wave of one hand. “Listen, congratulations on your big win — and I really mean that, by the way; you did something important out there tonight.”
“You all helped,” Penny pointed out.
“A little, perhaps, but it was by your efforts that Cinder was — finally, one might hope — subdued,” Ciel replied. “You deserve all the praises that have and, if the Lady wills, will fall upon your head.” She held her right arm before her waist and took a step back with one foot in an almost curtsy-like motion, even as she bowed from the waist as though she were leaning over her own arm. Her free arm swept outwards, her fingertips brushing the opposite wall. “I salute your courage and your skill.”
“Really?” Penny gasped. “You do? Thank you, Ciel, that … that really does mean a lot. It means a whole lot. Thank you.”
“All the same,” Rainbow said, “it’s getting late, and Pyrrha and I have to fight tomorrow — if it isn’t today—”
“Yes, it’s today,” Twilight said. “It’s past midnight.”
“Okay, Pyrrha and I have to fight today,” Rainbow said. “So as much as I would normally appreciate a good victory celebration—”
“This isn’t a celebration,” Ruby said. “And it won’t take long.” She opened up the door with her scroll. “Come on in.”
Rainbow frowned as she looked at Sunset. Unfortunately, Sunset couldn’t think of a way to convey ‘Ruby knows about the Breach’ through her eyes alone.
And so, everyone followed her, trooping inside the SAPR dorm room. Sunset stayed closed by the door, standing against the wall between the bedroom door and the bathroom door, not really looking at anybody else, keeping her eyes fixed upon the wardrobe doors on the other side of the room.
Except she could not wholly keep them there; her eyes fell to the initials and symbols carved on the wall next to Ruby’s bed.
They were small, and smaller seeming at this distance, but Sunset could still make them out: the STRQ letters, and then the SAPR letters below them.
It seemed so very, very long ago, and they seemed such different people than they had been then.
Was I a better person or worse than I am now?
I had a worse attitude, but I hadn’t done so many bad things.
I miss those days.
And I miss them more for knowing that they’ll never come again.
The door shut, and it seemed to Sunset that it shut very heavily indeed, although she doubted that had been Rainbow Dash’s intent.
Nevertheless, the door shut.
Amber looked down and fussed with the little gold bracelets on her wrists. Dove put one arm around her waist and whispered something into her ear.
Sunset heard something — a bird, maybe — tapping on the windows, but when she briefly glanced towards the window, she saw nothing there.
“Ruby,” Blake said, “what’s this about?”
“This,” Ruby said, facing Sunset, looking right at her. “This is about how Sunset caused the Breach. Didn’t you?”
“Ruby!” Pyrrha cried. “That is completely uncalled for!”
“Why would you say something like that?” Penny demanded.
Sunset herself said nothing, as Rainbow Dash looked at her with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.
“What?” Blake said. “I mean … what … Penny’s right, why would you say something … what’s going on here?”
“Don’t you know?” Jaune asked. “It was on the news.”
“We haven’t checked the news,” Twilight said softly.
“Although it seems that perhaps we should have,” Ciel said. “Has Sunset—?”
“It’s an accusation,” Jaune said. “I don’t know why…” He trailed off, glancing at Ruby.
Blake’s brow furrowed as she got out her scroll, and opened it. “Let’s see … I haven’t gotten a notification.” She swiped her finger across the screen and began to read. She blinked.
“Is it what Ruby made it seem?” asked Ciel.
“It seems,” said Blake, with emphasis upon the word, “that someone has gotten hold, somehow, of a deleted email that Skystar Aris never sent—”
“How can anyone get hold of a deleted email?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“You’d be surprised how easy it is,” Twilight said,
“But they’re deleted,” Rainbow replied. “That’s the whole point!”
“They’re deleted off your account,” Twilight countered. “Nothing is ever really deleted off the CCT network.”
“Except viruses, one would hope,” Ciel murmured. “Blake, please, say on, what does this deleted email say?”
“What you’d think from what Ruby just said,” Blake said, “that Sunset caused the Breach, that she detonated the mine at the end of the tunnel, that Skystar was there when Sunset confessed to her mother — Skystar’s mother, not Sunset’s mother, obviously — and Councillor Emerald, and that the two of them agreed to cover it up.”
“And it’s true,” Ruby declared. “Isn’t it, Sunset?”
“Ruby, how can you say that?” Pyrrha demanded. “How can you ask that? How can you gather everyone here like this for an absurd charade?”
“Pyrrha—” Sunset began.
Pyrrha ignored her, going on, “Need I remind everyone, as Cinder so recently reminded some of us, that I was subject to malicious accusations not so very long ago, and none of you suggested that those accusations were anything other than false. I am grateful for that, truly I am, but why can you not give Sunset the same faith and confidence that you gave me? This is very unkind, I must say.”
“I’m not saying that Sunset worked with Cinder, or that she’s working for Salem; that would be ridiculous,” Ruby said. “But Sunset was up at the front of the train alone, and we were behind her: you, me, Jaune, Rainbow, Blake, Applejack.” She paused. “And if the mine hadn’t gone off, if there hadn’t been that way out of the tunnel, then … even with my silver eyes, we would have probably died down there, wouldn’t we?”
Pyrrha hesitated a moment, before saying, “That seems … yes, I think you’re right.”
Ruby nodded. “And that’s why you did it,” she said. “Isn’t it, Sunset? Because you couldn’t let us die. Because … because our lives meant more to you than Vale surviving. Because our lives have always meant more to you than … because you’ve never been able to make the hard calls. You’ve always…” Again, Ruby paused, hesitating for a moment. “Or am I wrong?” she asked. “Look me in the eye and tell me that I’m wrong. If you do, if you can tell me — not Cinder, not Professor Ozpin, you in your own words — if you can tell me that I’m wrong, and all of this is just make believe from Skystar or whoever, then … then I’ll believe you.” Ruby swallowed. “Because I’d really like to believe that, even now.”
Now they were come to it. Now they had arrived at the moment. Now was the point…
Now was the point at which it could no longer be avoided.
There was a voice in Sunset’s head which was telling her to lie: lie for the sake of Professor Ozin, lie for the sake of Councillor Emerald, lie for the sake of Rainbow Dash — although, hopefully, that wasn’t what was on Rainbow’s own mind as she shook her head ever so slightly.
Lie for the sake of the team.
Lie for the sake of herself and the life that she had here that was about to come tumbling down.
There were a million reasons to steel herself and look Ruby in the eye and lie with all the conviction that she could muster. A million reasons to just look her in the eye and say ‘I didn’t do this; these allegations are false.’
A million reasons to lie, and only one reason to tell the truth.
Because it was true, and because she didn’t have it in her to lie anymore.
Okay, two reasons to tell the truth.
Everyone was looking at her. Everyone was looking at her with curiosity, confusion, with the exceptions of Rainbow Dash and Ruby.
Sunset was sure that that would be preferable to the way that they’d be looking at her in a second.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and steeled herself for what was to come.
She tried to steel herself. She wasn’t sure it really worked.
“Sunset?” Penny whispered.
Sunset opened her eyes and looked straight at Ruby. She looked Ruby in the eye, just as she had asked her too, and said, “I can’t.”
Rainbow closed her eyes and bowed her head. Pyrrha gasped, one hand flying to cover her mouth. Amber’s eyes widened, while Dove glanced frantically between Sunset and Ruby, his grip upon Amber seeming to tighten.
Penny stared at Sunset. “You can’t? What do you mean, you can’t?”
“You mean…” Jaune began. “You mean—”
“I did it,” Sunset said. “I did … everything in that email is true.”
“But … how?” Blake asked. “How could you physically—?”
“Cinder had left me the detonator,” Sunset explained. “It was there, in the train cab, when I arrived.”
“The detonator?” Blake repeated. “Not a detonator?”
“The detonator or a detonator, what’s the difference?” Rainbow demanded.
“Calling it ‘the detonator’ implies that it was the only one,” Blake pointed out.
“Then it was a detonator; there’s no way that Cinder would put the only detonator on the train where it might not get used and all her planning might come to nothing,” Rainbow declared. “If Sunset hadn’t done it—”
“But Sunset did,” Ruby said, in a voice that was not loud, not raised, but nonetheless managed to rise above Rainbow Dash and silence her. “It doesn’t matter how many other detonators there were; it just matters that Sunset used the detonator that was right in front of her. To save us.”
“That’s right,” Sunset said, in a voice rendered hoarse by her dry throat. “To save you.”
“You prized our lives above all of Vale?” asked Pyrrha.
“Yes,” Sunset said softly.
“But people died!” Jaune cried.
“I know,” Sunset said, her voice still quiet.
“People died!” Jaune repeated, striding forwards towards her. “Miranda almost died! Her friend actually died, and Miranda … you saw how sad she was, how she couldn’t even stay in Vale any more, and that … that was because of you?”
“I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
“Well, it did!” Jaune shouted into her face.
“I know,” Sunset whispered, cringing before him.
“Jaune,” Pyrrha began.
“What did you think was going to happen—?!”
“Jaune, that’s enough,” Ruby said, again in that voice which managed to be powerful without being loud. Perhaps it was the sharpness of it, for though it was not loud, it was sharp nevertheless, a scythe blade of a voice cutting through all other voices.
Jaune looked over his shoulder. “But—”
“I know,” Ruby said. “What Sunset did was wrong. But that doesn’t mean … that’s enough. Please.”
Jaune hesitated for a moment, looming a little over Sunset, casting a shadow over her, enveloping her in it as he blocked out the light. Sunset shrank back before him, and she remained shrank back as Jaune turned and walked away, leaving everyone else free to stare at Sunset, just as they had before.
“Nevertheless, it is a question to be asked,” Ciel said. “What did you think was going to happen?”
“Does that matter?” asked Ruby.
“Does any of this matter?” Ciel responded. “We are not a court, we have neither power or authority to punish Sunset for her actions, so surely, the only reason for us all being here is so that we may gain some measure of understanding?”
“I asked you here because I wanted you all to know,” Ruby said.
“And I, knowing, would like to understand,” Ciel declared. “If that is permissible?”
“I thought,” Sunset said, “I thought that the warning, sent on by you to General Ironwood, would enable the Atlesians to respond in time to repel the assault.”
“As we did,” Rainbow interjected, prompting Blake to glance at her.
“And if there hadn’t been a warning?” demanded Jaune.
“Then Sunset would have made the same choice,” Ruby said. “Wouldn’t you? You still wouldn’t have let us die down in that tunnel?”
Sunset shifted in place. “I … I don’t know.”
“Don’t you?” asked Ruby.
“No,” Sunset insisted. “But … I fear not. You are too precious to me.”
“Our lives are not worth a kingdom,” Pyrrha murmured.
“So you have said,” Sunset replied. “And I, with my deeds, have answered you.”
“But you confessed,” Blake said. “If what Skystar wrote is right — and it was right on that, so why not? — then you confessed to the First Councillor of Vale, and the former First Councillor. Why?”
“Because I felt guilty,” Sunset said. “I … First Councillor Aris was about to be thrown out of office because of the Breach, because of what I did, because of me. I thought that if I came clean with her, then she could use that information to save herself.”
“You felt guilty about a politician’s career but not about people dying?” asked Jaune incredulously.
“Of course I felt guilty!” Sunset snapped, her voice rising. “I … you can judge me all you want, hate me if you want, but please don’t … don’t assume that I have borne this with a light heart all this while.”
“The blows on your face,” whispered Pyrrha.
“So you told the First Councillor, the past and the present one,” Ruby said, “and then they covered it up between them?”
Sunset nodded.
“Why?” Ruby demanded. “Why would they do something like that?”
“Councillor Emerald didn’t want to, at first,” Sunset said. “He wasn’t very happy with me.”
“You could have fooled us with how chummy you and he were tonight,” Jaune said.
“He … his attitude towards me has softened a bit,” Sunset said. “But back then, it was Councillor Aris who pressed to keep it all secret. They talked it out in private so I don’t know exactly what passed between them, but … I think they were afraid that feeling in the city would be even worse than it was then if it came out. And it was too late to save Councillor Aris, far too late. It was better for Vale if they kept on thinking that I was a hero who had defended the Breach, rather than—”
“The reason there was a Breach at all,” Ruby finished for her.
“Yes,” said Sunset, in a voice so low it barely carried past her lips.
“So when Councillor Emerald defended you, he was lying,” Ruby said.
“Yes,” said Sunset, scarcely louder than before.
She made no mention of Professor Ozpin. She would not mention him unless pressed to do so.
Ruby frowned. “I can’t believe they did that,” she muttered.
“Councillor Emerald seemed so nice,” Penny pointed out. “I think … I think that he must have thought that he had a good reason for doing what he did; just like Sunset thought that she had a good reason for doing what she did, even though we don’t agree. Even though it was wrong, what she did. It was wrong, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” Ruby said. “Yes, Penny, it was wrong. It put people in danger. A huntress would have known that we accepted the risks when we went to Mountain Glenn, we accepted the risks when we got on that train—”
“Sunset didn’t want to get on the train,” Rainbow pointed out.
Stop trying to defend me, Dash; you’ll give yourself away.
Ruby inhaled through her nose. “No,” she said. “No, she didn’t, I remember that. But Sunset was the one who volunteered to head up to the front of the train and stop it. And you ought not to have undertaken it unless you intended to go through with it. Our lives … a huntress would have known that we accepted the risks and that we were prepared to give our lives to defend the people.” Her mouth tightened. “But I’m not sure that you were ever really a huntress, were you?”
Pyrrha frowned at that, but said nothing.
Sunset, too, said nothing. As a charge, it was hard to deny, no matter how much it stung.
Ruby seemed to grow taller before Sunset’s eyes; she seemed to be looking down on Sunset from on high, as though she were even taller than Pyrrha as she said, “Do you have anything to say for yourself? Anything at all?”
“I could not lose you,” Sunset whispered. “I … just couldn’t lose you. You mean everything to me. That … was my only thought. I couldn’t lose you.”
Jaune frowned and put his hands in his pockets and snuck a glance at Pyrrha, even as Pyrrha clasped her hands together and looked down at the ground with a melancholy expression on her face. Penny reached out — towards who, exactly, Sunset could not say — before pulling her hands back quickly.
“That’s too bad, because you have,” said Ruby, without any malice in her voice, as casually as though she were stating the weather. “First Councillor Emerald may have decided that this was worth keeping a secret, but I’m going to tell Professor Ozpin—”
“Professor Ozpin knows as well,” Sunset said.
Now it was Ruby’s turn to let out a little gasp, her silver eyes widening a little bit. “Professor … he knows?”
“I told him too,” Sunset admitted. “Councillor Emerald knows that he knows, but Skystar doesn’t. That’s why he wasn’t mentioned.”
“A small blessing amidst all this,” Ciel observed. She frowned. “General Ironwood—”
“Doesn’t know, unless Professor Ozpin told him without letting me know,” Sunset said.
“Professor Ozpin knows?” Ruby repeated. “Professor Ozpin knows? But he … he’s supposed to be … he’s a huntsman? He’s the model of a huntsman. So why would he let you get away with this?”
“Because he…” Sunset hesitated. “You might have to ask him that; I’m not sure that I could explain it.”
“I will,” Ruby declared, some of the firmness returning to her voice after it had been shaken by the revelation about Professor Ozpin. “I suppose … I suppose that we don’t have to agree with every decision that Professor Ozpin makes. It’s not like we’ve all been a hundred percent behind him in the past, is it?” She paused. “I suppose … I suppose it is important that we not panic people. Vale is on edge as it is, and if everyone knew what you had done, then it might turn them against the faunus even more than they have already, and I don’t want that. Nobody wants that. And I guess that it’s the job of people like Professor Ozpin and the First Councillor to see the big picture, even if I don’t agree with how they’ve arranged the little pictures to get there. So everything that you’ve just told us will stay between us, and everyone else can be convinced by what the First Councillor says, that it’s just an accusation with no proof behind it, like happened to Pyrrha.” Another moment’s pause. “But you have to go, Sunset; you can’t stay here anymore.”
“I…” Sunset had expected this, dreaded this, and yet, all the same, now that the moment had arrived, it caught her by surprise. “No.”
“Yes,” Ruby replied, her words as heavy as inexorable destiny and just as inescapable. “You’re not a huntress, if you ever were, and you don’t belong here, if you ever did.”
Sunset glanced at Pyrrha, as if there might be some—
“Don’t look at her,” Ruby said. “You and Pyrrha don’t get to pat me on the head and tell me I’m wrong, not this time.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “I don’t know you, Sunset Shimmer. For a while, I dreamed I did. For a while, I dreamed of someone just like you, someone who cared too much about some things and cared too little about others; someone who was selfless and so, so selfish at the same time; someone strong, and at the same time, oh so weak. I dreamed of someone just like that, but now that I’ve woken up … I despise my dream. I never knew you. None of us did.”
“In that, you’re wrong,” Sunset whispered. “You knew me in my faults and in my glories too. You knew me better than anyone has known me since she who raised me knew me. You knew me well enough to know that I had done this thing, though all around insisted I had not. You knew me, and knowing me, you hold me in contempt.”
She would not cry. She would not weep; she would not have them think that she was turning on the waterworks in a bid for sympathy, to try and guilt Ruby into changing her mind. She did not want to be seen that way, here at the end. She would depart with her dignity wrapped around her, what tattered shreds of it remained. She would depart like Cinder going to the gallows, head held high.
Partly for that reason, because she feared that her dignity would slip away from her if she lingered too long, and partly because she doubted that Ruby had the patience to allow her a long goodbye even if everyone else in the room had been willing to hear it, Sunset prepared for this rare instance to be brief.
“There are things that Pyrrha heard from Cinder that are important,” she said. “Please, don’t forget all about them because of this.”
“No,” Pyrrha said. “No, we shall not; I … we shall not.”
There was so much else that Sunset wanted to say that the unspoken words kept her rooted to the spot for a time, but she had told herself that she wouldn’t try and draw this out — not that anyone else would want her to draw this out — and so, her breast heaving, she turned towards the door.
“Hang on, hang on,” Rainbow said. “Ruby, you can’t just … you can’t just banish Sunset!”
“I can,” Ruby said, and her voice trembled a little despite her control over it. “I do.”
“Rainbow,” Sunset murmured. “That’s enough.” She walked towards the door, though her legs felt heavy, and every step felt a struggle. Even to reach for the door handle felt like it was putting a cramp in her hand.
She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.
Keep it together.
She looked back, back at everyone who had made her life, her world, so different from what she had imagined, so much better.
The people who, like that life, were lost to her now.
“It’s … it’s been fun,” she said, and then flung open the door and stepped through it before she — or anyone else — could say more.
The door shut behind her, with an even heavier sound than when it had shut with everybody coming in.
At least, it sounded that way to Sunset.
The corridor was empty. No one stirred from Team YRBN’s room to investigate the noise.
No one stopped Sunset as she started to walk away. She walked away as quickly as she could, her stride quickening with every step she took until she was running, running down the corridor, running down the stairs, bursting out of the door at a flat run with her head bowed and her ears drooped down into her hair and tears flying out after her.
Memories filled her head, memories that she didn’t want to think about, memories that rose unbidden, memories that demanded to be recalled, memories that would never come again, memories that kept the tears flowing.
Sunset’s arms pumped as she ran past the statue of the huntsman and huntress, ran … she didn’t even really know where she was running to until she came to a stop not far from the Emerald Tower.
She looked up to where the green lights burned in the darkness. Up to where Professor Ozpin worked with his lieutenants to plan the defence of Vale.
Take care of them, Professor, Sunset thought. I beg of you.
She wiped the tears away, although more followed on so swiftly after that there wasn’t much point.
“Yes,” she whispered to the night and to the moon and to the green lights above. “Yes, it’s been fun.”
Amber only understood some of what had just happened.
Everyone had talked about something called the Breach. The Breach. The Breach. Sunset had caused the Breach, people had died in the Breach, Sunset had fought — or people thought she had fought; that part was unclear — to defend the Breach.
It had involved an explosion and something about a tunnel and a train, but nobody had told Amber about this Breach, and nobody had stopped to explain what it was, and given the mood of the room — and her own mood — Amber didn't feel like asking.
Besides, she understood the important part well enough.
She understood what had just happened here very well indeed.
Dove had advised her to come clean, to confess what she had done or planned to do. Dove thought — and he must have believed it, or he never would have advised such a course — that they would forgive her, because they were kind people with forgiveness in their nature.
Amber had believed him. Amber had thought the same as he.
She did not think so now.
Amber didn't understand what the Breach was, but she understood perfectly that Sunset had ventured upon the forgiveness of her friends, and those friends — Ruby, in particular — had rejected her.
No, it was worse than that; Ruby had done worse than that. She had destroyed Sunset before their very eyes.
Amber could not confess now, not after what she had seen, not after that glimpse of what awaited her if she did confess.
Sunset had thought that she was saving her friends, Sunset had thought that she was doing the right thing — Amber understood that much, at least; they would have died were it not for Sunset — and none of it had mattered. None of it had availed her in the eyes of Ruby and the others.
In the morning, they had loved her. In the morning, they had embraced her as their dear friend and comrade. In the morning, she had been a part of them, but now...
Now, they knew her not. Now, they despised her. Now, she, and the time that they had spent together, was but a dream that they had dreamt, a dream worthy to be held in contempt.
She was their friend, was, or had been, and had protested that they knew her as well as anyone. It made no difference. Ruby had cast her out all the same. She was unclean, her deeds too dark to be expunged, too vile to be borne.
And Sunset had the sanction of Ozpin, which Amber certainly did not possess and was scarcely likely to receive.
It had not been enough to save Sunset, and Amber did not even have that shield — and that was without considering how Ozpin himself was likely to react when he found out what she had planned to do.
No. No, these were not forgiving people, and Amber could not put her trust in them; she could not tell them all. They would do … Amber wasn't certain what they would do, but it would surely be terrible.
Perhaps they would wait until Cinder was dead, then find a new Fall Maiden and kill her to pass the powers along. Perhaps it would be Ruby, who seemed so righteous and so free from indecision.
Amber could not tell them, and Dove would understand that now, for sure, having witnessed the same as she, the same cruelty, the same absence of any mercy or forgiveness.
He would understand that they were locked into their course, as little as they liked it.
The dorm room had been silent throughout Amber's deliberations, no one speaking, no one even breathing loudly. Ruby stood in the centre of the room, back straight and head up, but her body trembling from head to toe.
"I didn't mean to be cruel to her," Ruby said, ignoring the fact that to Amber's eyes she had been very cruel indeed, "but as huntsmen and huntresses, there are certain," — she sniffed — "certain standards that we have to uphold; there are values that we have to live by, or calling ourselves huntresses doesn't mean anything. Sunset broke too many of them."
"But," Penny began, "Professor Ozpin—"
"I know," Ruby said. "I know, I need to … at least, I want to speak to him about that. I need to tell him…" She blinked, and wiped at her pale cheek with one finger. "I didn't want to be cruel, but I did the right thing, I'm certain. There was no way that … Sunset might not be punished for what she’s done, but she couldn’t stay here, and she couldn’t lead this team, not anymore. She should never have led this team to begin with.” Her voice dropped. “It would have been better if she’d never come at all." She sniffed again. "Pyrrha?"
"Yes?" Pyrrha asked uncertainly. "Yes, Ruby?"
"Will you take Sunset's book?" Ruby asked. "Her magic book, her journal, and try and catch up with her before she leaves and give it to her? She should have it, and I don't want her to … I don't want her to have to come back for it later. I hope that having it will bring her some comfort."
"Of course," Pyrrha said. "Right away."
"And I'll go with you, if that's alright," interjected Amber. "I … I'd like to say goodbye."
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Oh mah gawd, first Amber's betrayal, than Cinder's turning away from Salem, and now Sunset's arrest? This story has no brakes, does it?
I want to scream.
9847228
We're on the road to the endgame of part one, so it makes sense to keep up the pace; on the other hand the next couple of chapters will be a little slower before said endgame actually kicks off in earnest.
Making friends gives you a reason to be alive. It gives you more reason to stand up for what you believe in. Having friends and loved ones by your side, it's like having a family before you realize that you cannot live without them.
Sunset has come full circle. From the selfish, broken child who came to Beacon, then growing into the mature, responsible, loving person she is now. Even if she can't see it herself. She's become someone Celestia would be so very, very proud of, and seeing her suffer like this hurts.
On another note, I wonder. Is there an actual legal punishment for what she did? If I was to put a definition to the crime she could be accused of, I suppose I'd have to call it "Endangerment". Her destruction of those controls put the city of Vale at risk. I suppose that in a society on the constant brink of disaster might have pretty strict endangerment laws. Still, she was a student at the time, not a military officer. She didn't sign an oath promising to obey anyone's orders, so she's not guilty of dereliction of duty. If you put any civilian into this position, would they be expected to throw their life away for the greater good?
I'm actually not sure. In our society, I think the answer is no. You're not required to sacrifice your life to save someone else.
Looking deeper, I think Sunset's case might best fall under the "Duty to Rescue" laws. Normally you're not legally required to rescue someone in danger. However, if by your actions you PUT them in danger, you ARE legally required to attempt to aid them. So... Sunset Shimmer put the city of Vale in danger to save her own life and the lives of her team. And then she risked her life fighting to stop the breach from killing anyone, thereby fulfilling her the legal definition of that law. She never planned on letting anyone die in Vale if she could help it. And nobody did die, in part because of her actions in their defense. So, by that definition, she shouldn't be found guilty of a crime.
That doesn't mean she won't be charged and held until she goes through a trial, however. But I think, in the end, she'll be exonerated, at least legally... although public opinion will crucify her for sure.
Still, Vale might have much more strict "duty to rescue" or "endangerment" laws than our world... in which case Sunset could be in some real trouble.
I love this story, but... Ruby. You are screaming at Sunset for making the exact same decision you made. Sunset prevented people from stopping the train to save the lives of the people on it. Everyone else told Pyrrha not to derail the train to save the lives of the people on it. The only difference was which people they were thinking of while doing it. I really hope she, and the rest of SAPR/RSPT realize this.
Self-sacrifice in the line of duty is the noblest expression of loyalty and heroism, giving your life and service to ideals and to people that you love more than yourself. But in turn, by definition, any ideals or people that are worth giving that loyalty to does not ask for the greatest sacrifice so immediately or needlessly either.
Yang isn't alone. Tai Yang and Qrow may be proud of Ruby, but they want for Ruby to stay alive; Sunset moved heaven and earth to find another way and even offered herself up for arrest to keep her friends safe, which already makes her a hundred times more trustworthy than Raven who abandoned her family to save her own skin. Furthermore, Lady Nikkos saw this devotion in Sunset and so entrusted her as a retainer not just to their family but to Pyrrha, to keep her safe above all else, whether from an army or a punk with a ten-lien pistol. And there's no question what Jaune's father and his many sisters would say.
Are Ruby, Pyrrha and Jaune certain enough of themselves to face their families over this?
Because all the other people in the train don't count?
Because they were Faunus and from the White Fang?
Sunset saved more than eight people.
Lady Nikos will be certain to hire Sunset the best lawyer money can buy, should one be required, I’d think.
9847358
Sunset saved two groups of students and a large group of White Fang and the cost was a hole in the city square and zero civilian lives lost. Yeah... she’s not doing jail time for that.
9847334
Wait, really?! They actually argued against derailing the train before it reached Vale? Doesn't that mean they deliberately endangered the Kingdom of Vale in order to save the lives of the terrorists who were trying to kamikaze themselves to destroy it?
Ah geez...
9847334
9847423
The next chapter addresses that a bit.
9847309
Chances are this will be used against Ozpin in the political backlash as Sunset was a student under his tutelage and this act can be one of many examples of Ozpin's neglect to the kingdom of Vale.
While Sunset's intentions were noble, the court of public opinion will give no sh*ts about why she did what she did and only focus on the act itself
I'm also sure that some nobody in the background will bring up Sunset's status as a faunus just to add some racial tension to the mix
9847334
I'm sure Ruby will realize, after a while, that what Sunset did was the right move as if the team did die down within those tunnels then the more dangerous threat of Cinder, at the time, would have been left unopposed to continue her campaign of terror against everyone else
I'm not crying, you're crying.
When I saw the chapter title, I thought it was going to be Sunset confessing that she may have fallen in love with Cinder (I can't stop shipping them together), but this... this just hits me right in the feels.
I really hope Sunset and Cinder end up together, in Equestria, as alicorns. Save the world, get hated while doing it, then "peace, I'm out".
9847356
I'm seeing how Ruby is being naive in this instance as she is putting her mother's death on a pedestal as a noble gesture while not acknowledging the devastation it left on her family
Also pretty sure that what Jaune's and Pyrrha's families would say to Sunset would be "Thank you"
All in favor of this story having greater plot than the original series, show of hands? *raises hand*
I don’t really think this is a “custody” situation. Definitely a face the music one. But i mean. I guess?
9847726
The original has a much more killer soundtrack though. And the argument always has to be made with overarching plot vs in depth plot. There is many a show that spends several seasons before anything progresses truly, but did we really want another one of those? That’s what this is for! Plus, crossover, you have to be willing to argue it’s better then 2 things together. Which is always easier done in writing.
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I mean, it definitely could be a custody situation, considering the faunus discrimination rampant in the world. Everything is possible to blow out of proportions when the Law doesn't like you in the first place.
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yeah im getting really worried for Ruby, i can't remember the term for it, "cult of death" i think is the phrase, where there is a worship of death and dying a glorious death at that. you can often find it in war cultures and fascist countries cus its a great way to get people to go out their and fight to the death without thinking about why they are doing it.
point is that its looking like Summer's death has instilled such a mentality in Ruby. Its really looking like her idea is that she should die a glorious death saving people, with her idea of glorious being in the service of others. Its a really unhealthy mind set and WILL lead to her death unless something is done about it, because she will embrace it with open arms without giving a thought to if her sacrifice will actually have done anything, much less how those close to her will react. less actually since any one who confronts that mentality is just being selfish/ unhunstman like. to give any thought to her own survivability is antithetical to her, and i think this is the first story i have read that has really shown just how creepy that selflessness of Ruby's really is.
girl would make a great fanatic foot soldier (and poster child) with the right manipulation (prop a good thing Oz didn't bring her with to meet the crazy chick).
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It could be veneration of the dead or an extreme case of idolatry, both subjects are the worship of one's dead relatives with idolatry being focused on Summer's dutiful and giving nature to the innocent while Ruby is either unable to comprehend why Summer made her sacrifice or ignore the reason because of the emotions associated with it.
As for the situation with the councilwoman, yeah it would have been devastating for Ruby as she would have been swept up by the council woman's plot to market Ruby as a champion of Vale's interests
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Considering that she's a faunus and Vale is not really that nice on the racism thing, I think that jail-time may be a thing. But if we factor in the part where Amber and co. are planning a strike at the vault alongside the White Fang, everything has the potential to derail the the judicial proceedings seven ways to Sunday, so yeah, whether she will do Jail-time is still up in the air methinks.
Loved all of this, Penny going through alotta tough growing pains!
Ruby has certainly proven wiser and more understanding here than in the original. That being said...
Well, fuck, Ruby, you fucked up big time.
Ruby's unwillingness to forgive Sunset for not wanting to lose her friends makes Amber reconsider everything she knows about the 'kindness' of her 'allies'. I want very much to see how Ozpin will respond to Ruby's 'banishment' of Sunset, what Rainbow will do with her unique position, and who will do the moral lesson for Ruby. (Maybe the same thing with Yang will happen here? Who knows, but I really need Ruby being taken down her 'moral high ground' pedestal) I think Lady Nikos, Yang, and even Penny would be in Sunset's side considering their world views and the fact that their loved ones would have died if Sunset didn't detonate it.
Ozpin didn't expel Sunset because he knew that the fault was more on him for putting so much responsibility on a teenager. I think even Ironwood will put the blame on him, as the commander of the defenses, for the deaths rather than Sunset, as she was still in training and no one should have so much pressure so young.
Now, the one that can pacify the air is Rainbow, as she knows everything that happened in real-time, but what will she do now? And now that Sunset isn't behind bars, what will she do? Will she go after Sonata? Will she talk to CInder? What will happen now?
Uncharted territory, everyone, let's go for a bump ride!
No prison this time, that's good. But man, am I borderline hating Ruby right now, and I don't think it'll stop. Can someone older please knock her down a peg or two? Ozpin especially. Rainbow is in a unique position. I recall in the original that she didn't tell Ironwood she knew until she was back in Atlas and tried to resign. I wonder what she'll do now?
At the very least, Ruby had the decency to make sure Sunset got her journal. I have a feeling Ruby might be right (for once) and some words of comfort from Equestria might be needed, (even though Princess Twilight already knows about the Breach and took Sunset's side)
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Yeah... Lady Nikos would be on Sunset's side. After all, she kept to what she was asked/sworn to do and kept Pyrrha alive. She certainly seemed to support Sunset in the original, even going as far as to attend her trial.
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Ruby is also still blissfully ignorant of what almost happened to Leaf. She alone kept egging Leaf to chase her dreams in Atlas, but it was Sunset who ensured Leaf had backup when she needed it. Ruby never heard what happened.
...Actually Ruby, it is very important if there is another detonator in play. Because it means that if Sunset hadn't pushed the button, Cinder would have just waited until all of you were dead and then triggered the breach. One that was much less prepared because it didn't have your three teammates to A) Help in the defense and B) Let people know that Grimm were actively coming rather then the White Fang before the monsters burst out of the hole. You all would have died a pointless death in which more innocent people would have died because the teams on the scene wouldn't have been enough to hold the Grimm for long enough for Atlas to redeploy and deal with the threat.
Sunset made the call to save the lives of her team and gambled that the situation could be brought under control without a loss of life due to her knowledge of what was happening on the Vale side of things. She likely saved more lives by doing so then if Ruby had been the one to go to the front of the train. Because Sunset's breach was miraculous due to the low body count of innocent people: Out of all the Grimm involved in the Breach, only a single beowolf slipped the net and managed to get into a shelter to kill 5 people. How many hundred, if not thousands of lives would be lost if the Altas forces were caught completely off guard by the Grimm incursion due to being positioned for White Fang invaders?
Also, despite everything I think Amber might still have it in her to confess to Sunset... because Sunset has been proven to be the one person among her new friends who would completely understand why she considered what she did. She is also the person who would be able to talk her out of it because it wasn't going to save anyone.
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It's one thing to gamble to save the lives of your team during one mission. It's quite another to abandon the fight altogether and hand a divine relic over to Salem.
Actually, now that I think about it, since Cinder sent her away, I wonder if Sunset will bump into Emerald while in Vale. Would she help Sunset, considering Sunset did help capture Cinder? She does seem to have mixed feelings about Sunset, both of understanding and jealousy.
Man, Ruby really doesn't understand that from a Grimm/Salem perspective, all lives aren't equal and huntsman are worth quite a lot more than civilians.
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Perhaps Amber might at least think it’s the same, even if only to quickly dismiss that thought
I totally agree. I think a slap across the face would be far more appropriate right now, though I doubt even that would knock any more sense into her.
That. I think that right there is the most infuriating part of all this. Not Ruby’s impossible to live up to, death wish ideals, or even her blatant hypocrisy in the context of the breach, but the fact she considers her own personal standard for a huntress so infallibly correct, her morals so much more righteous, that it not only gives her the right to condemn but the Authority to Banish someone for just following their own ideals that can’t live up to her, again, impossible expectations. Especially when the people who actually have such authority, or at least a far better leg to stand on, have already forgiven/absolved her.
Sunset and Cinder may be pompous to the extreme but Ruby just far outclassed them in True Arrogance right there, and without any of the self-awareness those two at least have. For her to be just 15 and not even through her first year of hero school, to think just because her Mom ‘died as a huntress’ (even though she has no idea the context, let alone the circumstances) that it makes her some unquestionable judge of what a “Real Huntress” must be just shows how much of a ignorant Child Ruby still is. It’s even sadder to realize that, with that context, Ruby still doesn’t understand Summer’s real motivation to continue risking herself as a huntress was almost certainly just to keep her, Yang and all her other loved ones safe for as long as she could, with saving others ultimately a secondary bonus. That seeing her daughter so obsessed with how she’s going to die instead of how she’s going to live, and how she treats her own loved ones and what she puts them through because of that... It would break her heart worse than Sunset’s just was.
Dying is easy Ruby. Living is the real test…
All that being said, serious Kudos to Scipio for really nailing the double-edged nature (and danger) that comes with paragons like Ruby.
Well, f*ck you too, Ruby, no one gave you the authority to do that. Seriously, who do you think you are?! A "true huntress"? YOU ARE A 15 YEAR OLD CHILD WITH TRAUMA AND A MATRYLL COMPLEX, YOU ARE NOT A HUNTRESS YET AND WITH THAT ATTITUDE YOU WILL NOT LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO GET YOUR LICENSE AND BECOME ONE! SO YOU CAN SHOVE YOUR SUPPOSED "MORAL HIGHGROUND" UP YOUR UNGRATEFUL *SS AND SPIN ON IT
Just, argh, I am so angry. Yes, Sunset must face the consequences of her actions. And she did, God damn it, she went to the authorities and confessed. And she did get punishment (just not the one Ruby wanted, the one that still acknowledges the fact that she is a very valuable individual and would be more useful as a living person doing shit, rather than a corpse stinking up the place *cough* Ruby *cough*)
Rainbow, sweetie, can you start screaming at that suicidal idiot? I believe in you, you can do it. Someone really has to do it. Maybe a slap across the head would be even more effective. Or at least shake her while screaming, that works too (An interesting detail, that the leaders of teams agreeing with each other, because it is their job to ensure the safety of their teammates and weight all the pros and cons of their decisions)
I would not have wanted to be on a team with this Ruby as a leader, we would have died in the Grimm horde attack way back then at the start of the semester
And I was disappointed in Jaune..... Usually I don't like him (in the show), but here he is much better. But damn it, I hope he sits and thinks for at least a minute to understand Sunsets decisions. If it was him and he was about to "kill" everyone of his friends, including Pyrrha, he wouldn't have done that
What the hell are you writing?As a loyal reader, I really miss the pervious story, the team lived together and grew up together instead of the dark story and cliche. The plot doesn't need to be that cruel and doesn't need too much description of the non-SAPR team. You don't have to make ruby out to be a jerk. Anyway, this story has gotten too far.
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There's no need to blame ruby at all. You can blame the author
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Honestly another thing that bothers me is this bit:
First of all, Ruby, unfortunately for you, picking leaders isn't up to you, thats on Ozpin, who is monumentally wiser than you (and even he admits he makes misjudgements, such as contemplating whether he should have made Raven leader instead of Summer)
And to the second point, Ruby, do you not remember how much of an utter bitch Sunset was when she first came to Beacon? She has grown so much during her time at Beacon, becoming a better person, a loving friend, and while not perfectly selfless, she's less selfish than she was before. She gained friends (even a best friend), she had loved ones, she even reconciled with her old teacher. So don't you tell me Sunset was better off not coming to Beacon!
I hope when Ruby goes to talk to Ozpin, that Glynda is there. Oz would handle her with kid gloves, but Glynda would tear Ruby a new one. Glynda would probably use Summer for examples to just destroy Ruby. Because in this story, there's no way Summer Rose doesn't understand the cruel calculus.
Man, Can't wait till we get to the part in the rewrite where Ruby thinks its her fault that Yang died because being the literal white knight she is condems the defenders to die by keeping the gate closed. I almost would want Yang to die just to hurt Ruby but am glad mom pops by to grab her. That being said I am just up for Ruby getting a fucking reality check because her childsh storybook glorifying of huntsmen strips them of their humanity.
Sunset saving the Warden (and most of the prison staff) during the mass jailbreak and then asking for a parole so she could go out and try and save the city was one of my favorite moments in the original story. Super memorable… very fun.
“I have a note?” LOL
Anyway… even though that particular bit of the story was amazing… it was the disconnect leading up to it that bothered me most.
Sunset was a 17 year old 1st year student when she was nearly sentenced to DEATH. She got life imprisonment instead… for her actions during the Breach. In the original story, no one even died. She saved two teams of student hunters and huntresses… 50 or more White Fang (sure, most people probably don’t care that she saved them… but she did save their lives!) and in the end protected the city anyway with no fatalities. This was even the outcome she expected. She wasn’t exactly guessing, with Professor Goodwitch on the job of bringing the message… and the Atlas military right there waiting for word… she had every reason to believe she wasn’t sacrificing innocents to save her teams.
Sure… she doubts herself after. But that’s because she’s a good person at heart and the idea of saving herself and her friends at the cost of others truly bothers her… for all that she’d probably do the same again.
And for that she’s nearly executed? Life in prison? It was just… so jarringly excessive that it took me out of the story.
Perhaps thanks to its much more dangerous quality of life, there were laws in place that firmly stated that risking civilians (even if none were actually killed) merits death. But that had to be intuited. Something so different from our reality should be alluded to, explained even… Chekov’s draconian law’d. If we can see it coming somewhat… it would have made the result less immersion breaking.
Of course, in the rewrite, 6 people died, including a fellow student. That changes things somewhat. It means charges and consequences make more sense. Sunsets guilt makes more sense. Still not “yup… let’s put the 17 year old student into prison for life for a crime that almost anyone in her shoes would have at lease hesitated for a long moment before not committing…”
Ozpin tried to get her to go for the whole “she’s just a student, she wasn’t ready to make such decisions yet” defense… which, frankly, would have been a pretty good defense! But Sunsset dismisses him… and he lets her? And practically nobody else comes to her defense?
Yeah. The trial part was what I had the most trouble with. The laws were super draconian without any real hint that they would be… and that gap between expectation and reality knocked me for one clean out of my enjoyment of the story for awhile.
Obviously the rewrite is going in another direction. I’m interested in seeing where it goes.
Also, for those of you upset at Ruby “banishing” Sunset… come on. It’s not like she has any real power to enforce that and everyone Sunset included, knows it. Sunset leaves as requested because she doesn’t want to force her company on someone who is hurt by her presence. Nothing more. She really shouldn’t leave Beacon, to be honest… go for a walk, sure. Stay clear of Ruby for a while… absolutely. But leave entirely? Of course not.
In her shoes I’d swing back and check in with Ozpin. Ask for an assignment that would take me away for awhile maybe… help with the defense of Vale… something useful.
But to just run? No. Hopefully Sunset will get a clear head before too long and turn around. Certainly Ozpin would prefer she stay!
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Five civilian and one Vale student lives lost. Her decision wasn't bloodless. Unless you're talking about the original version.
Anyway, oof, this was a not unexpected but devastating chapter. Ruby's just fucking it up for everyone at this point. Her childish, arrogant, uncompromising attitude not only cost them Sunset for the time being, but Amber forever. Hopefully it's pointed out to her at some point that she directly caused the fall of Vale by convincing Amber she wouldn't be forgiven if she came clean. Hopefully to twist the knife it's a grieving Dove.
"She was going to tell you, you know. After what you did to Sunset, she knew you wouldn't forgive her. So she betrayed you, and she died. I won't forgive you either, Ruby."
Scene practically writes itself.
The twists and turns this rewrite are taking are exquisite and brutal. It's not like I hate Ruby, I still like her character, but she needs to wake up. When she does it's probably going to destroy her for a while.
This really is one of maybe 3-5 stories that keep me coming back to Fimfic. Always looking forward to more
Ruby, I'm gonna slap you.
Yup. Called it. Oof…