SAPR

by Scipio Smith

The Book Broker (New)

The Book Broker

Sun – Sun Wukong, to give the full name that he had supplied to her – was holding the umbrella in the grip of his tail as he and Blake walked arm in arm down the street.

In spite of everything that had led up to this point, in spite of the fact that she might well be – probably was – a wanted fugitive, nevertheless, this… this was nice.

So nice that leaned into his arm, wrapping both her arms around his.

“This doesn’t bother you, does it?” she asked softly.

“Uh, no,” Sun said, though he sounded as though it surprised him. “So long as you’re okay, I’m okay.”

Blake smiled, if a little sadly. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had said something like that to her. She couldn’t remember the last time that anyone had put her first, her wants and desires above all else. That sounded selfish, when put into words, but at the same time… after Rainbow Dash, after Sienna Khan, after Adam, why shouldn’t she be glad that someone was willing to say to her ‘so long as you’re okay, I’m okay.’

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Hey,” Sun said. “It’s the least I could do.”

Blake snorted. “The least you could do? Sun, you don’t even know who I am.”

“You don’t know who I am,” Sun replied. “But you trust me, right?”

He had her there. “I… I guess,” Blake accepted. “I suppose… you’ve got one of those manners that says you can be trusted.”

“And you’ve got one of those manners that says that you’ve got a lot going on and could use all the help you can get.”

“That’s… not entirely inaccurate,” Blake admitted.

The air had warmed up a little, and the snow had turned to rain which pitter-pattered off the top of Sun’s umbrella. One advantage of Blake leaning on Sun was that they were now close enough that said umbrella could cover them both without him having to get wet for her sake.

“So,” Sun started, “why are we going to this bookshop?”

“The owner… is something of an old friend,” Blake said carefully. “In fact, he’s about the only person I know in this city. So, unless you have a place to stay for the night…”

Sun laughed nervously. “Uh, not exactly. I was kind of hoping that something would turn up. In my experience, it usually does.” He paused. “And it did, because I met you, and you know someone who can put us up. See how that works?”

Blake smiled. “Is that really how you go through life?”

“Pretty much,” Sun said. “'Footloose and fancy free,' is what my buddy Neptune calls it.”

“That sounds about right.”

“He also says I’m an idiot.”

Blake chuckled, covering her mouth with her free hand. “He might have a point there too. But you’re an idiot with a good heart, and that… I’m grateful for that.” She paused. “Sun?”

“Yeah?”

“What brings you to Vale in the first place?”

“I’m here for the Vytal Festival,” Sun said casually.

Blake looked at him. “You’re a student?”

“Yup,” Sun said. “Sun Wukong, leader of Team Sun of Haven.”

Blake blinked. “Then what are you doing here so early? And stowed away aboard a cargo ship? And where is the rest of your team?”

“Well, we’re a team from Haven, so I guess that they’re still in Haven,” Sun suggested. “As for the other two, well… it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“'Footloose and fancy free,'” Blake murmured.

Sun laughed. "That might be a little nicer than anything Neptune will have to say to me once the guys get here."

"I can understand why," Blake replied, "but, for whatever it's worth, I'm glad you came."

Sun didn't say anything for a moment or two. "It's worth a lot," he said.

They arrived at Tukson's Book Trade; the lights were off inside, and for a moment, Blake was worried that they had arrived too late and that Tukson had already locked up for the evening. But when she pushed against the door, she found that it opened for her, and she was able to step inside. Sun folded up the umbrella before following. A little bell over the door tinkled to announce their presence.

"I'm sorry, we're closed," Tukson's voice preceded him into the room. The doors from the back swung open as the man himself emerged. "I was just about to- Blake?"

"Hey," Blake said, her voice soft and a little melancholy. "I'm sorry to barge in on you like this, but..."

Tukson's expression dissolved into a look of sympathetic misery. "You're in some kind of trouble."

"I don't have anywhere else to go," Blake replied.

Tukson rested his hands upon the counter. A sigh fell from his lips. "Your secret got out, huh?"

Blake nodded. "I know that I'm asking a lot of you, and if you tell me to go, then I will, but-"

"No," Tukson said immediately. "No, Blake, I won't do that. Like you said, you've got nowhere else to go. I'm not about to throw you out into the rain like a stray." He glanced at Sun. "Who's this?"

"You've heard of the kindness of strangers," Blake presumed.

"I've heard about it," Tukson replied. "The same way I've heard about lost cities in the Vacuo desert."

The corners of Blake's lips twitched upwards for a moment. "He's the stranger."

"Pleasure to meet you... sir?" Sun ventured. To Blake, he whispered, "Is this your dad?"

Tukson snorted. "No, son, I'm not her father. Her father's much bigger and scarier than I am."

"Uh... good to know?"

Tukson shook his head. "You two head back, stay out of sight. I'll lock up and then... are you hungry?"

Blake's stomach answered for her, growling aggressively at the mention of hunger.

Tukson chuckled. "I'll fix up some supper, and we can talk."

"Thank you," Blake murmured. She repeated it, more loudly, "Thank you, so much."

"Don't mention it," Tukson said, waving away her gratitude with one hand. "People like us have to stick together, right?"

"I suppose," Blake said softly.

Tukson lifted up the slat on the left-hand side of the counter so that he could venture out into the main body of the store, while Blake and Sun could head the opposite way. As Sun got behind the counter, he stopped, staring at the double-barreled sawn-off shotgun underneath the register.

"Is it normal for bookstore owners to have guns in this town?" he asked.

"You've obviously never met a literature critic," Tukson replied breezily as he reached the front door and started locking up.

Blake led Sun through the double doors behind the counter, through the backroom crammed high with piles of books and cardboard boxes loaded with the same, and into Tukson's kitchen, where a little wooden table sat upon a black tiled floor, with an oven sat against the wall and an old fashioned kettle resting on the hob. Blake sat in the chair facing the door, leaving Sun to take the other chair with his back to said door. He rested his arms upon the table, looking at her, waiting for her to speak.

Blake didn't, not yet. First, she got out her scroll and checked her messages. She'd set her scroll to silent, so she hadn't seen the notifications. She had a few messages, although Blake was a little surprised that they had come from Sunset Shimmer.

Where are you?

Whatever your real story is, we can deal with it if we know where you are.

Ozpin knew who you were, in case you didn’t know. He’s on your side. Or apathetic, at least.

Rainbow Dash has made up her mind about you. She's looking for you, and she's going to kill you. Literally. As in with bullets. But we can protect you if we know where you are.

Blake put the scroll away without replying.

"Bad news?" Sun asked.

"Nothing I didn't know already," Blake replied softly. "Like you said, I'm in trouble."

"But... why?" Sun asked. "I mean, everything seemed fine when I saw you this morning."

They didn't know about my past this morning. Everything had seemed fine for Blake, just as everything had seemed fine for Ilia at her fancy Atlesian prep school… right up until it wasn’t. Right until they found out who, and what, Ilia really was. Right until they found out what Blake really was. Perhaps… would it be the same in this case, too? Blake hesitated. She didn't know how Sun would feel about any of this; for all she knew, once she told him the truth, he would reject her, just like her Beacon classmates had.

A part of her mind pointed out that he was a faunus like her. A much bigger part of her mind pointed out that she had made the same mistake with Rainbow Dash, and now, the girl was trying to kill her. Sun could be exactly the same.

But she had trusted him this far, and he hadn't needed to be there for her; nobody had forced him to. Surely, he deserved to know why she was in trouble, especially if that trouble now meant there was an angry Atlesian huntress-in-training roaming Vale looking for her. And she hadn't been lying when she said that he seemed like a trustworthy person. "Sun," she said, "do you know anything about the White Fang?"

Sun snorted. "Come on, Blake, everyone's heard of the White Fang. Bunch of jackasses who use force to get whatever they want it."

"It wasn't like that," Blake protested. "At least... it wasn't supposed to be like that." She bowed her head and reached for the bow that rested on top of it. She pulled it off, revealing her feline ears underneath. "I was once a member of the White Fang."

She looked up. Sun, to his credit, didn't look horrified, or scared of her. He looked surprised, to be sure, but not as though he was only seeing her for the first time now.

"You were a member?" he said. "But... you're so young!"

Blake smiled, but only for a moment. "You could say that I was born into the White Fang. Of course, back then, it wasn't what it eventually became. The White Fang was founded after the revolution to be a force for equality between humans and faunus. It was open to anyone, of any race, with the only requirement being that they were passionate about justice. In that way, it was hoped that the White Fang would be a symbol of unity and peace." Blake frowned. "But despite having promised the faunus equality, many humans still considered the faunus to be lesser beings, undeserving of rights or justice." She looked at Sun. "You're from Haven, I can't believe you don't know what I'm talking about."

Sun shrugged. "It happens. Some things you can't change, so you'd better get used to them, right?"

"I refused to accept that," Blake declared. "I still refuse to accept that. The White Fang was founded upon a refusal to accept it. All through my childhood, and for many years before, the White Fang attempted to use peaceful measures to make our point. We rallied, we marched, we organised boycotts, and I was there for all of it... I was there as nothing changed. We might as well have been shouting into the darkness for all the good it was doing."

"So you stopped shouting... and started shooting," Sun said quietly.

"You could say that," Blake acknowledged. "Five years ago, my... our leader stepped down, and Sienna Khan took his place. She promised results, and she proposed to get those results through the use of violence. At first, it was just a matter of setting fire to businesses that refused to serve faunus, of hijacking cargo belonging to companies that exploited faunus labour... and it seemed to be working, at a cost. The four kingdoms declared the White Fang a terrorist group, the Atlesian military began to hunt us down like animals, but we were winning concessions at the same time. Companies and businesses we targeted cleaned up their acts, and it didn't matter that they were doing it out of fear; the list of organisations that defied the White Fang got smaller every month. But our methods got more extreme every year. Bombings, kidnapping and murder, acceptance of collateral damage... I told Rainbow Dash that the White Fang only went after those who deserved to be targeted, but the truth is, that hasn't been true for some time now, and I couldn't take it anymore. So I left, hiding my identity behind a black bow and dedicating myself to becoming a huntress, where I could use my skills in a more worthy cause."

"Until you got found out," Sun said.

Blake nodded slightly. "You can take the girl out of the White Fang, but you can't take away her instinct to defend them or her hostility to the Atlesian military." She frowned. "Tukson, how long are you going to stand out there listening? You already know this story."

"I just wanted to understand what you were telling the boy," Tukson said as he walked into the kitchen. Sun started to get up, but Tukson waved him down. "Keep your seat, it's fine." He walked over to the old kettle, picked it up and carried it to the sink, where he started to fill it with water. "You want some tea?"

"Thank you," Blake murmured.

"Sure," Sun said. He hesitated. "So... were you in the White Fang, too?"

Tukson turned the tap off. "You heard Blake; it wasn't always like this. I signed up for peaceful protests, but I was okay with breaking a few windows, setting fire to a few empty businesses. We were making our point, but nobody was getting hurt." He carried the kettle back to the hob, set it down, and lit the oven. A ring of blue flames appeared beneath the kettle as the fire dust powder began to burn. "But I wasn't much of a fighter, and when they started to hand out guns, I... slipped away. It was easier to leave at first; as things escalated, the High Leader was more understanding of those who didn't have the stomach to stick around. I was pretty much allowed to walk away. Blake..."

"It wasn't quite that simple for me," Blake murmured.

Tukson nodded. He left the kettle to get on with boiling as he opened up a cupboard and pulled out a trio of mugs, then went to another cupboard to retrieve a box of teabags. "I hope no one minds store brand, it's all I've got. So... they know about you at Beacon?"

"They know what I was," Blake agreed. "Some of them are looking for me. I should probably-"

"No, you don't have to leave," Tukson said. "Whatever comes, I can take it." The kettle began to boil, and Tukson turned his back upon the young huntsmen as he poured the tea. "But you do need to decide what you're going to do next."

"I hear Vacuo is nice... and remote," Blake muttered.

"It has its charms," Sun informed her. "It's got its share of flaws too, but at least folks don't seem to care if you're a faunus."

"That's... good to know," Blake said. "Although I'd rather not run away to Vacuo to hide."

Tukson poured the tea. "I know Blake takes milk but no sugar, but how about you, kid?"

"Two sugars, please."

As Tukson finished off the tea, he said, "You know, Blake... you could always-"

"No," Blake cut him off. "No, I can't go back there."

"Can't?" Tukson asked. "Or won't?"

"Some things can't be unsaid," Blake told him. "And I don't want to cause any more trouble for them. Not to mention, there's no way of knowing if they'd even want me back."

Tukson sighed. "You know they'd take you back in a heartbeat."

"No," Blake replied, her voice soft but unyielding. "I don't know that."

"What are you guys talking about?" Sun asked.

"Nothing," Blake said immediately, and she was thankful that that appeared to be enough for Sun to drop the subject. She paused. "Tukson, I know that you still have a few contacts in the White Fang... do you know anything about these robberies that have been going on in Vale?"

She waited for him to say that he did not, that he knew nothing, that none of his remaining White Fang contacts had even mentioned the issue to him. She waited for him to tell her that all the suspicions of Weiss and Rainbow Dash were groundless, driven by prejudice and groundless suspicion.

She waited, but as Tukson carried the mugs of tea over to the table and set them down in front of Blake and Sun with soft thuds, she could not help but note that his expression was grim. "You're not going to want to hear this," he said finally.

Blake's eyes widened. "It's true?"

"That's what I hear," Tukson said, leaning against his fridge as he sipped at his tea. "From what my sources tell me, it's the main focus of activity for the White Fang at the moment."

"Robbery?" Blake demanded. "How is robbing downtown dust shops going to lead to equality for the faunus?"

"Prejudiced dust shop owners?" Sun suggested.

"If that were the case, then they would have simply destroyed the shops," Blake replied. "The White Fang... we stole dust in the past, for obvious reasons, but the amount that's being stolen now, and in such a short amount of time... there must be enough dust to keep the Vale Chapter supplied for a year or more already."

"Maybe not," Tukson replied. "The other thing I hear is that recruitment efforts have been stepped up recently. A lot of new blood coming in."

"Why?" Blake asked. The White Fang had never emphasised raw numbers in the past; new recruits were brought in slowly, in recognition of the fact that they were likely to be of poor quality in a fight and that there weren't the resources to arm or train them. The White Fang operated using guerilla tactics, inflicting small but painful bites upon the mighty but ponderous Atlesian behemoth opposed to them; raiding parties were small, and the few new recruits around at any one time learnt by being surrounded by seasoned, capable operatives. A swollen chapter might explain the need for dust, but what would explain the need for manpower? What was Adam planning to do with a horde of ill-trained dross? It wasn't as if he could overthrow Vale by main force, and Adam was smart enough to know that. "What's going on?"

"I don't know; apparently, there's someone new calling the shots."

"Adam has been replaced?" Blake demanded.

"No," Tukson replied. "That would be too easy. He's still there, but there's somebody else above him, giving him his marching orders. Not the High Leader. Nobody that talks to me really knows who she is, just that she arrived not long after you left and that Adam takes his cue from her." Tukson paused. "They say she's human."

"That's impossible," Blake said. "Adam would never work with a human."

"I thought so too, but that's what I hear from people closer to it all than us," Tukson said. "I hear the old guard aren't happy about it. They don't have the men, yet, but-"

"Adam will kill them before they do," Blake whispered.

"Probably," Tukson admitted.

Blake bowed her head. "I still can't believe this. I know it's stupid, after the things that we... that the White Fang have already done, but... do you know where the next robbery is? Or when it is?"

"Why?"

"I need to see this for myself," Blake said, "before I can believe it."

"See for yourself or stop it?"

"Both, maybe," Blake admitted. "If you're right."

“Blake-” Tukson said.

“Don’t try to dissuade me,” Blake implored.

“Someone ought to,” Tukson replied. “You know what you’re walking into.”

“And what should I do instead?” Blake demanded. “Run away again? Go to Vacuo? I can’t keep running, I… have to make a stand for what I believe in, and what I believe is that the White Fang is going too far.”

Tukson drank some more of his tea. "The word is there's an SDC freighter coming into port tomorrow. They must be experimenting with ships since the rail line keeps getting intercepted. The plain is to steal the containers from off the wharfside."

"From stores to shipping containers?" Sun said. "Someone wants a lot of dust."

"Tomorrow night?" asked Blake.

"Tomorrow night," agreed Tukson.

"I'll be there," Blake declared.

"And so will I," Sun added.

"Sun," Blake said, "you don't have to-"

"No, I don't," Sun agreed. "But I'm going to."

"Why?" Blake asked. "This could be dangerous. You could be hurt or-"

"So could you, and you're still doing it."

He was right of course. "I... I have to," Blake said. "This is my... this is something that I have to do."

"Then like I said before," Sun reminded her, "it seems like you could use all the help you can get."

---

Flash stood before the dorm room door – on the inside of the room, that is – with the tip of Caliburn resting on the floor while he held the spear shaft of the weapon’s current mode in his hands. He looked grim and resolute and just a little ridiculous.

Twilight’s eyes flickered to him from her computer. “You know, you can sit down.”

“I’m not sure if Rainbow Dash would like that,” Flash muttered.

Twilight smiled, if only a little. “I’m glad you’re here, but honestly? I’m not expecting an attack. I very much doubt that Blake will come back here.”

She pushed her chair back across the carpeted floor.

Flash looked at her. “I thought you were supposed to be piloting your drones.”

“I have twenty drones in the air,” Twilight informed him. “There’s no way that I could pilot all of them at once, with any kind of interface. I’d need a supercomputer for a brain to coordinate even half as many objects in flight at once.”

Flash grinned. “You mean you don’t have a supercomputer for a brain?”

“Unfortunately not,” Twilight replied. “So I’ve set the drones to fly on pre-programmed flight-paths and uploaded Blake’s image into the recognition databases. As they fly, they’re scanning every face using advanced recognition software. They’ll alert me if they get a match, and I can assume direct control of that drone or any nearby.”

“But until then… you wait?”

“I wait,” Twilight said. She got up off her chair. “Will you please sit down? You can protect me just as easily without doing your best impression of a statue.”

Flash laughed self-deprecatingly. “I guess you’re right,” he admitted as he retreated across the room and sat down on Penny’s bed. He leaned Caliburn against the wall and took off his crested helmet, setting it down beside him. Flash ran one hand through his blue hair. “I still can’t believe this is happening.”

“Were you close?” Twilight asked.

“No,” Flash said at once. “I don’t think anyone was close to Blake. But at the same time… she was still one of us. A Beacon freshman. Bon Bon likes to say that even though we’re on different teams, we’re on the same team because we’re all huntsmen of Beacon.”

“That’s… a very Atlesian attitude,” Twilight murmured. “Which isn’t too surprising, come to think, is it?”

“I guess not,” Flash replied. “It hasn’t taken in every quarter… particularly not in my team, I have to admit, but she’s got a point. We’re all at this school, we’re all here to do the same job, to become the same thing. We ought to be able to trust each other without having to worry that someone is planning to stab us in the back and betray the cause we’re fighting for.”

“I know,” Twilight murmured. “I know this can’t be easy for you.”

Flash shook his head. “This has nothing to do with me.”

Twilight pursed her lips together. “Flash… it’s okay to be angry or upset. Rainbow is very angry and very upset, and she… and we haven’t suffered half as much at the hands of the White Fang as you have.”

Flash looked up and into her eyes. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“What isn’t?” Twilight asked.

“Trying to compare what I went through with what you went through as though we can establish a hierarchy of who has suffered most.”

“Everyone lived,” Twilight said softly. “My parents, my brother, my friends, Cadance. In the end I didn’t lose anyone.”

“And I wasn’t scared out of my mind for me and everyone I cared about,” Flash declared. “By the time I found out what I’d lost… it was already too late.”

“Oh, Flash,” Twilight murmured, as she crossed the room to sit down on the bed beside him. She put one arm around his shoulders and took his hand with the other. “I wish that there was something I could do to take that pain away from you.”

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t have to pretend if you’re not,” Twilight insisted.

Flash looked at her. “You know… it's stuff like this that made me think you and I could be a thing.”

Twilight gasped. “I’m just trying to be a good friend. That’s all I was ever trying to be.”

“I know,” Flash said. “I mean I know that now. I just… it doesn’t matter. And as for my father… I try and honour him by being a good man, someone that he could be proud of.”

“I’m sure he would be proud of you,” Twilight assured him.

“I’m not sure my mom feels the same way,” Flash replied. “She thinks I’m being reckless.”

“She’s probably just scared to lose you.”

“There’s no probably about it; she told me so herself,” Flash told her. “But I can’t just hide myself away in an office somewhere in Atlas, I want to leave the world a better place than I found it.”

“To be honest, a part of me would quite like to hide away in a lab in Atlas somewhere,” Twilight admitted. “But… duty calls.”

“For some,” Flash said. “The reason I chose Beacon instead of Atlas is I knew that, at Atlas, my mom would pull strings to keep me out of harm's way.”

“I’m not sure General Ironwood would allow that.”

“I’m not sure he wouldn’t either,” Flash replied. “Remember, he doesn’t know me like he knows you.”

“It’s because I know him that I know that he doesn’t play those kinds of games,” Twilight insisted. “But… you’re happy here at Beacon, right?”

Flash nodded. “Yeah, I am.”

“Then you made the right choice, and nothing else matters,” Twilight said. She smiled. “Flash, can I ask you something completely irrelevant and possibly rather stupid?”

Flash shrugged. “I guess.”

“Why do you wear your jacket over your armour?”

Flash stifled a laugh. “Really?”

“They hardly go together.”

“My jacket has pockets for my stuff.”

“Pyrrha wears pouches on her belt for that.”

“I suppose,” Flash said, more softly. He paused. “I got this jacket,” he continued, after a moment, “at the same time that I bought Sunset her jacket.” He smiled. “I remember, she was so happy about it. She loved it. She put it on and then danced all around the mall with this great big smile on her face and her arms spread out on either side of her like a little kid. It was the funniest thing… and it was also the sweetest thing I’d ever seen. I guess I wear this jacket… to remind me of that day. And of her.”

“You still love her, don’t you?”

“I think a part of me always will,” Flash admitted.

“She seems a lot better now,” Twilight said. “Have you ever thought about maybe-?”

“No,” Flash said quickly. “She might be better now, but she’s not the same. There’s a part of me that will always love Sunset, but it’s the Sunset that I knew back then. Whoever she becomes now, she’ll never be that girl I knew again.” He shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe I shouldn’t dwell on the past.”

“There’s nothing wrong with remembering the good times,” Twilight insisted. “As long as you don’t let them stop you looking to the future.”

There was a knock on the door. Spike, who had been dozing under the desk, opened his eyes and looked up, but did not bark.

Flash got to his feet, one hand reaching for Caliburn.

“Who is it?” Twilight called.

“It’s Weiss,” Weiss replied from the other side of the door. “Can I come in?”

“Of course,” Twilight declared as she got up from the bed before Flash could stop her, then crossed the room in brisk strides to open the door. “Hey, Weiss.”

“Hey, Twilight,” Weiss said, without much enthusiasm. Twilight stepped aside, and Weiss glided in, closing the door behind her. She glanced around, catching sight of Spike on the floor. “And who is this?” she asked, her face lighting up as she knelt down, holding out her hands.

Twilight smiled. “That’s Spike, my dog.”

“Oh, he’s a good boy. Yes, he is. Yes, you are! Come to Auntie Weiss, come on.”

Spike barked as he jumped into Weiss’ arms. She started scratching him behind the ears as she stood up. Noticing Twilight looking at her with a smile on her face, Weiss looked away. Her pale cheeks flushed a little. “Ahem. Is there any word?” Weiss asked.

“Not from Rainbow Dash, no,” Twilight said. “And my drones haven’t alerted me to anything either,” she added, gesturing to her computer.

“I see,” Weiss murmured. “I… don’t know what to say to that.”

“If she is a member of the White Fang-” Flash began.

“What if she’s not?” Weiss asked. “What if she only was? She didn’t exactly get a chance to explain herself before Rainbow started throwing punches.”

Flash frowned. “Even if she only used to be a member of the White Fang, then…”

“Professor Ozpin seems to trust her,” Weiss said. “And if we can’t trust the headmaster, then who can we trust? Believe me, I know that the White Fang are dangerous, and that we have to fight them… but if Blake is… is hurt,” she said, because she didn’t want to admit the other possibility, “for no other reason than her past, doesn’t that prove that everything the White Fang say is right?”

Twilight looked down at the floor. “Quite possibly.”

“I like Rainbow Dash,” Weiss said, “and I have a lot of respect for the Atlas forces… I just don’t want to see someone I… could call a friend… kill another.”

---

Twilight must have fallen asleep at some point, because she woke up with a start to find that it was morning. There was birdsong outside and light beginning to filter in through the crack in the curtains.

Twilight sat up; she had fallen asleep with her head resting on the desk. Her computer showed that all her drones were still in the air, and none of them had yet located any sign of Blake.

Which might not be a wholly bad thing, in the circumstances.

Twilight took off her glasses and wiped her eyes. "Flash, Weiss, why didn't you wake me up?" she asked, before letting loose with a leonine yawn as she looked around.

She swiftly discovered that the reason neither of them had woken her up was that they were both asleep themselves. They were both sat on the bed; there was just about room for them, although Flash's legs were falling down off it to the floor, leaning against one another. Weiss' head was resting upon Flash's shoulder; Flash's head was resting on top of Weiss'. It was… pretty cute, really. Made all the more so by the way that Spike, also sleeping, had climbed into Weiss' lap. One of her hands was resting on his back as though she had fallen asleep midway through stroking him.

Twilight smiled at them both and kept her footsteps very soft as she crossed the room to her own bed and cleaned her spectacles. As she wiped at the lenses, she thought about what Weiss had said, about proving the White Fang right in the way they treated Blake.

It wasn't something Twilight could really argue with.

Unfortunately, Twilight wasn't the person who most needed to be convinced.

Twilight understood why Rainbow felt the way she did, why she was driven to act the way she did. Twilight had been at the wedding too, after all; Twilight had looked Chrysalis in the eye; Twilight seemed to be the one towards whom Chrysalis bore the most malice. Twilight had been trapped in that room the same as the rest of them, anxious and fearful. It haunted her as much as it haunted Rainbow Dash; it haunted her so much that she had come very close to refusing this assignment because she really didn't want to be in the line of fire again. But… Twilight supposed that was the point; she could accept and admit to herself that she was, not a bookworm, but well-read at least, and a science nerd and that she would be better off in a lab somewhere safely out of the way. Twilight could accept that she had been scared out of her mind because… because she was the kind of person who was supposed to be scared. She was the kind of person who was supposed to be saved by heroes like Rainbow Dash. Rainbow couldn't accept it in the same way because that wasn't who Rainbow Dash was, that wasn't what Rainbow wanted to be thought of as: a fierce daughter of Atlas, a warrior, the bravest of the brave. And she was brave, the bravest person Twilight knew… and because she was brave, she couldn't forgive herself for the sin of having once felt fear.

Twilight put a comm device in her ear and kept her voice soft and quiet as she murmured. "Rainbow Dash."

The earpiece was connected to her scroll and began to call in obedience to Twilight's command. It was only a moment or two before Rainbow answered. "Morning, Twi."

"Morning," Twilight replied. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"No," Rainbow muttered.

Twilight winced. Rainbow… she had become a lot more of a morning person out of sheer necessity since Twilight had first met her - you couldn't survive in the Atlesian school system otherwise - but that didn't mean she was going to be at her best having gone without sleep. "So… you haven't found anything yet?"

"No," Rainbow growled. "Any luck from the air?"

"My drones haven't spotted her, I'm afraid."

"Too bad," Rainbow muttered. "How are things up there?"

Twilight looked again at the slumbering Flash and Weiss. "Weiss and Flash are sleeping propped up against one another, and it's adorable."

"Wake him up; he's supposed to be protecting you!" Rainbow snapped.

"Rainbow Dash," remonstrated Twilight. "You don't honestly think that Blake is going to show up here at Beacon, do you?"

"If she finds out the headmaster is on her side, she might."

"If she came back because the headmaster was on her side, she'd hardly risk that by attacking a fellow student," Twilight pointed out.

"She is not a student," Rainbow growled. "She's a terrorist, Twi, and you know that as well as I do."

"She was one, true," Twilight agreed. "Although that doesn't necessarily mean she did anything unforgivable."

Rainbow groaned. "Come on, Twi, not you too. You know what these people are like. You know what monsters they are, what they're capable of."

"Who's ‘they’, Rainbow Dash?"

"Don't give me that, Twilight, you know who I mean," Rainbow declared. "If it were Chrysalis out here, you wouldn't be getting cold feet; you'd be cheering me on."

"But it isn't Chrysalis," Twilight pointed out. "Blake isn't Chrysalis. Blake didn't try to abduct my sister-in-law, Blake didn't threaten Scootaloo, or any of the girls, or our friends. Blake… we don't know what Blake did, if she did anything."

"She was White Fang, I'm sure she did something," Rainbow muttered.

"Blake isn't Chrysalis," Twilight repeated. "Chrysalis is in solitary confinement in the most secure facility in Atlas." And I know that because I implanted a worm in the prison systems that will let me know the instant that changes. "You don't have to be afraid of her."

Rainbow was silent for a moment. "Is that what you think? You think that I'm scared of Chrysalis?"

"I think you feel like you've got something to prove," Twilight replied, keeping her voice down for the sake of Weiss and Flash. "But you don't. We all survived-"

"Thanks to you," Rainbow said. "You got word out."

"And you kept us alive long enough that I could," Twilight insisted. "You don't need to hunt down a Beacon student in order to prove… anything. You… you're my hero already."

"Oh, come on, Twilight, how am I supposed to stand my ground after you say something like that?"

Twilight giggled, albeit very quietly. "I don't want to see you become a killer," she murmured. "At least… not without much better reason than this."

There was no reply from the other end of the line. Only the sound of Rainbow's breathing in Twilight's earpiece told her that Rainbow Dash was still there.

"What do you want from me, Twilight?" Rainbow asked.

"I want…" Twilight hesitated. "I'd like you to give her a chance to show what she really is, and not just assume the worst."

Again, it took Rainbow a moment to answer. "Twilight… you're my hero too, you know that, right?"

"No, I didn't," Twilight said softly. "And I can't think why."

Rainbow sighed. "I'll explain in person; I'm not going to do it now. It's just… you always know what the right thing is."

"So… does that mean…?"

"It means… it means I'll think about it," Rainbow said, in a tone that made it clear that Twilight shouldn't try to push her any further on this.

Twilight wasn't inclined to try. She knew Rainbow well enough to know that Rainbow Dash promised to think about it, she had halfway to won already.

---

“Blake!” Ruby called as she cupped her hands around her mouth. “Blake!”

“You kids lose your dog or something?” asked the man behind the counter of the black coffee van.

“Something like that,” Sunset muttered as she handed over the lien and then picked up their breakfast: four hot drinks balanced awkwardly in a cardboard tray in one hand and two paper bags in the other which rustled gently as she squeezed them. She picked them up and made her way quickly but carefully down the street to the corner where Ruby, Jaune, and Pyrrha were waiting.

“Blake!” Ruby yelled again, heedless of the stares she was getting from the small number of people out on the street this early.

“Okay,” Sunset said, stifling a yawn as she approached her team. “In this bag, we have Jaune’s bacon sandwich and Pyrrha’s sausage and bacon sandwich.”

“Thanks,” Jaune said, plucking the bag out of her hands and opening it up. The paper rustled as Jaune reached in and pulled out a bun with a couple of strips of damp, greasy-looking bacon sandwiched between the bread. A drop of butter dripped back down into the bag, which was already damp with butter and grease.

Jaune handed the bag to Pyrrha as he bit into the sandwich.

“Can I ask,” Sunset said, as Pyrrha pulled out her sandwich in turn, “first of all, where are you putting all of this greasy rubbish away, and secondly, how is it that you won’t touch chocolate, but you’ll gladly eat that?”

“Meat contains calories,” Pyrrha explained. “I need the energy.” She looked around. “Does anyone see a trash can- oh, there’s one over there.” She darted across the street, looking both ways as she went, and deposited the paper bag in the nearby bin before rejoining the team.

“And in this bag,” Sunset said. “We have Ruby’s chocolate flapjack-”

“Yeah.” Ruby’s hands reached for the bag avariciously.

“That’s right, you can get yours,” Sunset said, lowering the bag so that Ruby could extract her breakfast, leaving only Sunset’s cinnamon whirl. The pastry was already starting to flake. “The drinks have our initials written on them so help yourselves.”

They did just that, each selecting what they’d ordered – Pyrrha’s chai tea, Jaune’s latte, Ruby’s hot chocolate – by the Pyrrha, Jaune and Ruby written on the cardboard cups. At this time in the morning, Sunset was glad for something hot down her throat. She stifled a yawn again as she stuffed her pastry into her mouth as quickly as possible, wiping the crumps away with the back of her hand. She crumpled up the paper bag and shoved it into her jacket pocket – she’d get rid of it later; she didn’t feel like crossing the street to the bin right now – and began to sip on her mocha. It was hot. Scaldingly, gloriously hot. Just what she needed.

“We should go to Tukson’s,” Sunset said, as she lowered her cup and licked the mocha from around her lips.

“Why would Blake go to a bookstore?” Jaune asked.

“I don’t know, why would Blake go anywhere?” Sunset snapped. She sighed. “Sorry… it’s been a long night.”

“It’s been a long night for all of us,” Pyrrha reminded her.

“I know, it doesn’t mean that I’m not tired,” Sunset replied. “The point is that we could wander around Vale from now until Monday morning and the start of class and never find Blake; this place is too big, and we don’t know her that well. Tukson’s is the only place in town we actually know that she goes, and she seems friendly with Mister Tukson. I don’t know, and it doesn’t make any sense to hide out at a bookshop, but does anyone else have any better ideas? Does anyone else have any ideas at all as to where else Blake might go?”

They answered through silence.

“Maybe… maybe we should talk to Team Bluebell?” Ruby suggested.

“You mean the team that we never see Blake with?” Sunset replied.

“That’s a good point,” Ruby conceded, in a soft and slightly reluctant tone.

“If we just keep pounding the pavements aimlessly, then Rosepetal are going to find her first,” Sunset declared. “They’ve got Twilight’s drones, after all.”

“We could split up,” Jaune said.

“Sunset’s right; the city is too big,” Pyrrha told him. “Even if we did split up, there would be too much ground to cover… and… if there is something going on… if the White Fang are involved… I don’t like the idea of you encountering trouble by yourself. I’m sorry, but these people are killers, and you’re still learning.”

“You don’t need to apologise, I get it,” Jaune said. “I mean… when you let me fight that ursa in the forest… I was kind of glad that you were there in case I got into too much trouble.”

“Splitting up is a bad idea,” Sunset agreed.

“But we don’t believe that Blake’s dangerous,” Ruby pointed out.

“It doesn’t mean that nobody is,” Sunset replied. “Look, we have nothing to lose by going to Tukson’s; the time we’ll spend heading there is no different than the time we’d spend going any other direction. But, again, if anyone has a better idea, I’m open to it.”

“I think yours is the best idea that we could have,” Pyrrha murmured. “But will the shop be open now?”

“If it isn’t,” Sunset said. “We’ll just have to bang on the door.”

They kept on calling for Blake – or rather Ruby, Pyrrha, and Jaune did; Sunset saved her breath, considering that Blake was unlikely to come when called as if she were the pet that the coffee vendor had taken her for – as they made their way to the bookstore. Along the way, they finished their drinks, throwing away and the cups by the time they arrived at Tukson’s Book Trade. The early morning light made the gold leaf of the letters glint a little on the green sign as the four huntsmen crossed the quiet street to the store.

The door was open, fortunately, with no need for them to stand outside banging on the door. Rather, Sunset led the way inside to find that Mister Tukson was standing by the counter. He did a double-take at the sight of them, his eyes widening.

“You, uh, you kids are here early,” he said, in a voice that was louder than it needed to be. “I don’t usually get a lot of customers at this time in the morning.”

“You must get a few,” Sunset muttered as she advanced towards the counter. “Or why open so early?”

“Oh, you know, get a couple of early birds passing through,” Mister Tukson replied. “So, what can I do for you kids?”

“Have you seen Blake?” Ruby asked. “We really need to find her?”

“Blake?” Tukson repeated, again in a louder voice that was necessary. “No, I haven’t seen Blake, why?”

“She ran off,” Jaune explained, “and we’re trying to find her.”

“You people have no filter, do you?” Sunset muttered.

“Ran off?” Tukson said. “Why?”

“We’re not exactly sure,” Pyrrha admitted. “We were hoping that, if we found her, she might explain her reasons to us.”

“That seems fair enough,” Tukson replied, “but why look for her here?”

“I’m afraid that this is the only place we could think to look,” Pyrrha said apologetically. “It may seem absurd, but this is the only place we know she frequents.”

“I wouldn’t say that she frequents this place,” Tukson said genially. “She’s a good customer, but this is still only a bookshop. It’s not like we’re friends or anything.”

“Then who are you yelling too?” Sunset demanded.

Tukson was silent for a moment. “Blake isn’t here,” he declared. “Feel free to browse, but if you’ve no intention of buying anything, then please leave; this is a shop, not a library.”

Sunset leaned on the counter. “Blake!” she shouted. “We want to talk!”

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Tukson said.

“Or else what?” Sunset asked. “Are you going to call the police?”

Tukson didn’t reply, which was all the answer that Sunset needed, even if it wasn’t proof of anything.

“Please,” Ruby said, “if Blake’s in trouble, then we want to help her.”

“Why?” Blake asked, pushing open the doors that led into the back room and striding out to stand by Tukson behind the counter. “Why should any of you care what happens to me?” Her bow was gone, revealing a pair of feline ears emerging from out of her wild black hair.

“Because you’re in trouble,” Ruby replied. “Because you need help.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to be the ones to help me,” Blake said.

“Yes, it does,” Ruby said. “Because we’re huntsmen.”

Blake stared at Ruby for a moment. “There aren’t many people who could pull off saying that with a straight face,” she observed. “From you, I almost believe it. But you still need to go.”

“And leave you here?” Jaune asked.

“Yes,” Blake said. “I’m not coming back to Beacon.”

“Why not? Professor Ozpin already seems to know everything about your past,” Pyrrha said quietly. “Far more than we do ourselves, to tell you the truth.”

Blake snorted. “Did you come looking for me so that you could get my life story?”

“We came looking for you because Rainbow Dash thinks you’re a rabid dog,” Sunset said.

Blake was silent for a moment. “Maybe she’s not entirely wrong,” she murmured. “I was a member of the White Fang, and although my parents left when Sienna Khan became leader-”

“Because your parents were the previous leaders of the White Fang, right?” Jaune interrupted.

Blake’s eyes narrowed. “How did you-”

“Rainbow recognised the name,” Sunset said. “Belladonna. I’d say it was careless not to change it, but nobody recognised it except Rainbow Dash.”

“It doesn’t carry a lot of weight outside of Menagerie,” Blake observed dryly.

The blond-haired monkey faunus from the docks emerged from out the back. “Your parents used to lead the White Fang? You didn’t tell me that.”

“It wasn’t important,” Blake said.

“Excuse me,” Pyrrha murmured. “At the risk of sounding rude, who are you?”

“Everyone, this is Sun Wukong,” Blake said. “Sun, this is Sunset Shimmer, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, and Ruby Rose, Team Sapphire of Beacon.”

“’Sup?” Sun asked.

“'’Sup'?” Sunset repeated incredulously. “You’re hanging around with a guy who says ‘sup’?”

“He… wants to help me,” Blake declared. “When no one else did.”

“We want to help you,” Ruby said. “That’s why we’re here.”

“So,” Sunset said. “You’re not only a criminal, but a runaway princess, too?”

Blake snorted. “I suppose you could put it like that. When my parents abandoned the cause, I stayed. I embraced Sienna Khan’s more violent methods… until they became too violent. I wasn’t prepared to indiscriminately kill people whose only crime was being passive participants in a system of oppression. It… it was a step too far for me.”

“That’s… nice to hear, Lady Blake,” Pyrrha observed mildly, “but it doesn’t explain why you came to Beacon.”

“Because it wasn’t enough to just slink into the shadows,” Blake explained. “I had to do something. I had to make amends, in some way, if that makes any sense. I wanted to devote myself to the path of a huntress, to atone for my actions and… to continue to fight for justice and righteousness. Which is why I can’t go back to Beacon with you.”

“You’ll be safer there than here,” Jaune said. “Like Pyrrha said, Professor Ozpin knows everything, and there’s no way that Rainbow Dash will try anything on the campus.”

“No, she’ll just call her good friend General Ironwood to pressure Professor Ozpin into having me arrested, and while she’s waiting, she’ll scream her head off about me to anyone who’ll listen,” Blake pointed out.

Sunset blinked. “That… yeah, that’s a fair point. But-”

“Besides,” Blake said, “Rainbow Dash isn’t what I’m really worried about.”

“She ought to be; they didn’t call her the Ace of Canterlot for nothing,” Sunset said.

Blake shook her head. “Unfortunately, she and Weiss aren’t wrong about the dust robberies. The White Fang are behind them, and tonight, they’re going to rob a large dust shipment just arrived from Atlas. Or they’ll try. I’m going to the docks tonight to stop them.”

“And I’m going with her,” Sun said.

“And so am I,” Ruby said.

“Wait, what?” Sunset cried. “No, you are not!”

“Why not?” Ruby demanded. “Are we supposed to let Blake go off and fight the White Fang by herself?” Ruby asked.

“Uh,” Sun began.

“By herself, with Sun,” Ruby corrected herself.

Sunset turned back to Blake. “Why are you going?”

“Because someone needs to stop them,” Blake answered.

“Someone doesn’t have to mean you.”

“But it has to be someone, and who else is going to do it?” Blake asked of her. “Not you.”

“Call the police; give them an anonymous tip.”

“Even if they believe me, the police can’t stand up to the White Fang,” Blake insisted. “I know these people - I’ve fought with them - and I’m not going to send anyone else to their deaths fighting a battle they can’t win.”

“Except my team,” Sunset said.

“I’m not asking you to come with me.”

“Maybe not, but you’re…” Sunset paused. “Do you really think you’ll win?”

“I don’t know,” Blake answered honestly. “I only know that I have to try.”

“And so do we,” Ruby said. “Sunset… I know that you’re worried, but we’re huntsmen! We’re supposed to accept risk, and if… if you can’t accept that, then maybe you shouldn’t be at Beacon. I mean, I’m not saying that I want you gone, I’m saying that… we know what’s going on, we know who’s behind it, we know where they’re going to be… and we know what we have to do.”

“Tell Professor Ozpin?” Jaune suggested.

“He might not believe me,” Blake said. “I… I can’t reveal how I know this, but I trust the source of my information.”

Sunset inhaled through gritted teeth. “Do you have any idea what kind of opposition we’re likely to run into?”

Blake shook her head. “No.”

“But if we work together, I’m sure we can handle it,” Ruby said.

“We are… not without skill,” Pyrrha admitted, “and we are talking about a battle, not an investigation or anything of that sort.”

Sunset looked at her. “Et tu, Pyrrha?”

Pyrrha’s cheeks flushed just a little. “I am afraid that… in this case, Ruby has a point. Knowing what we do, how can we in honour turn our backs and allow evil to run rampant? How can we turn away when lives are at stake?

“What lives?”

“The lives the White Fang will take when they deploy the stolen dust for whatever end they have in mind,” Pyrrha said.

Sunset sighed. “Jaune?”

Jaune took a moment to collect himself. “I’m… I’m a little ashamed to admit it in front of you, but I’m nervous. I’m ashamed because you don’t seem in the least bit afraid. But I won’t leave you guys; if this is what we’re doing, then I’m in. And… for what it’s worth, I think you’re right. This is the right thing to do.”

It’s the stupid thing to do, Sunset thought. She looked at Blake, a flash of irritation running through her. It appeared that her choices were to go along with this or else try and bully her team into leaving Blake to do this stupid thing by herself, and quite possibly get herself killed doing it. Her ears flattened to the top of her head in irritation. “Okay, I’m in.”

“Yes!” Ruby cried. “This is the right thing, Sunset, and it’s going to work out.”

“I hope so,” Sunset said.

“We’re with you, Lady Blake,” Pyrrha vowed, bowing as she said it.

“You don’t have to keep calling me that,” Blake said.

Pyrrha frowned. “Is your mother not the Lady of Menagerie, wife to its chieftain?”

“Yes,” Blake admitted through gritted teeth. “But… Blake is fine, really.” Her lips twitched upwards. “Unless you’d prefer me to start calling you ‘Lady Pyrrha’?”

Pyrrha’s cheeks reddened a touch. “No, I would rather you didn’t… Blake,” she said.

“Thank you,” Blake said. “Not just for that, but… for everything. You don’t have to do this.”

Sunset snorted. “We both know that’s not true. Now, since we’ve got all day, we might as well try and make a plan.”

---

They had time before they ventured down to the docks to… to see if the White Fang had fallen so low or if Tukson was mistaken. They had time before they had to leave. Time to prepare. Time to plan. Time to call Yang and fill her in on what was going on and obtain her cooperation.

Time for Blake to brood and to decide that, when this battle was over, she would not return to Beacon. She didn't belong there, amongst people untainted by past crimes and ill-judged associations, unburdened by the weight of the things that they had done, the spectres of those they had hurt. She did not belong with Ruby who smiled so adorably, with Pyrrha who spoke so gently; she didn't belong with Sun who was so thoughtlessly noble in his impulses. She did not belong in such a company of budding heroes.

Darkness did not belong in the company of light. One stained and soiled as she was did not belong in the company of the spotless and the clean.

She didn't belong there. Probably, she had never belonged there… but it had been a pleasant illusion to sustain, while it lasted. While she lived, wherever she went next, she would treasure the memory of the acceptance that had been extended to Blake Belladonna, even if she had had to wear a bow to obtain it.

But it was time to wake up now. This was not for her.

Once the battle was concluded - if indeed there was a battle; they might waste their time down at the docks tonight - she would slip away. They would not notice she was gone for some time. Probably, they would not miss her when they did notice. She was not needed there.

The door to Tukson’s guest bedroom - where Blake and Sun had spent the night, and where Blake was now - opened. Sunset Shimmer stood in the doorway

“There you are,” Sunset said. “I want to talk.”

---

Sunset felt like an imbecile for not having recognised the name of Belladonna. It wasn’t as though it was a common name; Blake was the only Belladonna she knew. Sunset should have spotted this much sooner, and she shouldn’t have needed Rainbow Dash to do it.

Of course, considering that if she had put the pieces together much sooner, she probably would have tried to blackmail the other girl or done something equally deplorable, then perhaps it was a good thing her mind had been working more slowly than it ought to have been.

“There you are,” Sunset said, pushing open the door into the blandly-decorated and austerely-furnished guest room. “I want to talk.”

Blake was sitting on the bed. She looked up and into Sunset’s eyes. But, though she sat still and waited for Sunset to speak, it was a flighty sort of stillness that looked poised to break into renewed flight at any moment. Her golden eyes watched Sunset keenly, but also warily, as though Sunset Shimmer were as threatening to her as all the perils of the White Fang.

Perhaps I should be flattered.

"What do you want?" Blake asked cautiously.

Sunset shrugged. "Perhaps I just want to talk about what happens next."

"If I knew that myself, I might tell you," Blake said, with an emphasis on might that suggested it was unlikely.

"You’re not planning on coming back to Beacon, then?” Sunset asked.

“I… I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” Blake replied softly.

“Where are you going to go instead?”

“I… haven’t figured that part out, yet,” Blake admitted.

“Anywhere but here?”

Blake was silent for a moment. "Something like that."

Sunset snorted. "I know how that feels." In response to Blake's slightly quizzical look, Sunset smirked. "What, you think you're the first person to ever run away from home? How bad were things with your parents by the time you left?"

Blake's eyes widened, and she looked as though she was about to leap away.

Sunset raised one hand pacifically. "Relax, I didn't mean to scare you off. Unfortunately, your secret isn’t much of a secret any more, but… for whatever it might be worth, I think that what remains of a secret is safe with Team Sapphire."

Blake stared at her. "You know, you’re being unusually generous."

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Listen, you’ve been far more anti-social than I have at this point, so why don’t you cut me some slack. I’m trying to be a good person. Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"I won't be humble," Sunset said, "but I will seek for grace; and I'm trying to be nicer on my way to the top."

Blake raised one eyebrow. Sunset shrugged. "Look, you can't expect me to change everything about myself, or even want to."

"I suppose I can relate to that," Blake murmured.

Sunset took a step closer to her. "We're not all bad; there's no need to throw out our virtues along with our vices. Some parts of our vices can even make us virtuous, it could be argued."

Blake was silent for a moment. "What do you want, Sunset?"

"Perhaps I just want you to come back to Beacon when all this is over instead of running off to… anywhere but here."

"I can't go back," Blake replied. "You know the truth, you know that I have to leave."

"I don't know everything," Sunset said. She leaned against the doorframe and folded her arms. "Why did you stay on in the White Fang when your parents quit?”

Blake was silent for a moment. "You're from Atlas, aren't you?"

Sunset took pause. "I… I'm not technically from there, but… yes, I lived in Atlas for a few years."

"How many times were you stopped by the police, even though you'd done nothing wrong?"

Sunset scowled. These weren't memories she wished to bring to the forefront of her mind. "Five times."

"I suppose there were stores that wouldn't serve you."

"Of course there were," Sunset said irritably.

"And when they would let you in, I suppose you could feel them watching you, as if it was only a matter of time before you did something criminal."

"Yeah."

"That's why I stayed in the White Fang," Blake said. "I believed… I still believe in equality, in justice for our people. And it worked." She closed her eyes, and a look of anguish crossed her face. "What kind of world do we live in where our violent methods got more results than my father's peaceful protest ever did?"

"Transient results," Sunset replied. "Like… you can cup water in your hands for a moment, but it'll slip through your fingers again before too long."

Blake looked at her, silent, watching.

"You can scare a store-owner into serving faunus by smashing his windows or by burning down another no-faunus store across town," Sunset said. "But how many laws did your violence get on the books?" She frowned. "You asked me how many times I was stopped by the police? Two of those times they hauled me in, just like they hauled in every other faunus they could find in the aftermath of a White Fang incident. Stuffed us all in cells until Principal Celestia came to bail me out. You might have thought that you were getting somewhere, but from the outside… it didn't look that way."

"I know," Blake said. "I realised that," she added, her expression speaking of a melancholy upon the verge of despair. "I realised that we weren't really making a difference... at about the same time I realised that we were becoming more wicked than all but the worst of those we claimed to be fighting. At the same time I realised how monstrous he had become."

“He?”

“Adam,” Blake said. “My… my mentor, my partner, my... he wasn't always… there was a time when he was the very best of us. The..."

"Paragon?" Sunset suggested.

Blake's eyes met Sunset's for a moment. "I suppose so. There was a time when… but then, he changed. The cruelty of the world… it made him cruel in turn. It made us all cruel."

Sunset stared down at Blake. "You don't have to go," she said.

"Yes, I do," Blake insisted.

"No, you don't," Sunset repeated. "In fact, I'll go even further: maybe you shouldn't." She sighed. "I don't know you. I don't know what you've done. But I know running. I'm a runner myself. We run and run, you and I, we run from our pasts and the mistakes that we've made, and we chase… I don't know; dreams, illusions, fantasies. But when we reach the place we were running to, then everything we thought that we might find there turns out to be ephemeral, phantasmal, never really there at all. And all the while, the things we ran from follow us, more persistently than any grimm. You can feel them, can't you, on the back of your neck? But we're both here. All our running has brought us to this place, this point. This destiny."

"I don't believe in fate."

"I do," Sunset insisted. "Long years ago, the sun and moon ordained these things; we are meant to be here, Blake Belladonna. Here is the place where our dreams can come true if we have the courage to reach for them."

Blake's face was unreadable. "You really do believe that, don't you?"

I'm seventeen years old, and I'm already on my very last shot, Sunset thought. I have to believe it. If I didn't... I'd despair. "Do you remember initiation?"

Blake blinked. "Yes," she said, in a tone that suggested she didn't immediately see the relevance.

"I chose the white knight piece; my team chose the white knights," Sunset said. "Do you know why?"

Blake shrugged. "Did you like the cute pony?"

As a cute pony herself, Sunset's eyes narrowed a little. "No, it's because the white knight is the hero, the shining figure that everyone looks up to, the one who leads the charge, the one who slays the dragon, the one who saves the world."

"And you think that's you?"

"It will be," Sunset said, in a voice that refused to admit doubt or entertain the possibility of failure. She had the undefeated Pyrrha Nikos of far-fame upon her right flank, she had the young hero Ruby Rose with silver eyes upon her left, what could they be but the heroes of this tale, the ones to take the lead against all darkness? It was no coincidence that brought the three of them together; they were meant to be the tip of the spear, and Sunset the very point. "I chose the white knight as a statement of intent," Sunset said. "I chose the white knight… and you chose the black."

"Don't read too much into it," Blake said. "I didn't have your statement of intent in mind."

"There is providence in things that we cannot consciously know," Sunset said. "Beacon, Vale, Remnant… they need a white knight, but they need a black knight too. Someone to fight from the shadows. And your secrets are safe with Sapphire, I guarantee it." Pyrrha was too honourable and Ruby too good-natured for either of them to go blabbing Blake's secrets once they understood that they were secret, and while Jaune might accidentally let it slip out of his mouth, Sunset was confident that they'd manage to stop him in time.

"And the rest?" Blake asked. “Rosepetal, Weiss, Yang?”

“I don’t know,” Sunset admitted. “But you’ll never find out if you run the moment the fighting stops.”

Blake looked down, squeezing and then unclenching her hands. “You’ve got a point,” she conceded.

“Why did you come to Beacon?” Sunset asked.

“To become a huntress.”

“Obviously, but it’s not going to happen if you run,” Sunset said. “Is there something you want to be a huntress for?”

Blake nodded. “To oppose the injustice of the world.”

“Then come back to Beacon and do it,” Sunset said. “Don’t let them win.”

“'They'?”

“Anyone who wants to tell you ‘no,’ to say you can’t,” Sunset said. “You can’t give into them.”

“And I won’t,” Blake declared. She rose to her feet. “I’ll come back to Beacon with you, after the mission.”

Sunset grinned. “I’m glad to hear it,” she said. “After the mission.”

After the mission.

Comments

[Scolipede]

I just said last chapter, “things are heating up”, so I can’t say that again, but... it’s good to see the character development progressing.

And face it sunset. You got the white knight because you like the cute pony.

[Hexan Tronic]

Great chapter. Took Twiley long enough to get her friends head on straight.

[RolkFlameraven]

Good that Twilight got Rainbow to think for a bit. Just hoping she doesn't see something that makes her go right back to shooting first.

[Mastermind4892]

Moana: "I am not a princess, I'm the daughter of the village chief!"

Maui: "Same difference."

Yes Blake, you are a runaway princess.

[JMP]

And so we go to the docks. Don't think that happened in the first run of this story, IIRC.

[AlanSmithy]

10436962
If things already heated up then what we have now is a simmer!

[sunset-starlight]

As a cute pony herself, Sunset's eyes narrowed a little. "No, it's because the white knight is the hero, the shining figure that everyone looks up to, the one who leads the charge, the one who slays the dragon, the one who saves the world."

She is quite cute.

[Daemon Wolf 22]

10439883
A shimmering simmer! ...Eh? Guys? Am I right?