The Hare and the Tortoise (New)
The Hare and the Tortoise
“Good morning, Miss Shimmer,” Professor Goodwitch said as Sunset escorted Lady Nikos out of the hotel. “I’m glad I could catch you.”
Sunset stopped, as indeed did Lady Nikos. Sunset had not cast the spell back on herself, meaning that everyone who had missed her on the way up could now see her clearly on the way down.
She hoped that the looks she’d gotten were just people wondering how she’d gotten into the hotel.
Fortunately, nobody had said anything.
Although Sunset would have rather had the spell up, it would have been bad manners to have not offered to walk Lady Nikos out, since they were both leaving the hotel, even if their paths diverged after that. Sunset had intended to cast the spell upon herself again once they parted ways at the door.
If she had been a little faster about it, if the three of them — Hestia, the maid, included — had left just a little sooner, if Professor Goodwitch had been a little later, then … no, Professor Goodwitch would have been shielded from the effects of the spell by her aura.
But, if she had been a little later, or they had been a little earlier, then Sunset would have been off on her bike, and Professor Goodwitch would have missed her even if she could behold her.
Considering what Penny had told her, it was probably a good thing that Sunset had not been faster.
Although that wasn’t to say that she would enjoy the medicine’s taste, for all that it did her good.
Lady Nikos’ cane tapped upon the ground. “You know this woman, Miss Shimmer?”
Sunset cleared her throat. “Yes, my lady, indeed I do; allow me to name Professor Goodwitch, combat instructor at Beacon.”
“Hmm, I see,” Lady Nikos murmured. “Pyrrha has not mentioned you, but then, after training under Chiron, I imagine she had very little to learn from a Valish instructor.”
Sunset’s eyebrows rose. Was it necessary to open fire like that, my lady?
“And you must be Pyrrha’s mother,” Professor Goodwitch said, pushing her spectacles a little higher up her nose. “Charmed.” She glanced at Sunset. “Miss Shimmer, may I speak with you for a moment?”
Sunset took a deep breath. “Yes, Pr— ma’am.”
“'Professor' will do just fine, Miss Shimmer,” Professor Goodwitch informed her. “In fact, I daresay it had probably better.”
Sunset nodded. “Yes, Professor.” She turned to Lady Nikos. “My lady, I wish you — and Pyrrha — joy of the day.”
“My joy of the day will come through Pyrrha’s joy,” Lady Nikos told her. “But I thank you, nevertheless.”
“I hope that Pyrrha may find some joy, besides a victory,” Sunset replied, a slight smile raising one side of her mouth, if for but a moment. She leaned forward, closer to Lady Nikos. “My lady … there is word of a grimm attack upon this city coming, I know not exactly when, but it may be soon; the grimm are massing already. I do not say this to dissuade you from going to the arena — you will probably be safer there than here — but… take care, I beg of you.”
Lady Nikos stared at her, her green eyes unmoving, not growing in size nor narrowing either, but seeming to grow sharper nonetheless. “Does Pyrrha know of this?”
“She does, my lady,” Sunset whispered. “Although it is not so very widely known.”
Lady Nikos was silent a moment, continuing to stare into Sunset’s eyes. “I see. Thank you, Miss Shimmer. For everything.”
A taxi pulled up to the curb, hailed by the hotel doorman; the same fellow who had hailed it opened the door. “Ma’am?”
“Yes, indeed,” Lady Nikos said, turning away from Sunset with a slight swirl of her crimson gown, adjusting the emerald green shawl around her shoulders with one hand as she walked towards the waiting cab. Hestia waited for her to climb in first, then got in after her.
Sunset couldn’t see Lady Nikos as the doorman shut the door, and the taxi drove off in the direction of the skydock.
Sunset didn’t bother to look after it as it went; what would be the point of that? Instead, and trying to ignore the fact that people on the street were looking at her as they passed — thank Celestia they did nothing more than look — she turned her attention to Professor Goodwitch.
“Good morning, Professor,” Sunset said, walking towards her.
“Good morning, again, Miss Shimmer,” said Professor Goodwitch. “May I ask what you told Miz Nikos?”
“I gave Lady Nikos a warning,” Sunset said. “About the … grimm situation. It seemed … it would have seemed wrong to have kept her in the dark.”
“I see,” Professor Goodwitch murmured.
“So could Lady Nikos, Professor.”
Professor Goodwitch’s eyes narrowed for a moment. “Do you think that her discretion can be relied upon, Miss Shimmer?”
“I should certainly hope so, Professor,” said Sunset. She paused. “I was told to expect you here, by Penny; I am … glad we did not miss each other.” Glad for the most part, anyway.
“Professor Ozpin thought that you would come here,” Professor Goodwitch said. “To see Lady Nikos. He would have come himself, but as you can imagine, he is very busy.”
“And I imagine that his absence, especially to come and see me, would be noted,” Sunset murmured. “You are taking somewhat of a risk yourself in that regard, Professor, are you not?”
“Thankfully, I’m rather less well known than Professor Ozpin,” Professor Goodwitch said. She glanced at the hotel. “Will you walk with me, Miss Shimmer?”
“Of course, Professor,” Sunset said softly, clasping her hands together behind her back as Professor Goodwitch set off in the opposite direction to that in which Lady Nikos’ taxi had just driven, her high-heeled boots tapping upon the flat, square flagstones.
Despite her height advantage over Sunset, she moved at a speed that allowed Sunset to keep pace with her as they walked down the side of the road, with cars driving past on one side and pedestrians on either side, following behind or else moving out of their way as the two advanced.
Professor Goodwitch’s curls trembled ever so slightly as she walked. “We should probably not speak of … certain things,” she said. “We don’t know who might overhear a snatch of conversation. At least, we should not discuss them until we have reached somewhere private.”
“I have something that will help with that, Professor,” Sunset said. She held out one gloved hand. “If you will take my hand?”
“Miss Shimmer?”
“Only for a moment, I assure you,” Sunset said.
Professor Goodwitch looked at her curiously from over the top of her spectacles, but after a moment or two, she did as Sunset asked and placed her hand inside of Sunset’s palm.
Sunset’s fingers closed around Professor Goodwitch’s hand as Sunset cast the spell.
Instantly, all the looks that Sunset had been receiving ceased; instead, they looked away, heads intent on what they were doing, where they were going, everything and anything else that might be on their minds. Pyrrha’s soon and almost certain victory in the tournament, perhaps.
“We may have to dodge people coming this way, Professor,” Sunset said, moving out of the path of just one such person, “but luckily, we are setting such a good pace that there should be no one bumping into us from behind.”
“I see,” Professor Goodwitch murmured as she produced her riding crop from out behind her and gave it a little experimental flick of the wrist. “Just in case,” she added, catching Sunset’s eyes.
“Yes, um … ahem,” Sunset said, clearing her throat again. “So … um … Penny gave me warning not only of your coming but also of why; and yet I feel it would only be polite to ask … to what do I owe … the pleasure?”
Professor Goodwitch looked down at her. “You would much rather Professor Ozpin were here for this, wouldn’t you, Miss Shimmer?”
“No offence, Professor, but yes.”
Professor Goodwitch said nothing for a few moments as she gently steered someone out of their way with her telekinesis.
“I never thought that you were suited for this, Miss Shimmer,” she said gently.
Sunset’s eyebrows rose and fell, her brow wrinkling beneath her fiery hair. Her ears drooped down a little. “You might have been right, Professor.”
“Professor Ozpin thought otherwise,” Professor Goodwitch said. “And Professor Ozpin is very experienced and very wise. He still thinks otherwise.”
Sunset had expected this, thanks to Penny, but nevertheless, she felt as though she had been carrying a heavy backpack around the school, from classroom to classroom, and only now was she able to return to the dorm room and dump it with a thud upon the floor. “That is … thank you, Professor; I … I’m glad to hear it. It is a pleasure no less welcome for being anticipated.”
“'Glad'?” Professor Goodwitch said. “In spite of what you just said?”
“Paradoxically, perhaps, but yes, Professor,” Sunset said. “Perhaps I wasn’t the right choice, but, the choice having been made, I … would have hated to have been cast aside. Especially … especially since everyone else … I know that Ruby doesn’t want my help anymore, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to help them any way I can. I want to be … involved, still, if only a distance, like Ruby’s uncle. Some way that I could feel that I was, I don’t know … making life a little easier for them?”
Professor Goodwitch pursed her lips together. “Understandable,” she said, “especially in your case.” She nudged someone else gently out of the way, as a sigh escaped her. “You really love them, don’t you?”
“I may have loved not wisely but too well, Professor,” Sunset admitted. “But it’s still love.”
Professor Goodwitch did not reply to that. Instead, she said, “I don’t think that Professor Ozpin has yet decided what use he will make of you, except that he will continue to accept your service, if you continue to be willing to give it.”
“I am,” Sunset said at once.
“Then I am sure that Professor Ozpin will find some way to employ your talents for the greater good,” Professor Goodwitch declared. “Although in what capacity, precisely, depends in part on you. Qrow, after all, can be Qrow because he lives the vagabond life of the unfettered huntsman. When he was a teacher at Signal, he was employed differently.”
“How, if I may ask, Professor?”
“For occasional missions, when school was out or the situation was very grave,” Professor Goodwitch said. “There was a time when Summer was Ozpin’s chief agent.”
“And…” Sunset hesitated. “And after…”
“There was someone else, for a while,” Professor Goodwitch explained. “A former teammate of Celestia, your old principal from Canterlot; her name was Opaline, Opaline Arcana. She, too, perished, as Summer did. At that point, Qrow volunteered to give up his position at Signal so that he could be of more use to Ozpin, who desperately needed at least someone in the field, investigating Salem’s actions, her movements, her intentions. But, as I say, that required him to leave his job and become a roving huntsman once again, for a teacher could not have kept disappearing from his school to gallivant here or there across Remnant. So, what do you plan to do with yourself now, Miss Shimmer? Are you really going to Mount Aris on a mission?”
“Yes, Professor, I am; apparently, there is some trouble there,” Sunset replied. “But, with the grimm concentrations, I may not be able to leave straight away. I am still here if … does Professor Ozpin have any plans to deal with the Siren? What about Tempest Shadow and Bon Bon? Is everything—?”
“James, General Ironwood, has his people monitoring Miss Shadow,” Professor Goodwitch informed her. “As for Miss Bonaventure, we are less convinced of her guilt, and so long as she isn’t left alone with Amber … as for the Siren, Professor Ozpin had intended to assign Team Sapphire to the task of dealing with it … while there was still a Team Sapphire with you in it.”
“I can do it anyway,” Sunset declared. “On my own, if I must, as I must. I can take care of it. At least, I could take care of it if I could find it, which would be the hard part.”
Professor Goodwitch looked at her. “Are you sure about this, Miss Shimmer? Alone?”
“It is a creature from Equestria, Professor; I am a creature from Equestria,” Sunset reminded her. “Who better to face this thing than I?”
“A grimm is a creature from Remnant,” Professor Goodwitch said. “A frog is a creature from Remnant. But it does not follow that a frog is the best thing for facing grimm.”
“I take your point, Professor, but I am more powerful than a frog.”
“And a Siren is more powerful still, it seems,” Professor Goodwitch said. “How would you deal with it?”
“I … am not entirely sure, but I know someone who could give me some advice on that front,” Sunset said. “And I’m not sure that just attacking her wouldn’t work. But I will consult before I take action, and I still need to find her first. Assuming Professor Ozpin has had no other ideas on how or who to tackle her?”
“No, he hasn’t,” Professor Goodwitch said. “And if you are willing, Miss Shimmer, then I’m sure that he will welcome the effort. And after that? After your mission to Mount Aris, what then?”
“Then…” Sunset trailed off. “I have been made offers, Professor. Lady Nikos has offered to make me the head of a security company. Former Councillor Aris could find use for me in her home. I haven’t decided yet.”
“Then, when you decide, Professor Ozpin will decide how to make use of you, in Mistral or in Vale or wherever else you make your home or life.” Professor Goodwitch informed her. “Until then … instead of wishing you good luck, I’ll give you some advice: make absolutely sure you are prepared to confront this creature before you find her. The other way around rarely works as well.”
“So, how are you feeling?” Jaune asked.
Pyrrha turned her toe where it rested on the metal floor of the Amity Colosseum; not far away stood the entrance to the tunnels where all of the finalists had been told to assemble, prior to being presented for the crowd.
“This is what I was trained for,” Pyrrha said. “Indeed, you could go further than that and say that this is what I was bred for.”
Jaune snorted. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. But … I wasn’t only talking about the tournament.”
Pyrrha took a deep breath. “Or even mostly talking about the tournament?”
Jaune didn’t dispute that, even as he didn’t confirm it. He just said, “So, how are you feeling?”
Pyrrha glanced down for a moment. “Are you sure that I shouldn’t be asking you that, instead of me?” She didn’t wait for him to respond before she went on. “I should be asking you that instead of you asking me, so, how are you? How are you doing, how are you … how are you?”
Jaune smiled. “You’re—”
“You’re the one who found out … last night…” Pyrrha murmured. “Please,” she added, reaching out and taking Jaune’s hands in her own. “Answer. You don’t need to hold it all inside.”
Jaune said nothing, just stared into her eyes. He had such very lovely eyes to look at, even if right now … was she imagining that there was a little more sadness in them than usual, or was it really there? She could hardly blame him if it were so, but unless he told her how he was feeling, then she didn’t feel as though she could be sure.
Jaune looked down, as Pyrrha had done before him, down at his feet, and down at hers, where they stood on the promenade of the Colosseum, with the world passing by around them. They were not hidden, it had to be admitted; people were pausing to take pictures of them, but with good fortune, the general hubbub of so many people passing by all around would be enough to make it difficult for their conversation to be overheard.
And in any case, they could choose their words with a degree of care, if need be.
Perhaps. It would depend on what Jaune had on his mind and in his heart.
“Last night,” Jaune said, “when Sunset … the way that she put Miranda in danger, it was so easy to get angry. And I did. I got … too angry, I think.”
“No—” Pyrrha began.
“You told me to stop,” Jaune reminded her. “Or at least, that’s what you were going to do, wasn’t it, before Ruby stopped me?”
Pyrrha hesitated.
Her hands were holding onto his, but Jaune managed to get his thumbs over her hands and gave a little squeeze with them. “You can be honest too,” he assured her.
“I … I was worried that you were going to…” Again, Pyrrha trailed off, and had to reassure herself that he meant what he had just said, that she could be honest. “I was afraid you might hurt her.”
Jaune chewed on his lip for a second. “I … I’d like to say that I’m a better person than that, that I would never do something like that, but the truth is that I … in that moment, I was so angry that maybe I would have. I don’t know. All I know is that I didn’t, and I’m glad that I didn’t. Ruby reminded me that it’s not about how we feel, about our anger or getting our own back at Sunset, it’s about…” He shook his head. “I don’t know if I can explain what it’s about. I’d say that it’s about the choice that Sunset made, and maybe that is what it’s about, but if that’s the case, then … you know Dove would have made the same choice that Sunset made? If it were Amber at stake?”
Pyrrha’s eyebrows crept up towards her golden circlet. “He told you that?”
“Pretty much, yeah,” Jaune said. “But we aren’t throwing him out of Beacon.”
“Perhaps because there is a difference between ‘I would have done this thing’ and ‘I did this thing,’” Pyrrha murmured. “Or perhaps because Dove is taking himself away from Beacon anyway. He loves Amber, as fiercely as Sunset loves us, and for her sake, he is leaving this place and the huntsman life behind. He no longer wishes to be a huntsman, and thus, transgressions against the values of a huntsman … why should he be judged by such standards?”
“You think it would have been okay for Sunset to do what she did if she weren’t a huntress?” asked Jaune.
“Would it not?” Pyrrha asked. She hesitated. “I suppose there are other professions for whom it would not be ideal or acceptable — a police officer, or perhaps a soldier — but … I told Sunset to go to my mother because I felt that she would not judge Sunset too harshly, and … if Sunset were a retainer in service to … one of us, then she would be praised for her loyalty.”
“Now?” Jaune asked. “Still?”
“In Mistral, yes,” Pyrrha said softly. “By some at least, perhaps by many. To put her duty to her lord above all else, her loyalty … in Vale, it would not be so, would it?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think so,” Jaune murmured. “Are you … are you sure that we have to live there? I mean, no offence, but … your culture is a little bit … it’s kind of … weird, to put it nicely.”
Pyrrha sighed. “I suppose you might call it that. And I thank you for not using any harsher language to describe it. But Mistral is changing, albeit change comes slowly, and in one or two generations' time, it will probably not be that much different from Vale or Atlas. And for now, flawed or not, it’s still my home.”
“Yeah, it is,” Jaune agreed. “And I guess that I can’t really say that Vale is my home, can I? I didn’t grow up here, and I’m certainly not the prince of it; nobody would die of shock if I went to live anywhere else.”
Pyrrha chuckled.
Jaune went on. “I just … I guess I shouldn’t judge. Just because we have our way of looking at things doesn’t mean that our way is right and your way is wrong. I guess … it doesn’t really matter if what Sunset did would have looked different if she wasn’t a huntress, because she was one, right?”
“Yes,” Pyrrha said. “It is about duty in the end, I think. Sunset chose the duty that she owed to us, which would have been an admirable trait in some, but as a huntress, she forgot the duty that she owed to others outside of ourselves.”
“Which is why it’s not about us or about how angry we feel,” Jaune said. “Or don’t feel.”
Pyrrha winced. “I was wondering if … are you—?”
“Upset?” Jaune asked.
“You were very angry,” Pyrrha said. “And I … was not.”
“Because you care about her,” Jaune said. “Because she’s dear to you. Because you love her, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Pyrrha whispered. “Whatever she has done, regardless of how she failed in her duty, Sunset will always have a claim upon my heart.”
“I can’t blame you for that,” Jaune said. “There isn’t even anything to blame, even if I wanted to. You care about someone; that … that’s not bad. That’s not something to be upset about; that … that’s just who we are, right? We care about other people, we love them; there’s nothing we can do about that, it just happens. Besides … it’s not like I hated Sunset myself.”
“You don’t?” Pyrrha asked.
“No,” Jaune said. “I was angry last night, sure, but after Ruby made me realise that it wasn’t about me being angry, after I spoke to Dove … I suppose the anger … died out, burned out, got washed out, however you want to call it. It’s not there anymore. Ruby was right, but I don’t hate Sunset for what she did. I … I’m sorry that things had to turn out the way they did. I didn’t love her like you, but she was a good friend, someone who … always looked out for us, albeit in the wrong way sometimes, until in the end … she took it too far.”
“Indeed,” Pyrrha murmured. “And so, with the anger gone, what do you feel?”
“I … sad, I guess, that it had to turn out this way,” Jaune admitted. “And tired, because I don’t feel like I got enough sleep last night?”
Pyrrha chuckled softly. “Understandable,” she said. “We all had a lot on our minds. I am not sure how much benefit I got from the sleep that I obtained.”
“You’re not going to be too tired to fight well, are you?” Jaune asked, in a tone that was both light and amused and sincere at the same time.
Pyrrha smiled. “I think I’ll be alright.”
“Good,” Jaune said. He hesitated. “Can I … I know that you have to go soon, but, can I be honest for just a second?”
“Of course,” Pyrrha told him. “Always.”
“I … I kinda wish that we — that you and Sunset, I guess, since you were the two that were actually asked — had told Professor Ozpin no, after the dance, when he told you and Sunset and Rainbow about…” Jaune glanced away. “Everything, you know? Then none of this would have happened and we could have had four years with the four of us at Beacon and we wouldn’t have to … do you feel that way?”
Pyrrha thought for a moment, although she required more thought for her words than for her sentiments in this instance. “No,” she said. “I don’t, although I freely admit that I might have been happier if I had said no; I would not have felt so … inadequate, at times. But, nevertheless, I do not wish that I had turned away from this challenge; this is a battle that possesses true meaning, a battle on which the fate of kingdoms may rest. Though it be vanity, it is the sort of battle that I always wished to be part of. I understand why you might wish it otherwise — the world that you suggest would have been a very pleasant one for sure — but … I would not have this tournament be the pinnacle of all I have achieved or will achieve. I would do something that matters. We are doing something that matters, even if we must do it now without Sunset.”
Jaune nodded. “Makes sense. And I suppose, considering everything that was happening, whether we knew or not, we still wouldn’t have had a very quiet year; we just wouldn’t have known why it was happening.”
“Well, when you put it like that, it makes it sound rather dishonest that Team Wisteria, Team Iron, Team … that everyone else doesn’t know about all of this,” Pyrrha said. She realised what she had just said and rolled her eyes at herself. “It sounds dishonest because of course we are being dishonest.”
“It’s not our fault,” Jaune said.
“We have a choice,” Pyrrha replied. “Don’t we?”
“Yeah, but do you really want to tell everyone?” Jaune asked. “I mean, everyone, not knowing how they might react, what they might do?”
“I’m not proposing to tell everyone right now,” Pyrrha replied. “I just…” She sighed. “I don’t know what 'I just' or, what I mean, perhaps my mind is foggier from tiredness than I thought.”
Jaune pulled his hands free of hers, but only to put one hand upon her shoulder, and the other cupping her cheek, his fingertips warm against her skin, the leather of his gloves soft. “Then don’t worry about it,” he said. “After all, it may not be the pinnacle of your achievement here, but you’ve still got a tournament to win.” He grinned, flashing that bright smile of his. “But that’ll be a piece of cake, right?”
Pyrrha let out a little laugh. “I wouldn’t go that far,” she said softly. “But I hope it will be fun, for myself and — more importantly — for everyone watching.”
“Yeah, I think we could all do with a little bit of fun today,” Jaune said. “Who do you want to get drawn against?”
“I’m not sure that I should answer that,” Pyrrha said. “I wouldn’t want anyone to think I took them lightly.”
“Come on!” Jaune cried. “They’re not here!”
Pyrrha glanced around to make sure that was true. “I … it might be fun to face Yang again. A challenge, but fun at the same time. But then, I might also … I confess that if I don’t face Arslan at some point today, it will feel like a dreadful anticlimax. And Arslan would be very disappointed as well.”
“Yang, Arslan,” Jaune said. “And in the final of finals?”
“Jaune!”
“It’s part of my job to be supportively optimistic,” Jaune told her. “Or optimistically supportive. To believe in you.”
Pyrrha smiled. “I … Weiss is the one I … makes me nervous. Her semblance is … extremely versatile, to say the least.”
“Rip her weapon out of her hand,” Jaune suggested. “I think she’s limited in the glyphs she can conjure up without it.”
“It may come to that, but I hope not,” Pyrrha murmured. “Or perhaps someone else will face her and defeat her, and we will be as ships passing in the night.”
Jaune stroked her cheek with his thumb, just beneath her eye. “Whoever you go up against, you’re gonna knock ‘em dead.” He leaned forward and kissed her, the hand upon her shoulder rising to join the other on her face, his fingertips in her hair, nudging towards her circlet as their tongues met.
He let go, taking half a step away. “I’ll be cheering for you.”
Pyrrha made a sound that was half a breath and half a sigh. “And I will hear you, even through the tumult of the crowd. But now,” — her hands fell down to her side, one hand brushing at the sash that hung from her waist — “I should go, or I will be the last there, if I am not already.”
Jaune nodded but made no move to go himself.
A smile played on Pyrrha’s face as she turned away and started walking away. After a few paces, she stopped and looked over her shoulder.
Jaune was still there, watching her.
Pyrrha’s smile widened just a little, though she looked away and resumed her course.
Her sash swayed a little, even as her ponytail bounced up and down behind her, as her step quickened ever so slightly towards the waiting corridor entrance.
“Quite a show for the public,” Weiss said as she slid into Pyrrha’s side, emerging out of the crowd to walk beside her. “You don’t mind if I join you, I hope?”
“Not at all,” Pyrrha replied, slowing her pace so that she didn’t leave Weiss behind. “But it wasn’t my intent to put on a show.”
“No, I know,” Weiss said. “That’s what made it such a good show.”
“I, um … I’m not sure how to respond to that,” Pyrrha admitted.
Weiss laughed a little. “I’m not sure a response is required in all circumstances,” she said. After a moment’s pause, she said, “How does it feel to be the favourite going into this?”
“In my experience, being the favourite — or not — means nothing when the battle begins,” Pyrrha said.
“I suppose not,” Weiss allowed. “But even so, it must be some comfort?”
“Mmm,” Pyrrha murmured. “Do you know the story of the Hare and the Tortoise?”
Weiss frowned. “I don’t remember that one from our fairytale class.”
“It’s not really a fairytale,” Pyrrha explained. “It isn’t really much of a story, either, in all honestly. It’s a Valish … fable, I suppose you might call it. A vain, wealthy old tortoise spends his days sunning himself, boasting endlessly of his accomplishments, his wisdom, his years, until all the other animals are sick of hearing it, but at the same time, so awed are they by all that he has seen and done that none dare speak up. In the end, a plucky young hare challenges the tortoise to a footrace.”
Weiss waited for a moment. “So what happens?”
“The hare beats him handily, of course,” Pyrrha said. “He’s racing a tortoise, after all.”
“Well, when you put it like that, it sounds rather obvious,” Weiss muttered. “So obvious I’m forced to wonder what the point of it is.”
Pyrrha explained, “The story was written in Vale at a time when Valish traders were making great inroads into Mistral, despite the best efforts of Mistral’s guilds to keep them out.”
“Oh,” Weiss said. “Oh, yes, I see. How very … gauche in its triumphalism. I don’t think even my father would go so far as to commission a fable about his business victories. Although perhaps he could do with one now: the cuddly snowman who only wants to make life better for all the penguins and the polar bears.”
Pyrrha covered her mouth with one hand as she laughed. “That … would certainly be a novel public relations exercise.”
Weiss smiled. “I’m a bit surprised that Mistralians bother to remember a story like that.”
“It’s remembered as a cautionary tale,” Pyrrha said. “'Don’t rest on your laurels; a challenger may come at any time.'”
“I see,” Weiss murmured. “A decent moral to take, I suppose, and as good a one as any the author intended. But you,” she added, glancing up at Pyrrha, “are no tortoise.”
“And you are…” Pyrrha stopped, physically as well as stopping speaking, turning a little more to face Weiss, even as Weiss turned to face her in turn. “I am sorry for all that you’re going through at the moment, but believe me when I say that triumph in the arena may redeem the shame placed on a family name by those who came before. I could cite examples, but I fear the names would mean little to you.”
“That’s very kind of you to say,” Weiss said, “but my first two victories don’t seem to have done much for me so far—”
“It takes time,” Pyrrha assured her, “but I believe, I am sure, that if you progress through these final rounds, you will win the crowd as you win victories.”
“That would certainly be nice,” Weiss admitted. “Although I might take issue with the idea that there is any shame upon … or at least, the shame upon my family name is not what this jeering crowd thinks it is.”
“Forgive me, I may have chosen my words poorly, I meant…” Pyrrha thought for a moment. “Shame is in the eye of the crowd, at day’s end, no? Or at least, there is a kind of shame that exists in how we are seen by others, and I fear that is the only kind of shame that can be expunged by a victor’s laurel.”
“That is true,” Weiss admitted. “So what you’re saying is that if I want to get the crowd on my side in spite of what they think about my family, then I need to fight my way through you?”
Pyrrha smiled. “Perhaps, if fortune has it so.”
“Well,” Weiss said, “that’s certainly something to look forward to.” She gestured towards the tunnel mouth. “Shall we?”
Pyrrha nodded, and the two of them walked the rest of the way towards, and the into, the corridor that would, if they walked all the way through it, lead them both out onto the arena proper, under the gaze of the crowd.
They didn’t go all that far, because before they made it, they ran into the other six finalists, those chosen by their teams to go through into this last round of the tournament: Rainbow Dash, Yang, Arslan, Sun, Umber Gorgoneion of Shade’s Team UMBR, and Neon Katt of Atlas’ Team FNKI. They were all there before them, and if they were not waiting for Pyrrha and Weiss, then they were still waiting nonetheless, waiting in the corridor as the light from the arena spilled into the tunnel, illuminating those who would soon grace it.
When Pyrrha and Weiss arrived, the corridor was silent; no one was speaking to one another. Pyrrha found herself hoping that they had been speaking but had simply exhausted all the topics of conversation before they arrived.
Neon Katt looked at them both. “Oh, hey, the slave owners have arrived fashionably late.”
“Neon,” Rainbow snapped. “Not now.”
Neon looked at her. “I was only—”
“It wasn’t funny,” Rainbow said. “At all.”
Neon hesitated for a second. “Well, they can’t all be funny, Dash. You try coming up with line after line and see if every one’s a winner. Even I’m bound to drop a dud sometime.”
Yang, who was near the back of the group, waved one hand. “Hey guys.”
“Good morning, Yang,” Pyrrha said as she and Weiss walked towards her.
Yang grinned. “You ready for this?”
“I should certainly hope so; it’s a little late to get ready otherwise,” Weiss muttered.
“It’s fine!” Sun declared. “I mean, it’s all for fun at the end of the day, right?”
“You won’t get very far with an attitude like that,” said Umber Gorgoneion, who was tapping her foot impatiently upon the floor.
“Yeah, this is the arena; it’s a sacred space,” Arslan said. “If you don’t take it seriously, then you’re showing disrespect to the crowd.”
“Hey, I’m gonna take it seriously,” Sun protested. “I’m just not going to lose any sleep if I lose.”
The voice of Professor Port boomed out from the commentator’s box high above, echoing across the colosseum and thundering into the corridor where the eight finalists waited.
“Welcome,” he cried, “to the third and final day of the Vytal Festival Tournament! This is it! The moment you’ve all been waiting for! The one-on-one finals!”
“Harsh,” Neon said, as the crowd cheered out in the stands beyond and above them. “Weren’t people looking forward to the four-on-fours and the two-on-twos as well? Was everything our teammates did just a warm up act?”
“Yes,” Arslan said.
“Arslan,” Pyrrha murmured reproachfully.
Arslan shrugged.
Doctor Oobleck took up the announcing duties: “Now, the identities of our eight contenders were not revealed at the end of yesterday’s matches, because we will be revealing them for the first time here, today! Can we please have all eight finalists in the arena?”
Yang peeled herself off the corridor wall. “This is it,” she said, a smile playing across her face.
One by one, they marched out of the shade of the tunnel and into the light coming down through the hole in the Colosseum roof, into the bright sunlight and the cheering, the constant cheering, the cheering that seemed to grow louder and louder as each successive huntress — and Sun — emerged out into the light.
And as Pyrrha emerged, second to last with only Weiss behind her, she fancied that she could hear Jaune cheering her on amidst the multitude, even as so much cheering fell down upon her like —
Like autumn leaves cascading down out of nowhere to carpet the ground.
Pyrrha shook her head slightly and forced that thought to the back of her mind as she put on her practised crowd smile, such as she had been wont to wear in all her public functions.
Together, the eight finalists marched onto the field with heads held high, reaching the central hexagon, where they formed a line facing north-northeast in the rough direction of the island of Vytal, while the screens that loomed high up around them projected their faces for all the spectators, and to the audiences at home.
“Here they are!” Professor Port cried. “Our eight finalists: Umber Gorgoneion of Shade, Arslan Altan of Haven, Neon Katt of Atlas, Yang Xiao Long of Beacon, Rainbow Dash of Atlas, Sun Wukong of Haven, Pyrrha Nikos of Beacon—” — he paused a second as the cheering somehow managed to get even louder, which Pyrrha would not have believe possible — “and Weiss Schnee of Beacon!”
A few boos mingled with the cheers, which was so rude that it verged upon disgraceful.
Once again, Professor Oobleck began to speak, “Now, unlike the previous two rounds of the tournament, these finals do not use a bracket system; instead, each round will be randomly determined immediately before the match begins!”
“Yes, like any good hunt, there will be zero time to prepare,” Professor Port declared jovially.
I’m not sure Sunset would agree that that is a good hunt, Pyrrha thought. But then, I don’t suppose that really matters anymore.
“Now, let’s see who our first match will be!” cried Doctor Oobleck.
The panning shots across the faces of the eight finalists on the screens were replaced by a pair of portraits, moving so fast that they were a blur; Pyrrha was unable to make out who the faces were until they came to a stop on two faces in particular.
“Our first match will be Weiss Schnee of Beacon versus Neon Katt of Atlas!” cried Professor Port.
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A interesting twist on Hare and the Tortoise, lmao. It is interesting to see how things may progress now that we are finally on the 1v1s! We have now a set-up for Sunset coming after Sonata, so I’m excited to see her fighting against Cinder when things come crumbling down.
So i supposed the next 5ish chapters are the fights before the Finale is interrupted by Tempest’s Plan. Excited to see how the Climax of Volume 3 will be in the Rewrite!
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Wonder how many rounds we're going to get before Tempest and Sonata unleashes 'Operation: Maximum Carnage'.
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I read that as more of a sequel to the original. The tortoise, after winning against the hare the first time, assumes himself unbeatable and rests on his laurels, leading to his defeat.
Ha, we have Weiss and the stick in the butt Kitty XD, welp, Weiss will have a little revenge there.
Okay, why is SAPR suddenly acting as though a parent’s gratitude for saving their child is exclusive to Mistral, and atypical of the rest of the world?
When Sunset confessed, Ruby took complete control of the discussion’s direction. And the rest of SAPR, Sunset included, found themselves going along with that direction. They couldn’t find it in themselves to argue or disagree with Ruby. So much so that, even after Jaune’s temper had cooled, he and Pyrrha have believe that one mistake (severe as it was) is enough to completely forget the many, many times Sunset moved heaven and earth for them.
I feel Glynda earned that emphasis on Lady Nikos' title. If Glynda insists upon being called 'Professor' even if she's not Sunset's teacher anymore (which it's understandable why Sunset called her 'ma'am' at first) then she can call Lady Nikos by her title.
Opaline is the O in CELO, eh? Wait, wasn't it said that Celestia and Luna were the only ones from their team that got brought into Ozpin's group? Ozpin must've enlisted Opaline secretly and separately.
If Opaline is O, then I wonder who E is...
It's not another one of Evenfall's aliases, is it? Maybe Celestia and/or Luna got close to finding the truth about her, causing her to fake her death and disappear for a while (until maybe she shows up at Haven under the alias Eve).
It warms my heart that Pyrrha loves Sunset so deeply that she still thinks about her and what she would think.
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Indeed, when Sunset explains her plan to save Amber after getting the OK from Ozpin, Jaune hugs her and says:
Granted, Sunset tells him he doesn't owe her anything, but still...
Jaune, Sunset saved your girlfriend, cut her some slack.
Seriously, Rainbow makes better on that.
I don't get it. I thought that Jaune was supposed to be with the good head on his shoulders. I believed that after he's cooled his head, he will see reason, after all, if he were in charge of that mission, he would have probably done the same thing for Pyrrha. But apparently not. Like, did everyone in team SAPR except Pyrrha suddenly became mentally retarded or something? Mastermind4892 put it extremely well when he said "Sunset moved heaven and earth for them". It's true. Can they not see how absolutely unfathomable stupid Ruby is? No. Scratch that, she is an absolute fucking retard! Sunset sacrificed so much for them, she almost died so many times for them, and with the first opportunity Rwby just stabs her in the back. We didn't see a "Yeah Sunset, what you did was pretty bad, but i can understand your point of view and why you did it". No. All we get is Ruby being a bitch and the other characters too dumb to even stand up for their friend. The only one who did stand up was Amber. And thank god for she did. The other person who kinda stood up for Sunset was Qrow, but for some reason he started talking about how sometimes you need to work with bad people? Like, what relevance does that make in that situation? He should have said something along the lines of "Yeah Ruby, i have done some messed up stuff as well. I am not free of the guilt and innocent blood on my hands". God, everyone is dumb as fuck. Ozpin should have said that he is not innocent either. Maybe then Ruby would have seen that her thoughts of what a "hero" is, is basically impossible to achieve. And she is just delusional with an impossible concept. Thank god we have characters like Lady nikos, El-Tee, Amber and leaf, who can actually see past the top layer and make their own decisions. Lady Nikos is just grateful that her daughter is alive. El-Tee doesn't think Sunset did it, so i don't exactly know how she will react when she finds this, but I'm hoping that she will still defend Sunset. Amber knows she would do the same and so she does not blame Sunset. Dove as well for that matter. And i don't think leaf would be against Sunset, I genuinely think that she will defend Sunset still if she ever finds out.
Granted, Sunset did not try to defend herself in any way. That was also a dumb fucking move on her part.
And that's exactly what I don't get. When did these characters became this stupid?
Also a other think i need to add. What is with Pyrrha? When she said she still holds Sunset in her heart, idk if it's just me, but i get the impression that Pyrrha loves Sunset romantically. I am probably 99% wrong on this one, but that's how it sounds to me. Is it intentional or it just happened to sound like this? Also, great chapter. It made me feel emotions, and when a book makes you feel emotions, it's a damn good one.
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I'm more under the impression that it's more of a deep platonic love or a sisterly kind of love, (And because she's Mistralian, Pyrrha's being poetic about it)
Also, is it just me or does it seem like Sunset's not even trying to hide the fact that she's from Equestria anymore, at least when talking with and around those in the know about Salem.
Like I distinctly recall her intentionally avoiding revealing her personal origins and the origins of her abilities in the vault when Ironwood questioned the plan, since she felt she didn't trust him as much as Rainbow and Twilight.
Now it seems like those in the know about Salem, know that Sunset's from Equestria, including Yang, Dove, Amber etc.
Granted, (I think) only Oz and his lieutenants, as well as Sapphire, Rosepetal minus Ciel, and Blake know it's another world entirely.
Perhaps Sunset's accepted it's just another secret to be shared amongst Ozpin's side, and with a Siren on the loose, there's no point in skirting around it, especially since she's a knowledgeable counter to the Siren.
For a change, I'll say that I'm on Ruby's side!
There are too many comments that it was stupid or treacherous of all of them, especially Ruby, to do this to Sunset. But I don't think it was a mistake. It may be a hasty decision, but it's a fair one. Because Hunters and Huntress SACRIFICE themselves for the sake of others. Yes, they are stronger, yes, if they live, they will save even more lives, but REAL HUNTERS will always strive to save lives, even if the cost is themselves.
Sunset, unfortunately, or fortunately, will not be able to sacrifice any of her friends. Many people won't be able to, in fact, I'm sure even Ruby will freeze, not knowing what to do. But they will not obey the orders of the enemy. They will try to come up with another way. Sunset will most likely just comply so that her friends remain whole.
One can understand Sunset's choice.
But you can't let her get away from the consequences.
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The part that most people are protesting is Ruby's self-righteous claims that Sunset made the wrong decision. Her perception of a hunter's role is blinding her to the fact that, if Sunset hadn't set off the bomb, they would be dead and the breach would have been worse. The bomb would have been detonated regardless, they wouldn't have been there to help stop it, and Atlas' forces would have been caught employing antipersonnel tactics against a grimm swarm. More grimm would have escaped containment, civilian casualties would have been exponentially higher, and they would have lost some of the best and brightest hunters in a generation. For nothing.
Ruby twisted everyone's perception of events so far that even Ciel isn't viewing it from a tactical angle. The only one that's actually looking at it straight on is Rainbow Dash of all people. Because she's a competent militarily trained tactician, while everyone else is, basically, just a bunch of teenagers. She's the only one, seemingly, that asked herself the question 'what would have happened if Sunset hadn't triggered the bomb?'. The answer is, unequivocally, everything would have been worse.
The flipside of this is that, from one perspective, Ruby is actually right. It might have been the correct decision tactically, but that's not the main reason Sunset made her decision. Sunset pressed that switch hoping for the best and weighing all the factors, but she pressed it to save her friends. Would she have pressed it if she knew she had the only detonator? If the grimm would have had to dig their way into Vale instead? We'll never know. Honestly it would probably have been better to blow it anyway from a tactical standpoint even in that situation. One known point of penetration is better than dozens of smaller ones in unknown locations. Regardless, Ruby's right from that one point of perspective, where Sunset made the right decision for the wrong reason. Unfortunately, Ruby's not getting there honestly. Her morality's twisted to the point of justifying any action to serve her perceived goals, be it deception(too many points to count them all), murder(Cinder, Pyrrha), or suicide in this case.
---
Well, I tried to take a break from this story, let a backlog build up and then hopefully rush through this section without commenting. Guess that didn't work. This segment of the story is just really difficult to bear for me. Everyone's struggling emotionally. Ruby's being a brat not to put too fine a point on it, and it's hard to watch a character I really like give in to the worst parts of herself. To cap it all off Sunset's listless, she feels like she's given up without a fight, having also given in to her self worth issues. It makes me wish something or someone would burst in to save them from themselves, while also knowing that's just not what's going to happen. It's going to be a slog. They're going to have to claw their way back through mud, blood and ashes. Hopefully I can contain myself better going forward
