Cover Her Face, Mine Eyes Dazzle (New)
Cover Her Face, Mine Eyes Dazzle
Amber's hands trembled.
She was full of anticipation; she was afraid. She was nervous; she was filled with hope. She regarded the future with a sense of great longing; she looked with dread at what was soon to come.
She felt both weak and strong. Her hands trembled. She nearly let go of the book in her hands and let it fall to the floor.
Fortunately, she did not; that might have alerted Ruby to the fact that there was something going on.
Amber's mind, Amber's heart, Amber's spirit, one and all three were awash with emotions, swirling and mingling in turmoil and tumult within her. This was the day. The day had arrived, and the hour drew near.
Soon, she would be free.
Soon, the city would descend into chaos.
Soon, she would be away from Ozpin and all the rest, free to live as she wished, love as she wished, and be no one's pawn or puppet but her own person again at last.
Soon, she would betray Ozpin, and Pyrrha, and Sunset, and everyone else who had been so kind to her, who trusted her.
Soon, she and Dove would be together, with no obstacles, nothing to stand in their way, nothing to take them away from one another.
Soon, she would give up the Relic of Choice to Salem and make an enemy of all those who called her friend.
Had she not reason to feel both fear and hope in equal measure? Had she not reason to anticipate but also dread?
She anticipated freedom, she hoped for freedom, she longed for it, she dreamed of it. She dreamed of what it would be like for her and Dove, once they were free, a part of no wars, no secret battles, once there was no one to trouble them, only themselves. They could live…
If they were truly free, then they could live anywhere, anywhere they wished, but it was not entirely so, was it? That was the cause of Amber's dread, the cause of her fear, the reason that she did not regard this day with unalloyed hope. If she had been only escaping, then that would have been one thing, that would have been the best thing, that would have been something that Amber could have faced with a smile; but it was not so. Amber was not just escaping with Dove. She was only escaping, freely and truly, from the threat of Salem; she would give up the relic to Salem's followers, and in turn, Salem, having no more use for the Fall Maiden, would trouble her no more. Cinder, Tempest Shadow, Bon Bon, all of them gone. She would leave them all behind. The weight of them would be lifted from her shoulders.
And all she had to do was give up a crown during the confusion of a battle — and betray her friends.
They were her friends. Sunset, Pyrrha, Ciel, Blake, sweet Penny, and handsome Jaune, she really did care about them. It wasn't a game that she was playing; it wasn't something that she was putting on, some calculated deception to make her life easier. They were her friends, her first friends, besides Dove, in the whole world — that she could recall, anyway. She had not known many people growing up; at least, if she had, she didn't remember them. Her mother had kept her distant, isolated. That had probably been Ozpin's doing, to make it easier for him to use her as he wished.
But the point was, the point was they really were her friends; she really did care about them. Sunset had saved her life; Pyrrha had been so kind and gentle, and she and Jaune were such a lovely couple that it would be such a shame, the most terrible shame, if any harm were to befall either one and leave the other heartbroken; Ciel had been kind also, kind and patient, and she and Blake had shared their makeup and their makeup tips with her; and Penny was just such a sweetheart you couldn't not like her. Amber cared about them, all of them; she didn't want them to die protecting her; that was one of the reasons she was doing this.
The fact that there would be, that there would have to be, some sort of battle in order for there to be enough chaos and confusion for her to escape was something that she felt guilty about; the guilt of it was giving her twitches of pain in her stomach, like indigestion, and a sour taste in her throat when she swallowed, like bile or the vestiges of acid reflux. She didn't want them to get hurt, and she hoped, she really hoped, she hoped with all her heart that they would survive the night to come unharmed, that no ill would come of the fireworks that Bon Bon and Tempest had planned, that nothing would come of it beyond her own escape, her freedom.
She didn't want them to get hurt. She didn't want them to hate her either, but she … she had to admit that … she was resigned to the fact that they probably would. They would hate her because she had betrayed them, and Amber would deserve to be hated because she had betrayed them. She might not have meant to, she might have only meant to betray Ozpin — who deserved to be betrayed, if anyone did — but she would be betraying them as well. Sunset had saved her life and given up her bed for Amber, and the rest of Team SAPR had welcomed her into their dorm room, they and Team RSPT had both been willing to risk, to give their lives in Amber's protection, they had fought Cinder for her sake.
And she would betray them. How could they not hate her after that?
She knew that they would hate her … well, at least, they would judge her for it, and judge her harshly. Even Sunset, who might have been the most forgiving of all of them if she'd been here, would have judged her for it; Sunset had judged herself, after all, and judged herself so harshly that she had gone into exile for what she'd done; Pyrrha had spoken fondly, and in a very lovely tone, about how much she cared about Sunset and would miss her, but she hadn't stood by her when Sunset needed her, she'd only stood aside and let her go.
And as for Jaune and Ruby … the thought of Jaune's anger, his rage, the way that it had seemed like he was going to hit Sunset; the thought of that rage being turned on her made Amber shiver; for all the powers at her command, she didn't want that fury to be turned on her. Jaune had calmed down, by the time that she and Pyrrha got back, after Dove had talked to him — for which she was grateful, to Jaune but even more to Dove — but at the same time, that didn't make Amber feel safe around him if he knew what she'd done.
She didn't feel safe around any of them if they knew; that was why she couldn't tell them. If they had forgiven Sunset, if today had been like all the other days, if Sunset were still here — or at least up in the flying arena watching the tournament — then she would have told them all by now. She would have told them all, and thrown themselves upon the mercy of people whom she had to believe to be supremely kind, and thus, supremely forgiving.
But they had shown themselves to be not quite all that forgiving, and for that reason, Amber had no choice but to launch herself upon this perilous course, to venture everything for her liberty.
But they would hate her for it. And Amber would deserve their condemnation, for it was … it was a wicked thing that she did, for all that she been ample course, and no recourse else.
Let me be wicked rather than be a slave to Ozpin one day longer.
That dream troubled her. Last night, she dreamed that she had dined with Ozpin, her and Dove sitting together at a table in his office, at the top of his high tower. The sky had been dark, with no stars visible around them, and there had been cracks on the floor, and the walls, and on the panes of the glass in the windows, as though the whole thing were about to fall apart at any moment, to crumble beneath their feet. And yet, there they sat, drinking red … Amber thought it must have been red wine, though she had never tasted it awake, and if it was anything like the sour taste that it had possessed in her dream, she never would either. It was just a dream, of course, but Pyrrha thought that it might have meaning; she thought it was a sign that she should actually think about having dinner with Ozpin. Amber was more afraid that it meant that Ozpin would search for her, and drag her back to Beacon, and force her to dine with him before he punished her.
There was no reason for him to come after her, once the relic was gone. Once Salem had the Crown, then a Fall Maiden was as useless to Ozpin as she was to Salem, and yet, after what she had done, Amber could not help but fear that he would send out his agents to hunt for her, to drag her back to Beacon to punish her. Amber wasn't sure what form the punishment would take, but neither did she want to find out.
He would not let her live and love free of his disapproval.
Would they be willing to go after her? Would they hate her so much that they would hunt her down, or try to? Amber wasn't sure. Would Sunset, would Pyrrha? She didn't know, but she knew of at least one of them who would: Ruby Rose.
Amber had liked Ruby well enough; she hadn't been Amber's favourite, but Amber hadn't disliked her, by any means. Not until last night. Not until she had seen Ruby for what Ruby really was: cold and cruel, with no love in her heart, no sympathy, no understanding. Ruby would never understand why Amber had to do what she would do tonight; she would not forgive it. True, Amber wasn't a huntress, but she was the Fall Maiden, and as such, it was her duty to secure the vault and the relic, even if that meant enslaving herself to Ozpin all her life. That, at least, was how Ruby would see it.
If anyone would come after her for what she had done, it was Ruby. Amber had no Councillor to protect her, or to require Ruby to stifle her wrath and keep silent for the sake of avoiding political turmoil; she didn't have a headmaster who would calm the waters for her — at least she wouldn't, after tonight — there was no reason for Ruby to hold back and nobody who would restrain her.
Amber would be free from Salem and her followers, but she would have to watch her back for Ruby Rose; that constant fear would hang over her like a dark cloud, a blight upon her life, a shadow over her liberty.
Not to mention someone who would be hard to escape from tonight. Getting away, getting the relic, escaping with Dove, it would all be very hard with Ruby Rose beside her. The protection that Ozpin had gifted her — the protection that she had not minded because it was comprised of her friends — had become another cage of his to bind and restrain her.
If she was to escape, then Ruby would have to be put aside before the fireworks began.
Amber had possessed some hope that, having decided to leave Beacon and seek out pastures new, Ruby might go away right now.
Get lost, if you're not happy here. Fly out the door and far away and don't look back to see what I'm doing behind you.
But Ruby had not left, and showed no intention of leaving; duty, that awful ball and chain to which she expected all others around her to encumber themselves, held her here. She would not leave until her duty was discharged. There was no chance of her leaving Amber and Dove alone just because she didn't want to be here anymore.
Amber glanced at Dove. He, too, kept looking at Ruby, kept glancing in her direction. He liked her, she knew — he liked Ruby more, in Amber's opinion, than Ruby deserved; it might have made her jealous under different circumstances; it did make her a little jealous; what did that self-righteous little girl have that he should look so admiringly upon her? — but he had to realise how difficult it would be for them to escape unnoticed with Ruby there. He had to understand that they needed to do something about her if they were to stand any chance of slipping away without the alarm being raised.
He had to realise that there was no other way.
As Amber watched him, she saw Dove's eyes stray down to the hilt of his sword which he wore at his hip. He scowled and shook his head, if only a little so that Ruby didn't notice. He looked up and caught Amber looking at him.
The scowl remained on Dove's face, joined by a slightly guilty look in his blue eyes.
Amber shook her own head slightly. You don't need to do that. There's a better way.
She looked away from Dove and towards Ruby, who was pacing up and down the room. She was impatient, it seemed. Impatient to be away from here, or just impatient to tell everyone that she was leaving? Either way, she was pacing up and down. She wanted something to happen, even if Amber wasn't sure what that something was.
Whatever she was waiting for, whatever she was hoping for that she was so eager to see happen, Ruby wasn't going to see it.
Amber slowly and unobtrusively — she hoped — raised one hand a little.
She activated her semblance before Ruby could notice or react. Golden light, little motes of light that gleamed and shone, rose lazily out of her hand. They rose a little less lazily once Amber put more of her aura into it, urging them on to haste and swift results, but nevertheless, they did not move fast. Hers was not a swift semblance; her mother had said that it was appropriate that a semblance that put people to sleep should be a lazy one, that moved sluggishly like someone struggling to bestir themselves from bed in the morning, but there were times — when Cinder and her henchmen had confronted her had been another such a time — when Amber wished that it could act more swiftly.
But, though it did not act swiftly, it acted all the same, all the motes of golden light streaming out of her hand to float like pollen on the breeze, like dandelion fluff when you blow on it, across the dorm room. Dove began to yawn, though Amber wasn't even aiming at him and was actually trying to avoid him; nevertheless, some stray motes of light drifted towards him, floating around him and then descending down onto the floor or onto his head or shoulders. But most of them continued to drift across the dorm room, drifting further and further away from Amber until they reached Ruby. They danced around her like fireflies, golden light surrounding her, golden light slowly falling as Ruby would soon fall — and fall asleep.
Ruby stopped pacing as the gleaming motes of gold began to swirl around her. She turned to face Amber, even as the dancing golden lights obscured small patches of her face, floating in front of one eye, and then the other, landing on her red-tipped hair.
"Amber?" Ruby murmured, her speech seeming to slow already. "Amber, what…?" She blinked rapidly, and as she blinked, it looked to Amber that her eyelids grew heavy, that she couldn't open her eyes as much as she had done just a moment before. "What … what are you…?" She put one hand to her face. "Stop it, Amber, I don't…" Her last words came out slurred, rendered almost beyond understanding by the yawning in her voice, Ruby's mouth gaping open even as her eyes snapped shut.
Ruby staggered sideways a step and a half, swaying uneasily this way and that before she lost her balance completely and toppled to the floor with a thump that made Amber glad the building was more than half empty.
Dove yawned, his body sagging forwards as though he might follow Ruby to the floor. "Y-you … you…"
Amber hopped up, crossing the distance between them in moments and leaning forward to kiss him gently, a light touch of her lips against his to undo the effects her semblance had on him. It was not the only way that she could dispel her semblance — either cheek or the forehead would do — but she wanted to kiss him on the lips, so she did.
Dove's eyes widened as his alertness returned and sleep's fog dispersed at once from his mind. "Amber! You—" He looked at Ruby. "I see," he said softly. "I suppose that was necessary to make sure that she didn't interfere." He sighed, his head bowing forward for a moment. "Thank you."
"Thank me?" Amber murmured. "For waking you?"
"No, for … that," Dove replied, gesturing towards Ruby. "I was afraid that I would have to fight her, or worse, attack her by treachery. Neither prospect was very appealing to me."
"I know," Amber whispered. "Even if you could have done it silently and without anyone realising anything, I wouldn't ask you to do that. I know that you like her, although I can't imagine why, and so I wouldn't ask you to fight her, not even for the both of us. Not when there are much better ways."
Dove nodded. "She's very brave. I both do and don't envy her courage. I wouldn't want to be her, but I admire her from a distance."
From a safe distance, Amber thought. Well out of her way.
Dove took a step towards the sleeping Ruby. "How long will she stay out like this?"
"Until I release her, or my aura breaks," Amber said.
Dove looked at her. "There's no time limit?"
"I … I don't know," Amber admitted. "I've never just put someone to sleep and then left them there." Although perhaps I should have used it on Ozpin, then I wouldn't be in this position. "Most of the time, I used it on my mother, to help her sleep, when the pain made it too uncomfortable for her. Maybe she'll wake up after a certain time, or when I get a certain distance away, but I don't know."
Dove frowned. "So … Ruby could end up like this … forever?"
"It won't come to that," Amber told him. "She won't…" She swallowed. Knowing what she had to do next didn't actually make it easy. "Ruby won't be like this for long."
The frown remained on Dove's face. "What do you mean?"
Amber left him, walking towards Ruby, where she lay beneath the window, with the late afternoon sunshine — fading but golden, golden like the lights of Amber's semblance, golden like autumn leaves — falling down upon her. Falling down upon her like the light streaming out of an open door, open to welcome her.
She looked so young. So young and so pale; pale, or fair. Either would do, depending on the circumstances, but right now, as she lay there with her eyes closed, the fading light streaming down upon her, to call her fair seemed a more fitting descriptor. She had a fair complexion, a fair face framed by hair of black and bloody red. A fair face with a spirit bloody red lying behind. But a fair face nonetheless. A fair face and a youthful one, now that all the hardness that made her seem so stern and cold had fled.
So young and fair, to be so cruel.
So young and fair to spread your wings for heaven.
It might have been better if she had been awake for this. Amber could have dealt with the waking Ruby who had banished Sunset, revelling in her torment, easier than she could with this young slumbering Ruby, this sleeping child, this soft-cheeked youth so fair.
"Amber?" Dove asked.
Amber didn't reply. Her eyes were dazzled; she blinked back the stinging tears that welled up in them. She had to cover Ruby's face, that young face, that face that in repose pricked at her conscience like the spindle of a spinning wheel. She stepped over Ruby and grabbed hold of the curtains, drawing them shut so forcefully that she nearly wrenched them off the curtain rail, or else yanked the rail itself out of the wall. The room was plunged into half-darkness, but these school curtains were not so thick that they kept out all the light of the day; a faint, red-tinted light yet stole into the room, casting everything in shades of deep rouge.
"Amber, what's going on?" asked Dove.
Amber still didn't reply. She stumbled over Ruby, but Ruby didn't stir; she remained asleep no matter how ill-used she was while she was sleeping, and it didn't bother her the way that Amber almost tripped over her on the way across the room. She switched on the lights.
"Amber, what are you doing?" demanded Dove. "Please, will you answer me?"
"I'm doing," Amber began, then paused for a moment or two. She bent down and picked up a pillow from off the camp bed by the door. She gripped the pillow in both hands, squeezing it with her fingers. It was very soft, with a lot of give to it. It would suffice, she hoped. "I'm doing what I have to do. I'm doing what our safety demands that I do."
She walked back towards Ruby. Her steps were slow, her metal boots and greaves felt heavier than they had done before, they weighed upon her feet and legs like stones. Each step was slow and weighed down on her. It felt like agony to reach Ruby, slumbering on the floor, and kneel down beside her with the pillow.
She looks so young.
I wish I didn't have to see her face.
Amber knelt down beside her and began to raise the pillow.
"Amber, no!" Dove yelled, leaping over Pyrrha's bed to land with a heavy thud on the other side of Ruby from her. With both hands he reached for the pillow. "Amber, what are you doing?"
"Not what I wish, but what I must," Amber declared, her voice cracking. "I'm sending Ruby to sleep, forever."
"You mean you're killing her," Dove said bluntly. "You're going to smother her with that pillow until she stops breathing."
Amber swallowed. "Yes," she whispered.
"Amber," Dove whispered. "Amber, you…" He let go of the pillow but reached for Amber's arms instead, pulling her upright, dragging her away from Ruby until her prone and sleeping form did not separate them. "You can't do this," he said. "You mustn't. You're talking about killing someone!"
"I know that!" Amber cried. "I know what it is, I know what I'm doing, and I know how terrible it is, but I don't have a choice! We don't have a choice! She'll come after us, Dove, you know she will."
"We don't know that."
"Yes," Amber replied. "Yes, we do. You saw how she acted when she found out what Sunset had done, you saw how she treated Sunset; what will she do to us when she finds out what we've done?"
"That's why she's asleep and can't stop us."
"But if she wakes up," Amber said. "If she wakes up and finds out about all that we've done, then she'll hunt us down."
"That doesn't mean that you can murder her!" Dove shouted. "For God's sake, Amber, she's fifteen years old!" He took a deep breath. "Amber … I love you—"
"And I—"
"Let me finish," Dove said, quietly but firmly. "Please."
Amber swallowed. She suspected that she might not like this, but she nodded. "Go on."
Dove closed his bright blue eyes for a moment. "I love you," he repeated. "I've always loved you from the moment that I stumbled across you in the forest. What's happened to you, what's been done to you, it's terrible. I hate it, and I understand — I completely understand — why you want to get away from it all, and that's why I'm still here, even though what you're doing, the people you've turned to for help, none of it would be my choice. But it's your choice, and I love you, and so I'm with you, all the way, but this? This is … it's too much. It's too much, Amber, and I won't stand for it. I'll have no part in it."
"But I'm doing this for us," Amber insisted.
"No," Dove said firmly. "No, you're not, not this." He hesitated. "If you do this, if you go through with this, then you'll have to kill me too, because that's the only way you'll stop me walking out that door and telling Professor Goodwitch everything."
Amber stared at him, dumbstruck for the moment. He was … he was going to leave her? He was going to turn on her? Dove was going to betray her? Sweet Dove, handsome Dove, gentle Dove, Dove who had spoken to her so fair, Dove whom she had yearned for and longed for and wished upon a star for, Dove was…
Dove was telling her that she was wrong.
Perhaps she ought to listen.
But she was afraid.
"She'll come after us," she whispered. "She'll hunt us."
"And if she finds us, then I'll protect you," Dove promised. "I won't let her hurt you, and if it comes to a fight, then I'll do what I have to do, but not like this. Not like this; it's too much, and it isn't you."
"What if it's what they've made me?" Amber asked.
"It isn't," Dove insisted. He took a step closer towards her, pushing his chest against the pillow in her hand. "I know that you're scared. I know that you're so, so scared. But I also know that, in spite of all that you've been through, you're still the same Amber I met in the forest. The Amber who couldn't bring herself to slaughter a pig or a lamb, or shoot a deer."
He reached up and stroked her face, the scarred side of her face, the ruined side, the side that Cinder had marked for the rest of Amber's life.
A tear fell from Amber's eye to descend her face and land upon Dove's thumb. Then another, and another, and tears from her other eye too, a flood of tears that stung Amber's eyes, tears welling up for what she had been about to do, for the fact that she had almost killed not only Ruby but also the last trace of who she had been when she'd been happy.
What have I become?
The pillow fell from Amber's trembling hands as she stumbled forward, falling into Dove, who stood firm as a rock as Amber laid her hands upon his shoulders and pressed her face against his chest. His armour was hard and cold to her skin, but Amber felt that she might deserve that.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"I know," Dove said softly as he put his arms around her.
"I was afraid," Amber said. "I'm so afraid."
"I know."
"I want to get away from here, I need to," Amber insisted. "I need to find somewhere that I can be myself again, find or … or remember who I am. Or who I used to be."
"And you will," Dove promised. "We will, together. We will be safe, and we will be happy."
Amber looked up at him. "Together?"
Dove nodded. "Together."
"Even … even after—?"
"After what?" Dove asked. "You didn't do anything. You stopped. You remembered who you were."
Amber didn't reply. She felt too weak to reply. Too weak even to stand by herself as she collapsed against him and let Dove take the burden of supporting her.
"We … we should probably hide Ruby somewhere," Dove suggested. "In case anyone comes in looking for her — or for us. I'll put her in the closet."
"That's probably a good idea," Amber murmured, and she allowed Dove to guide her to one of the chairs sitting by the desk against the wall. She sat there, leaning against the wooden back of the chair, and watched as Dove picked up Ruby bridal-style and carried her to the large closet on her right, on the other side of the room from the bathroom.
Dove placed Ruby inside, sitting up, tucking her legs up a bit so that he could shut the door and hiding her behind some of Pyrrha's formal gowns, which dropped from the hangars down all the way to the floor and, when shoved together in a riot of emerald, gold, and crimson, concealed all of Ruby save for the tips of her boots.
He shut the door but stayed facing it. "What if … she won't stay like that forever, will she?"
"I don't know," Amber could only say, as she had said before. "I don't think so, because my aura will run out eventually. It doesn't take much, but it takes a little, and over time—"
"Yes," Dove said. "Yes, I understand." He hesitated. "That's good," he went on. "If she wakes up eventually, then that … that's good." He chewed on his lip for a second. "I suppose we should let Bon Bon know about this, that Ruby's … that she doesn't need to worry, or send Lyra around with any half-coded messages."
"You do it," Amber said. "Please."
Dove's brow furrowed for a moment — Amber didn't think he was any fonder of Bon Bon than she was — but the furrowed brow disappeared, and Dove got out his scroll.
It didn't take him long to call Bon Bon.
Amber shuddered. Bon Bon was another one that she'd like to smother with a pillow, and unlike Ruby, she didn't think Dove would stop her.
But that's not me. That isn't who I want to be.
With time, and freedom, I will be me again.
Bon Bon answered, her face appearing on Dove's scroll. "Dove?" she squawked. "What are you—?"
"You don't need to worry about Ruby; she won't be … an issue any more," Dove told her.
"She won't … is she dead?" Bon Bon cried. "Did you kill her?"
"No, of course not!"
"Then why are you talking like she's dead, why are you calling at all, where is she?"
"She's asleep, and she's going to be asleep for a while," Dove explained. "Amber used her semblance on her."
There was a moment of pause. "Amber's semblance puts people to sleep?" Bon Bon asked.
"Yes," Dove replied.
There was another pause. "Huh," Bon Bon said. "So Ruby is out the way."
"Yes," Dove said. "Literally."
"Good, that will make things a lot easier when the time comes," Bon Bon said. "Okay, so here's the plan…"
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....
I cannot believe Amber was going to kill Ruby...
As cruel as Ruby is... she doesn't deserve that.
And yeah, I get Amber was going ro do it out of fear, but still...
Thankfully Dove stopped her.
And so, Amber has decided that her problems are more important than everyone else's lives. Her reasons are sympathetic, but not forgivable. However, I need not throw any accusations at her feet. She will do that herself when she beholds the carnage to come. When brother kills brother at the Siren's command, and when the dragon and Grimm come for our home.
But most importantly, I would've forgiven her. There was a moment when she realized the truth, that there was no need to betray everyone. Amber was about to renege on her deal with the devil before she signed the contract or carried anything out. No crime or betrayal was yet set in stone. If Ozpin had forgiven Sunset, he would've forgiven her. The only reason she still chooses to is because Ruby failed to be a good person.
Some people might be disappointed that Ruby did not hear any scathing words from Amber, but in a way, this is even worse. Semblance or not, Ruby literally fell asleep at her post. By her own demanding standards, she failed. She wasn't strong enough to resist, didn't act in time, and now countless people will suffer for it. And in her own eyes, no huntress deserves to be forgiven for such a mistake.
This is a Dark chapter, indeed. The fact that Amber almost killed Ruby... even after what she did, Ruby doesn’t deserve to die, and I’m glad Dove was there to stop Amber, now we are down a SAPR member, and one step closer to the plan starting...
I wonder who will find sleepy Ruby, and what will her reaction be to the betrayal that just happened; will she realize that Amber didn’t trust her because of what happened to Sunset? Will this be the first step to break Ruby’s ego? I wonder...
Smother the dumb bitch.
I'm joking... mostly. Anyway this might be worse for Ruby. Imagine waking up with everything being both over and your fault. Though honestly I don't want her sleeping through everything.
Another character that realized the Pyrrha was a shit friend in that moment. I really like Amber. God bless her soul.
Also, wow, i did not expect that. That genuinely shocked me. In a good way. It was nice to see a darker side of Amber. Anyway, another great chapter.
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She made that decision the moment she threw in with Salem, really. This was a more poignant moment, but she knows that people, many people, are going to die tonight. Her play for freedom is going to be bought with blood, and she's acknowledged that. She might hope that her friends survive, but she knows that any of them could die in the next few hours. Dove's semantics might have saved Ruby, but he's rationalized the slaughter of the mostly faceless masses as easily as Amber. Their 'freedom' is paramount. Apparently the fear of Salem is so great that it's worth making the whole world their enemy. So, not so free, merely trading one intransigent foe for another as it were. People are this blind when they're backed into a corner. It's not surprising, just the saddest kind of wishful thinking. It's a little more surprising that the panic thinking has survived the moments of reflection Amber's had. She even aaaaaalmost touched on it when she pondered where they could actually go with their newfound freedom. She and Dove are going to be labelled terrorists and Grimm cultists right along with everyone else involved with tonight's events. They're as much the architects of the coming fall as Sonata and Berrytwist. Even if they make it out of Vale, every city guard and hunter in the civilized world is going to know who they are and take them down on sight. It is what it is. Desperation makes fools of us all.
I'm really glad Ruby didn't get killed here. It would have absolutely made sense, but it would have been horrible. Ruby really cost Amber everything. She sent her down this path, and even if Amber doesn't acknowledge it directly, Amber has every reason to hate her enough to kill her. Expedience and self-preservation aside, Amber has very real reasons to kill Ruby. I'm honestly surprised she didn't push back against Dove more strongly. If she'd pointed out that the reason they were put in this position in the first place was Amber's fear of Ruby's reprisal on coming clean, she really might have been able to shift the blame enough in Dove's eyes that he would let her go through with it. If Dove was made to see that Ruby was the catalyst of everything they were going through, I doubt his admiration would have survived that shift in perspective. Dove hasn't accepted that their hands are already dirty in the way that Amber has though, so maybe not. His hypocrisy is pretty staggering, though. He hates BonBon and can't forgive her for what she did, but he's committed himself to a very similar and possibly worse path.
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It makes me wonder if one of the reasons Ruby chose to stay behind is to prove that's she's reliable, unlike (in her eyes at least) Sunset, yet ending up failing (though not by her own fault as no one can resist Amber's semblance but Penny).
Funny enough, one might argue that Sunset has proven to be the reliable one over Ruby, exceeding Ozpin's expectations while Ruby's recent actions have dissappointed him.
I think this is where we solidify that Amber's more of an asshole than Ruby.
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You know what's funny? By wanting to leave Beacon and SAPR behind, Ruby was going to abandon her friends a second time. And for far more selfish reasons, just because some people privately disagreed with her. But now, a great many people are going to be disappointed for 'legitimate' reasons of her falling asleep at her post. (Does anyone even know about Amber's semblance, since she always lived far away?) Thus, Ruby will know that she legitimately disappointed Ozpin before he died.
More importantly, even if Ruby never finds out what Amber thinks of her, she'll always blame herself for this. She alone was responsible for Amber, and now Salem's going to get a Relic.
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To play the devil's advocate for Dove, he doesn't know more about what's going past there being Maidens with magic powers. When the remaining members of SAPR accidentally mentioned Salem's name, they told him that she was merely an associate of Cinder. Unlike Amber, Dove doesn't know that Salem is Queen of the Grimm or what she's really capable of. Unlike Amber, he doesn't realize the full devastation that's about to fall upon Vale and countless innocent lives.
But he will. Very, very soon, he will.
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In fairness, the rest of Sapr and Penny at least are aware of Amber's semblance. I believe a few others are as well due to the testing of Penny's semblance in an earlier chapter.
And I would disagree with Amber and Dove being labeled as Grimm Cultists and terrorists. Their only role in the things to come is entering a hidden, secret vault, removing the relic within and handing it off to one of Salem's people. The general public won't ever find out who they are or what they did.
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Fear can make people kind... but it can also make you cruel and cowardly. Amber is the latter two.
In contrast, Fluttershy is the former.
While I criticize much of Ruby's actions and attitude... people are being way to hard on her. Sunset risked the lives of hundreds of thousands if not millions of people. I won't defend all Ruby's actions, or how she's dealt with her anger, but she is right to be angry about what Sunset did. People need to put aside their sympathy for Sunset for a moment and recall the innocent lives - babies and toddlers and mothers and fathers - who she risked for six people. And that's before considering the six who did die.
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Yes but that only counts when you believe Sunset is the one responsible for the breach. Which she isn't. Cinder was still out there and the bomb would still be there,so the breach was going to happen weather she pressed the button or not.
The way I see it she'd only be responsible if she abandoned Vale with her friends,but she didn't even if that wasn't what she was thinking at the time. She still defended Vale all her chose did was give her and her friends a fighting chance instead of just accepting their fate in the tunnel.
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It also helps that this sequence of events could have led to the best possible outcome. Even assuming there was no Cinder with a seconday detonator.
If Ruby had not blown up the way she did the whole of Salem's current plan would just be over now. She would have lost twice in a row. Not really the sort of thing you can just come back from with a plan b like sending another siren.
The fact that we know there was and many characters assume there was another detonator makes it way more reasonable to be soft on Sunset. A trolley problem where there is another person who will pull the lever if you don't isn't much of a moral dilema after all.
Another reason why Amber’s semblance will make Ruby feel furious with herself? Because she also slept through the Breach after silver eye exhaustion. Another reason she is so hellbent on proving herself.
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Another important factor is that, while Sunset did make a mistake in her choice to endanger the citizens of Vale, we the readers are so defensive of Sunset because she has spent the last few story arcs feeling terrible about it. Psychological trauma, mentally punishing herself, undertaking a suicide mission, working constantly to atone for it, and resolving to do better in the future. Sunset has been working tirelessly, ceaselessly, to become a better person, and this is what makes Ruby's punishment feel especially unfair after so much progress.
Ozpin said it himself about why he trusts her.
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One of the conversations from this story I love. But there's also the one between Ozpin and Sunset on the cliffs (another one of my favourites and a turning point in the story), specifically this bit:
Of course, it doesn't sink in until Arcadia Lake, and by then she (mostly) gets over it.
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Thank you, I was looking for that one.
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Because I don't think they would be public knowledge by the point of them being the main perpetrators; Amber is a nobody and Dove is a random Beacon student, they wouldn't be the focus of the news coverage. Tempest Shadow will most likely be said to be the main terrorist because she is an Atlas Student and is actually the main perpetrator.
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Oh for sure, Ruby at least has the excuse of being a fifteen-year-old with mommy issues who idolizes the Huntress way and death too much for her own good and was heartbroken by her hero seemingly not being the perfect image that she has of a Huntress. Amber, on the other hand, is afraid of dying so much, is so paranoid about Ozpin that she thinks that making a deal with the Devil is the best way to save her and seemingly doesn't give a fuck about the kind people who saved her life to think twice on whether or not they would survive the following disaster.
In fact, Amber and Ruby are clearly supposed to be mirrors of each other: One has Daddy Issues and thinks he is a monster, the other has Mommy issues and thinks she is an angel; one is afraid of death so much that she would betray everyone to survive, the other idolizes her own sacrificial death so much that she would think that everyone betrayed her for not following in her mother's footsteps, one would do everything for her lover and the other just abandoned her heroine, one would betray the people that saved her life for her one benefit, and the other thinks everyone betrayed her ideals while she is the one who is going against the real ideal of a Huntress, one abandoned her friend, and the other is abandoning everyone except herself. Amber and Ruby are mirroring each other so much that it wouldn't surprise me if there would be a confrontation between the two of them that makes Ruby realize how similar they both are.
Volume 3 is shaping up to be the best Arc of the story yet.
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I mean, for people to learn anything at all then someone from Ozpin's side has to report it, as the entire relic event is going to be done outside of the public eye. Whoever is reporting could say that Amber and Dove are the main perpetrators, or at least really important in the event, and even if the current climate makes Tempest the most hated, they still would be associated to one of the biggest fiascos in Vale modern history, there will be hate to pass around.
The only reason I can think to not do so is that Amber is still a Maiden, and the secrecy was done for more reasons than just to keep the relic safe. Hunting her down to try to get the Fall Maiden under control again is just saving yourself the trouble of another Red Queen down the way, and that only works if it is the Ozpin aligned the ones who have a reason to kill her.