• Published 31st Aug 2018
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SAPR - Scipio Smith



Sunset, Jaune, Pyrrha and Ruby are Team SAPR, and together they fight to defeat the malice of Salem, uncover the truth about Ruby's past and fill the emptiness within their souls.

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Roomshare (Rewritten)

Roomshare

As the only girl on a team with three boys, Weiss went into the bathroom to get changed for bed.

She shut the door and removed the icicle tiara from her hair, letting her braid collapse and her hair fall down around her shoulders.

And as her snowy hair descended so, Weiss leaned against the bathroom wall and sighed.

She was the team leader. On the one hand, it was really nothing that couldn’t have been anticipated; she had spent her entire life being groomed for leadership.

Perhaps that was part of the reason it felt so unexpected to her.

Not that her team, or the world, would ever realise that. But, after spending so long as the recipient of her father’s criticism, his disappointment, his stern judgement that seemingly could never be assuaged by anything she did or accomplished, to be trusted like this was…honestly, a little surprising.

Why could Professor Ozpin, who barely knew her, trust her more than her own father did?

And could she be worthy of the trust that he had placed in her?

Does Winter ever feel unequal to the task?

Not that she would dare ask her sister to find out. No, she had to be like Winter: stern and in control at all times. The world must never see beneath the icy mask of a true Schnee.

“So, on a scale of one to hot,” came the voice of Russell Thrush from through the door, “how would you guys rate our team leader?”

“Come on, do you really think that’s appropriate?” asked Flash Sentry.

“Don’t be like that, dude,” Russell said. “Nobody likes that guy, certainly not a girl.”

“I rate her out of your league, Russell,” Cardin declared.

“But not yours, right?”

“I don’t need to play that game,” Cardin said, “because unlike you losers, I already have a girlfriend.”

Russell scoffed. “Yeah? Pictures, or she doesn’t exist.”

“What, you think I’d just make up a girlfriend?” Cardin demanded. “How old do you think I am?”

Are we talking physical years or mental ones? Weiss wondered.

“I guess it doesn’t matter anyway,” Russell said. “You can own a car and still admire the other models in the showroom, right?”

“Really, guys? Really?” Flash said.

“Dude,” Russell said. “Are you really telling us you don’t think she’s hot? 'Cause she’s an eight and a half on the Russell scale.”

“No, I’m not saying that she isn’t gorgeous; I’m just saying that-“

Weiss stopped listening. Honestly. She wasn’t sure if it was them…or if she’d been naïve to hope for anything better.

Perhaps I should just be grateful that they find me attractive and not my father’s money.

But she would manage them. They might be jerks, but she would manage them. She had seen Winter reduce Atlesian soldiers to silence by her mere presence, and she would do the same.

Though a part of her might have liked to not have to.

Weiss sighed again, and as she pulled off her bolero, she turned to face the mirror. Her face, her scarred face, her eight and a half face, stared back at her.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, tell me, who’s the loneliest of all?


As the only guy in a team with three girls, Sky Lark had been banished to the bathroom to change for bed, while Blake, Lyra, and Bonnie - or Bon Bon, as she had been emphatic about being referred to by everyone - used the bedroom.

Blake had changed quickly and now sat on her bed, observing Lyra and Bon Bon as they, with a degree of chattiness that was only partially explained for Blake by the fact that they were old friends, got undressed in a far more lackadaisical manner marked by frequent pauses for involved conversation.

Blake let what they were actually saying wash over her as she studied them. Her troops, her teammates. Hers to lead and to protect.

She was no stranger to leading. She had led troops into battle in the past, but this…this was different. She had come to Beacon expecting to follow orders, not to give them.

She had come to Beacon expecting – hoping – to be anonymous. Now, three pairs of eyes would be turned towards her at all times.

Did she want it? No.

Would she do it? Did she have a choice?

Could she do it? Yes. She had seen her father lead; she had seen Sienna Khan lead; she had seen Adam lead, and his descent into darkness didn’t change the fact that he was an effective leader by any reasonable measure. She had led, though she might not have led anyone like Lyra or Bon Bon or Sky.

In her prior experience, there were three kinds of people Blake had found herself leading: idealists, gangster wannabe idiots, and those who liked the violence far more than they had ever cared for the cause. She liked to tell herself that she had been in the first category and that she’d gotten out before she could fall into the third.

Her teammates could not be the first, and Blake very much hoped that they were not the second or the third.

So she would have to find another way to lead them. She could not lead as she had led in the past. She wasn’t sure if she’d want to.

She might not stay at Beacon. Something might happen: Adam might find her, she might find a reason to run from here just as she had run to here, but until then, she would lead.

They were her responsibility now.

Not least because, without meaning to be unduly harsh to anyone, Blake had the distinct impression that these three were not the best of the new freshman class. In fact, there had been times during Initiation when it had felt as though she was carrying the three of them on her back.

Never mind. That was something she had prior experience with too.

Bon Bon, who had finally gotten changed into a blue top with white pyjama bottoms, got up off her bed and headed for the door. “I just need to pop out for a second.”

Blake glanced her way. “Fine, but why?”

“I just need to call my parents,” Bon Bon said. “Tell them that I got through Initiation, that sort of thing.”

Blake nodded. Bon Bon might not be the best student in the school, but she seemed pleasant enough, and she was fortunate that she was in a position to call her parents and let them know how things had gone.

“Give them my love!” Lyra cried.

Bon Bon smiled. “Will do,” she said, before she left the room. The door closed softly behind her.

Bon Bon – or Sweetie Drops, to use the name her natural parents had given her – sighed as she leaned against the wall. She was an Atlesian girl of average height, her eyes a deep, ocean blue, her hair divided neatly into two halves, one pink, the other a deep blue-grey. It was about the only distinguishing feature about her, the only thing that would make you notice her, the only reason you wouldn’t pass her on the street without a second thought.

And she was a liar. And not just because she’d changed her name.

Team BLBL. This was not what she had wanted.

More importantly, it wasn’t what her assigned superior had wanted either.

I kind of wish you hadn’t loaned me to her, Doc.

Her hands shook ever so slightly as she opened up her new scroll. Bon Bon tried to control herself as she called the boss, voice only.

It took a moment for her to get a response. “Yes?” asked the voice, smooth and rich, from out of the scroll.

“I’m in,” Bon Bon said, deciding to start with the good news.

“As expected. What team were you assigned?”

Bon Bon swallowed. “Not the one you were hoping for,” she admitted. “I wasn’t able to get close to Nikos.”

“That’s…unfortunate. Who is on your team?”

“Lyra Heartstrings,” Bon Bon said. “Sky Lark, and our team leader is Blake Belladonna.”

“Who?” came the reply from out of the scroll. “Is it possible that Doctor Watts overstated your value to me?”

“I’m still in the right year,” Bon Bon said. “I can still gather intelligence, do everything you require of me.”

“I suppose so,” replied the voice on the other end of the scroll. “I want your preliminary report by the beginning of half-term. I want to know who I should be worried about by the time I arrive from Mistral. And if I need anything else from you…I’ll let you know.” She chuckled. “Get some rest, Sweetie; tomorrow, your assignment begins in earnest.”

Bon Bon snapped shut her scroll.

She wished that Lyra wasn’t here. She supposed that it was her fault that Lyra was here, what with how close she’d allowed herself to get at Canterlot and her failure to end things there, but all the same, she wished that Lyra wasn’t here.

She wouldn’t have to mark the other girl as a threat; she knew from Canterlot that Lyra was basically harmless to anything more dangerous than a juvenile beowolf. But just because she wasn’t a threat didn’t mean that she was going to escape from all the horror that was going to be unleashed on Beacon this year.

Only a few students were likely to make the cut as being worthy of notice – Pyrrha Nikos was pretty much on the list already, and Weiss Schnee was a strong possibility – but the great majority, though they were beneath notice, would suffer the unthinking blows all the same.

You didn’t have to be dangerous to be at risk of not getting out alive; quite the reverse, in fact.

This was what she had to do. This was who she was. And for Doctor Watts, she would complete her mission, gladly.

But all the same, she wished Lyra wasn’t here.

Bon Bon opened the dorm room door and went back inside.


As they were a team with two guys and two girls, the members of Team YRDN were taking turns to get changed in the bathroom. It was currently Dove's turn, Nora having gone first. Ren sat on his bed doing maintenance on his weapons; Nora was bouncing up and down on the bed, while Yang looked out of the window, seeing nothing, lost in thought.

I did say that being on different teams would be good for her, I guess.

That doesn't mean I have to like it now that it's actually happened, though.

It would probably be good for Ruby, to make friends with other people. Break out of her shell. And Jaune and Pyrrha seemed nice, although Yang would have preferred if Ruby’s team leader were a little friendlier - Sunset was a bit too stand-offish for Yang’s liking - but she didn't know any of them all that well. Of course she was going to make it a point to get to know them and to make sure that they knew her and what she was capable of, but she probably shouldn’t let herself get too down on the basis of rushed judgement.

Ruby would be fine, probably. She'd taken down Roman Torchwick's whole gang with only a little bit of help from that Sunset Shimmer girl, after all.

But whenever Yang looked at her little sister, there was a part of her that still saw the little girl who used to crawl into Yang's bed when she was scared or having nightmares.

“I’m right here, Ruby. I promise, I won’t ever leave you.”

Yang smiled. It was probably stupid to expect a school like Beacon to abide by a kid's promise like that...but that didn't stop her wanting to bust down the door to Team SAPR's room and lay down the law.

She'll be fine. It's fine. Everything's fine.

It better be.

This was a good thing. Ruby needed to make new friends. She needed to find people she could rely on because...well, Yang wasn't going to be around forever for her to lean on. Ruby thought that she could do anything as long as she had Crescent Rose in hand, but sometimes, you needed someone to have your back, and Yang wasn't always going to be there for that. It was good that she was going to find other people who would have her back when her big sister couldn't.

But as Ruby's big sister, that didn't make it any easier to leave her behind.

Accepting her offer at Beacon had been hard enough knowing that Ruby would be stuck on Patch without her for the next two years; Dad and Uncle Qrow had had to sit her down and promise to both look after Ruby while Yang was gone. And when Ruby had gotten her offer to attend Beacon two years early, Yang had just felt so relieved that Ruby was going to be where she, Yang, could keep an eye on her.

She would just have to accept that she wouldn't be able to keep an eye on Ruby all the time.

It was for the best. It would make things easier in the long run...for both of them.

Goodnight, Ruby.

I love you.

As Dove came out of the bathroom, wearing a pair of unfortunately brown PJs, Yang distracted herself from such thoughts by drumming on her knees and saying, “Okay, now we’re all here it’s time for introductions.”

Dove looked at her through his squinted eyes. “How do you mean?”

“Just, you know, we should get to know one another a little,” Yang said. “Names, likes and dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future, that kind of thing.”

“Ooh! Ooh!” Nora said, flopping down onto the bed but raising her hand as she did so. “Pick me! Pick me!”

Yang grinned. She already had a feeling that she and Nora were going to get on great. “Go for it,” she said, pointing Nora’s way.

Nora sat up, and cleared her throat. “My name is Nora Valkyrie. I like pancakes with just about any topping but especially with syrup, and I don’t like the extra time you have to wait because somebody tells you the pancakes aren’t ready even though they clearly are, Ren!”

“You have to give them time to brown, Nora,” Ren said, with long-suffering resignation.

“And my dream,” Nora continued, “is to find somewhere we can settle down and be respected, because having to keep moving on all the time can get really exhausting, you know?”

“Nice,” Yang said. “And you’re here for the next four years, so I’d say you're well on your way to that. Anyway, now that Nora has shown us all how it’s done, I’ll go next: my name is Yang Xiao Long, and unlike Nora, I don’t really want to settle down because I like meeting new people, seeing new places, having new experiences. I...don’t really dislike anything. I think you should always keep an open mind about stuff. My hobby is racing my motorcycle, Bumblebee, and my dream is to one day travel across all four kingdoms and beyond.”

“Why?” Dove asked.

Yang shrugged. “Just to see what’s out there, isn’t that enough?” She paused. “So, which of you two boys wants to go next?”

Ren and Dove looked at one another. It was Ren who spoke. “My name is Lie Ren, and I don’t particularly care for people who hover in the kitchen demanding to know when the next meal will be ready.” He glared at Nora, who simply sniggered. “My hobbies include cooking, baking, calligraphy, flower arranging, interior design-“

“Your hobbies include all of those things?” Yang demanded.

Ren shrugged. “I dabble.”

Yang’s eyebrows rose. “Okay. Sorry, please go on.”

“There’s not much else,” Ren admitted. “My dream…is to prevent any child from being left orphaned, or alone, while I have the power to prevent it.”

The room fell silent after that, at least for a moment.

“That’s what we’re all here for, in the end,” Yang said. “That’s what a huntsman does, after all.” She grinned, and sought to restore some levity to the room. “Okay, you’ve got a tough act to follow; let’s see what you come up with, Dove.”

“Well, obviously, my name is Dove Bronzewing,” Dove said. “I like growing vegetables, and I don’t really dislike anything. I…never really had time for any hobbies. My dream…I came here to find someone, but I haven’t seen her here.”

“Her?” Nora asked, leaning forward. “Did you come here to find a girl? Are you together-together?”

“I…it…sort of,” Dove said. “I mean, I hoped…she lived in the woods, not far from our village. About a year ago, a little after her mother died, she told me that she was coming here, to Beacon. I promised that I’d meet her here when I was old enough, but now I’m here, and…she isn’t.”

“Don’t give up yet,” Yang implored him. “It’s a big school, and we spent all day in the forest.”

“Plus, she would be in the year above ours,” Ren pointed out.

“I’m not sure if she’s a student,” Dove said.

“Why else would she be at Beacon?” Yang asked.

“I don’t know,” Dove replied. “That’s what she told me.”

“Well, why don’t you tell us her name, and we can keep our ears open for you?” Yang suggested.

Dove looked at her, and his eyes were visible for once. Yang was surprised by how blue they were. “Amber,” he said. “Her name is Amber.”


Sunset had never had to share a room before, but on the other hand, this dorm room was a lot nicer than the boarded up dust shop she had been living in before this, even if it was a little smaller than the room that she'd enjoyed all to herself when she was Celestia's personal student. She'd had a lot of time to get used to the fact that she was no one's personal student anymore.

And it's not as if I've got anything like as much stuff as I had back then. Sunset had left most of her Equestrian possessions behind in Equestria, and she'd not acquired very many replacements since coming to Remnant. Everything she had was in her backpack, which she started to unpack while Jaune was in the bathroom.

The room was devoid of conversation as she worked; both Pyrrha and Ruby were cleaning their weapons in silence, with only the ambient clicks and rattles of their work to disturb the room. Sunset would get to that with Sol Invictus, but she wanted to unpack first so that she didn't have to worry about it later.

Plus, with Jaune in the bathroom and the two girls fully occupied with their work, no one was going to spy on her stuff.

At the top of her bag, the first thing that confronted her when she unclipped it and opened it up was a big stuffed unicorn with glass eyes and a smile sewn onto its face. It was white, with a golden horn and a pink mane. It smiled benevolently up at Sunset from out of the bag.

Sunset stared down at it. She wasn't entirely sure why she still had this. Flash had won it for her at the fairgrounds of the last Vytal Festival; she'd found it amusing at the time. She probably ought to have gotten rid of it after they broke up, but...she hadn't. She'd never quite gotten around to it, and when the time came to leave it behind, she'd found that she couldn't quite do that either. Stupid, right?

Nevertheless, she plucked the unicorn out of the bag and set it up on her bed near the pillow.

"Aww, that's so cute!"

Sunset looked up and over her shoulder. Ruby was staring at the stuffed unicorn with a big smile on her face. Sunset looked away without saying anything; as far as she was concerned, there was nothing to be said.

"Is it a memento from home?" Pyrrha asked.

If only you knew, Sunset thought. "No. My ex-boyfriend gave it to me."

"I see," Pyrrha murmured. "You still care for him, then?"

"Pfft, no!" Sunset said, more loudly than the situation perhaps warranted. But her cheeks were starting to heat up, and it was hard to keep the requisite handle on her volume control. She let slip a disdainful snort. She stood up, turned around, and planted her hands on her hips as she glared at Pyrrha. "As a matter of fact, I'll have you know that I broke up with him, and I could care less about that stupid jackass now. I just..." Her mouth twisted with annoyance as she realised that there was nothing she could say to explain why she still had that stupid cuddly toy. So she went on the attack as a distraction. "Anyway, what about you? I bet you've got a shelf full of trophies to unpack, don't you?"

"Ooh, you have trophies?" Ruby cried.

Pyrrha's already fair face had gone as pale as alabaster. She looked away and at the nearest wall. "I didn't bring them with me."

"But what do you have trophies for?" Ruby asked.

"Pyrrha's a big tournament champion from Mistral," Sunset declared.

Pyrrha looked embarrassed about it, for all that Sunset couldn't imagine why anymore than she could imagine why Pyrrha wouldn't have brought at least some of her trophies with her. Didn't she realise how lucky she was? If Sunset had any trophies, she'd have put them up for the whole world to see. But, as Pyrrha started fielding questions from Ruby about her illustrious career, Sunset turned away and got back to her unpacking.

That'll teach her to poke her nose where it isn't wanted.

She returned to unpacking the rest of her stuff. There wasn't much: a second-hand chess set that had seen better days, a cheap fold-up board, a couple of changes of clothes, and a few cheap, dog-eared paperback books. And, of course, the magical journal that would have let her keep in touch with Celestia if the princess had bothered to look at it.

Something else I'm not sure why I keep around, Sunset thought, as she nevertheless lifted out the handsome, leatherbound book - embossed with her cutie mark - with a slowness that suggested reverence. Sunset hadn't used it since she came to this world, for all that this seemed like exactly the sort of situation that it had been designed for. She hadn't written a single word to her old teacher from this brave new world. She had been afraid of what Celestia might write back to her...and even more afraid that Celestia might not reply at all.

What would I have said to her, anyway? That I ran away in search of greatness and instead I found a world where I was treated like dirt on a boot-heel? That I was a victim of racism? That because of what I looked like I couldn't make it in this new world? That I was just a failure after all?

She would have pitied me, and out of pity she might even have invited me to come home.

But that kind of mercy would make me smaller than any amount of anti-faunus prejudice ever could.

They could beat her, they could mock her, they could call her names, they could even arrest her, but they could not take her pride away from her. Only Sunset could surrender it, and that, she would not do. She had no need to do so now, nor even to consider it. She was the team leader; she was a leader of men. She was on her way to a glorious future. She had only to lead, and to lead well, and all would be well in the garden of her ambitions.

Thankfully, no one had any need to teach Sunset Shimmer how to lead people. She had studied at the feet of Princess Celestia, who for one thousand years had ruled over the three races of ponykind wisely and well, and whatever Celestia's faults as a liar and a misleader of youth, Sunset would never deny that she, Celestia, was a great leader. All Sunset had to do was emulate her teacher - which, as her former student, she was uniquely positioned to do - and everything would work out fine.

Admittedly, Celestia probably wouldn't have reacted to being embarrassed by embarrassing someone else, but give her a break, it wasn't as though Celestia ever got embarrassed about anything. She didn't have anything to be embarrassed about, while Sunset did. But, in the main and starting now, Sunset would rule these creatures like a princess, with a firm hand and an air of detached serenity about her always.

She could tell Celestia that. She could write another entry in the magical journal and let her old teacher know what Sunset Shimmer had made of herself. For I am a mare set under authority, having warriors under me, and to Ruby Rose, I say 'go' and she goes, and to Pyrrha Nikos, I say 'come' and she comes, and to Jaune Arc, I do 'do this,' and he does it. Sunset could tell her that, and Celestia...would not reply. She never replied. She had given up on Sunset. Celestia didn’t care anymore.

No, Sunset would not write to Celestia tonight; she was in no mood to be met with silence.

Sunset angrily shoved the journal under the bed.


"Aww, that's so cute!"

Ruby's excited squeal made Pyrrha look up from cleaning the chamber of Akoúo̱ to see what had caused it. Sunset had seemingly decided to unpack her things before she maintained her weapon and had just deposited a stuffed unicorn toy at the head of her bed. Sunset looked at Ruby over her shoulder and then looked away without a word.

"Is it a memento from home?" Pyrrha asked. She would be the first to admit that she was not good at small talk, but she very much hoped that that was merely the result of a lack of practice on her part. If she was to be more than the Invincible Girl, if she was to be Pyrrha Nikos during her four years at Beacon, then she would need to practice, and this seemed an innocuous thing to start a conversation over.

"No. My ex-boyfriend gave it to me."

"I see," Pyrrha murmured, even though she really didn't. She'd never had a boyfriend, and she suspected that even if she had found someone who could see the girl beneath the fearsome reputation, her mother wouldn't have allowed her to date anyway. In truth, she felt a little jealous of Sunset Shimmer in that moment: to have been seen for herself, valued for herself more than for her accomplishments. No one had ever given Pyrrha a silly stuffed animal. She didn't have gifts from old boyfriends or mementos from home to personalise the room with. To distract herself from the certain sense of melancholy that she could feel within her, Pyrrha cast about for something else to say. "You still care for him, then?"

"Pfft, no!" Sunset said so loudly that she was practically shouting. Pyrrha knew that she had said the wrong thing even before Sunset physically rounded on her, cheeks flushed and hands on her hips, although she didn't exactly know why what she had said was so wrong and so frustrating to the other girl. "As a matter of fact, I'll have you know that I broke up with him, and I could care less about that stupid jackass now. I just...Anyway, what about you? I bet you've got a shelf full of trophies to unpack, don't you?"

"Ooh, you have trophies?" Ruby cried.

No. No, no, please no, not like this, not already. Pyrrha could feel her face, and her entire body, turning cold and pale. It had been going so well, and now, it was all going so wrong so quickly. Jaune had been unaware of her reputation, and Ruby had seemed the same way, and she had been so, so glad of that. She'd accepted that Ruby would find out eventually, just as Jaune had, but she'd hoped that it wouldn't be until after the other girl had gotten used to seeing her as a person, not a celebrity, and now, it was all happening too fast, and why had Sunset had to say anything? Pyrrha looked away in embarrassment. "I didn't bring them with me." She hadn't actually brought anything with her from home that she didn't strictly need to attend Beacon, but even if she'd had the choice, her tournament trophies were the last things in the world she would have taken with her.

"But what do you have trophies for?" Ruby demanded, with an eagerness that Pyrrha could not help but resent.

"Pyrrha's a big tournament champion from Mistral," Sunset announced, and with that announcement turned away as though her work was done.

Pyrrha flinched. Now it would come, as it always did: the fawning, the adulation, the talking to her as though she were no more than an Atlesian robot designed to win battles. Was coming here pointless after all? She had hoped that she might find people who were ignorant and uncaring of her prowess and reputation. Now, as Ruby's luminous silver eyes widened, that seemed a vain and childish hope.

"Oh my gosh, I knew I'd seen those weapons before!" Ruby cried. "They were featured in issue four-oh-eight of Weapons and Armour! They did a whole feature on them, right? Miló and Akoúo̱!"

Pyrrha's expression froze. That was honestly not the response that she'd been expecting. As a matter of fact, she had done a feature for Weapons and Armour shortly after her third tournament victory, or rather, she'd taken Miló and Akoúo̱ down to a studio where a professional photographer had taken a lot of pictures of them and an intern had asked her a few questions. It had been probably the most relaxing press visit she'd ever had to do; they'd even hired a professional model to pose with the weapons rather than her.

Pyrrha was surprised that that was where Ruby’s recognition came from. Demographically speaking, Ruby Rose was...not the target audience for Weapons and Armour magazine. "You read that?"

Ruby nodded excitedly. "Did you design it yourself? Did you build it yourself? How long did it take?"

"I can't claim complete credit for the design," Pyrrha murmured. "My mother had some input, but I assisted with every stage of the manufacture, even if I didn't do all the work." She ran her gloved fingers across the flat of Miló's blade form. "Our weapons are conduits for our aura, and for that reason, I believe it's important that they have a little piece of our soul inside them."

"I know, right?!" Ruby yelled. "I mean, I didn't come up with my Crescent Rose out of nowhere - I saw my uncle Qrow's Harbinger and it was a big inspiration - but I still built it because not building my baby would have been like...I don't know. That's why I named her Crescent Rose, because she's a part of my family."

Pyrrha smiled. She couldn't claim to know exactly what Ruby meant, but she understood the sentiments, and there was nothing wrong with them. And she couldn't help but be grateful that Ruby, in her focus on Pyrrha's weapons, hadn't yet asked about Pyrrha's tournament triumphs.

In fact, she didn't seem to care.

Perhaps...it was very early days and impossible to say for certain, but perhaps...perhaps this might just work out after all.


Jaune emerged from the bathroom to find everyone else in his new team hard at work. Sunset was silently cleaning out the cylinder of her gun, while Pyrrha and Ruby seemed to be letting their hands work on autopilot while they carried on a conversation.

"So why do you only have five rounds for your rifle; it doesn't seem like a lot. Even Sunset has more than that,” Ruby said.

"We experimented with more, but we found that any more than five rounds affects the balance in sword or spear form, and, honestly, I mainly use the rifle mode as a backup of last resort. I prefer to close with my opponents, and no arena is too large to make that impracticable."

"Ah, so that's why you don't use dust rounds either."

"Precisely."

"But don't you think that when fighting grimm it's good to be able to do as much damage as possible before they get close?"

"I admit that I don't have a huge amount of experience fighting grimm, but from what I saw in the Emerald Forest, they don't let you see them coming if they can avoid it."

Ruby cocked her head to one side as though she were considering the point. "I suppose that you've got a- oh, hey Ja-" she paused, stared at him for a moment, and then burst out laughing so hard that she fell back onto her bed clutching her sides.

"What?" Sunset looked up, with an expression on her face as though she suspected someone might be laughing at her. "What's going on?"

"What are you wearing?" Ruby demanded in between high-pitched cackles of laughter.

Jaune sighed. It was the onesie. Of course it was the onesie. He honestly should have seen this coming, given that it had Pumpkin Pete's face on it, and it was, well, a onesie, but all the same- "It's really comfortable!" he protested.

"It has bunny slippers!"

Jaune shuffled in discomfort. Pyrrha's expression was as inscrutable as she was silent, while Sunset was giving him a look that reminded him uncomfortably of his sisters.

And then she pulled out her scroll and took a picture of him.

Jaune recoiled from the flash of her scroll. "What was that for?"

"I want to immortalise these halcyon days of our youth," Sunset said, in a voice that couldn't have sounded more insincere if she'd tried. "So, who's the bunny?"

"That's Pumpkin Pete!" Jaune cried. How could anyone not know who Pumpkin Pete was? Where had she been living? "You know, like the cereal? The cartoon?"

"I buy the store brand because I'm broke," Sunset said, "but I'll take your word for it."

Jaune made his way over to his bed and sat down heavily upon it. Ruby's laughter was starting to die down now, but it rang in his ears all the same. He looked at her, and at Pyrrha, and then looked over his shoulder Sunset.

Do I really belong here? Do I really belong with them? Ruby and Pyrrha were both awesome, and even Sunset was pretty cool, even if she wasn't in their league, but he was just...he was just Jaune. How could he so much as help them, let alone be the hero straight out of his dreams?

Look at how dedicated they are. "How can you guys work on your weapons at a time like this?" he asked. "Aren't you tired?"

"The first thing Uncle Qrow taught me after I got Crescent Rose was how to take care of her," Ruby said. "He told me 'You have to look after your weapon, kid, or she'll let you down when you need her the most.' Like, the scythe might not unfold properly, or the gun might jam."

"Oh," Jaune said. "Should I...I don't know, sharpen my sword or something?"

"I wouldn't advise doing that wantonly," Pyrrha said, calmly and patiently. "You'll wear out the blade if you sharpen it unnecessarily."

There was no malice in what she said, but her words pricked him nonetheless with a reminder of his general uselessness. That feeling only lingered as he sat, pointless, as the girls worked around him.

He was grateful when they were all done and Sunset turned out the lights.

Tomorrow was another day, after all, and things could only get better.


Ruby lay on her side in the bed, with the silk of her grimm-eyed sleep mask pressing against her face and blocking out all the light that might have gotten in through the crack in the curtains. She had no idea if the others were asleep or not. It had only been a little while since the lights went out.

Despite being in a room with four other people, Ruby felt lonelier than she had ever been in her life. That was nothing against her new roommates, her new teammates, her new friends; rather...this was only the second night that she'd spent away from home in her life, without Yang, Dad, and Zwei all within yelling distance. This was the first night that she'd spent without Yang nearby. Even though her big sister was in the same school as her, with their teams split up, they might as well be on the other side of Sanus when curfew hit.

She'd wanted this. She'd wanted it so badly, but now that it was actually here, she...she missed home. She missed Dad, she missed her stuffed grimm on the walls, she missed her room, she missed having Yang next door, she missed Zwei, she missed...she missed home.

Maybe this was what Yang meant when she said Ruby needed to break out of her shell, that she needed to stop being such a baby about this stuff? But Ruby couldn't help feeling homesick, and if she did, then so what? Why was that a bad thing? Maybe - hopefully - Beacon would start to feel like home eventually, but right now, home was home. And she missed it.

Goodnight, Yang. Goodnight Dad. Night, Mom.

Ruby's arm hung out over the bed, and as Ruby shuffled under the covers, her fingertips brushed against the wall. She frowned under her sleep-mask; something didn't feel quite right. There was something...carved into the wall? Ruby pulled off her mask and squinted into the dark where her fingers had found the disturbance. The broken moonlight slipping past the scarlet curtain was too dim for her to properly see what it was.

"Guys, can I put the lights back on?"

"Why?" Sunset demanded.

"Because I need to see something; it will only take a second."

Sunset grumbled wordlessly for a moment. "Okay, I'll do it." Ruby heard the sounds of someone getting out of bed and padding across the floor before the lights flicked on.

Ruby blinked against the sudden brightness for a second. Then she saw what it was that she'd felt on the wall. "Whoa," she gasped. "Guys, come on, check this out."

Pyrrha was out of bed much faster than Jaune, but eventually, they all crowded around Ruby's bed, standing over her and looking down at the wall beside her, into which had been carved the initials ‘S T R Q’, and over the letters were engraved four markings: a rose, a fiery heart, and a pair of wings facing in opposite directions away from one another.

A smile blossomed across Ruby's face. "This is amazing." I can't wait to tell Yang about this.

"Uh...I kinda feel like I'm missing something here," Jaune said.

"Former students, one would assume," Pyrrha said. "Occupants of this room before us."

"Not just any former students," Ruby said, as she ran her fingers over the letters. "This S, that's for Summer Rose, my mom. The T is for Taiyang Xiao Long, my dad. And that's my Uncle Qrow, right there." This was Mom's room, and Dad's too, and they shared it with Uncle Qrow, and with Raven, Yang’s…my stepmom.

This was Mom and Dad's room. They had slept here, where Ruby was sleeping now. It felt more homely and less alien to her already, as though her parents and her uncle had each left a piece of themselves behind here to comfort her.

She beamed up at her teammates, until her smile faded upon the abrupt realisation that this discovery, so fascinating and important to her, meant less than nothing to them. "I...I'm sorry, guys, I just-"

"Hey," Jaune said, with an easy smile. "We get it. And you know what? I think it's pretty cool. I bet they're all badass huntsmen and huntresses now, right?"

"Yeah," Ruby said. "Uncle Qrow's one of the best. My Dad mainly teaches at Signal now, but he's still really strong."

Jaune nodded. "And your mom?"

"Mom,” Ruby hesitated, the breath catching in her throat. “My mom's not around any more."

Jaune's face fell so quickly it was as though a bottomless pit had opened up beneath it. "Oh. Oh, Ruby, I am so sorry; I'm such a-"

"It's okay, really," Ruby said quickly, before things got awkward. "You didn't know, so it's all good, right?"

"The dead are not departed while their memory endures," Pyrrha said softly. "Your mother lives in you, and all who loved her."

Ruby smiled. “Thanks, Pyrrha; that…that’s really nice.”

Pyrrha nodded. “So long as we remember those who went before us, then they keep us company and lend us strength to walk the path before us.”

Sunset turned away. "Nobody move," she said peremptorily, even as she herself went back to her bed. She grabbed her Sol Invictus, but with her back to Ruby, it was impossible to see exactly what she was doing until she turned back around, having just detached the bayonet blade from the rifle so that she could hold it in one hand like a knife or a short sword.

"Okay, make some room," Sunset commanded, as she walked down the room and jumped onto Ruby's bed.

"What are you doing?" Jaune asked.

Sunset rolled her eyes. "You mean to say it isn't obvious? Come on, guys, what do you think I'm doing?" She jabbed her bayonet into the wall and began to work it, until over the STRQ emblems she had carved the letters ‘S A P R’, and over the S in SAPR, she had carved a blazing sun divided down the middle.

Sunset passed the bayonet to Jaune. "Make your mark, bunny boy."

Jaune got onto Ruby's bed, and into the wall, he carved the mark of a double crescent. Pyrrha went next, and over her initial, she delicately carved a spearhead striking upwards. Ruby was the last to be handed the bayonet, and with a slightly trembling hand, she carved a rose identical to the one her mother had left before her.

Silently, she handed the sword bayonet back to Sunset.

"There," Sunset said, as their shadows fell upon the wall and the initials and the marks that they had made. "Now, when we four are all badass huntsmen and huntresses, whoever has this room then will be in awe that we used to sleep in this room."

"And we'll stay friends, like Dad and Uncle Qrow," Ruby said.

"Yeah," Jaune said, as Pyrrha clasped her hands together above her heart and glanced towards him.

"Let's not go nuts," Sunset muttered. "We should get to bed." She turned away.

Ruby lay on her side, staring at the marks that her parents had made, and the marks that her team had made, as the others returned to their own beds. The lights went out, and the bedroom was plunged into darkness once more.

A smile lingered on Ruby's face. "Goodnight, Jaune."

"Goodnight, Ruby,” Jaune replied.

"Goodnight, Pyrrha,” Ruby called.

"Goodnight, Ruby," Pyrrha said. "Goodnight, Jaune."

"'Night, Pyrrha,” Jaune said, before he yawned.

"Goodnight, Sunset,” said Ruby.

Silence.

"Goodnight, Sunset,” Ruby said again.

Silence.

"Psst!" Jaune hissed. "Sunset!"

Sunset's voice came lazily and slowly. "Seriously? We're really doing this?"

"Come on,” Jaune said. “Don’t be like that.”

Sunset sighed. "Goodnight, Ruby."

Goodnight, Mom.


Sunset lay on her bed, hands crossed beneath her head, staring up at the dark ceiling above her.

Goodnight, my little Sunbeam. Sweet dreams.

Sunset scowled. She was a grown woman now; she didn't need Mommy to wish her good night or tuck her in or make her hot chocolate with marshmallows in.

You're not my mother. And I was a fool to ever forget that.

She needed to look to the future now, not the past. Celestia was behind her; her team was the future.

If Celestia is behind me, then why does she yet loom so large in my mind?

Sunset rolled over onto her side. Because I'm here because of her, in the end. Because all that I have done and sought to do has been because of her influence. Sunset's youth had been a longing for the crown. All her studies, all her accomplishments, all of it had been designed to bring her to the point where she would ascend and be exalted amongst ponies. And in the end, it had happened to someone else, to Cadance, that insipid, soppy mare, and Celestia had confessed to her that all of it, her dreams, her future, her glorious destiny...it had all been a lie.

I refuse to accept that. Sunset knew that Celestia was wrong; she knew that she had greatness in her, even if her mentor would not acknowledge it. So she had run and run, through the mirror to a new world, in search of glory.

She hadn't found it yet. Sunset still lingered for a crown to rest its burnished laurels on her brow, but it would come. It would come as sure as spring to chase away the cold that gnawed at her, and when it came, the crowds would cheer out her name as sweet as nectar and ambrosia of the gods of Remnant: Sunset! Sunset! Sunset! Would that not fill up the emptiness that dogged her? Would it not fill the empty vessel of her spirit to overflowing? It must, for if it did not...what would?

Sunset turned her mind from this uncomfortable topic of self-reflection to reflect instead upon the characters of her new teammates. Ruby and Pyrrha had much potential to be her instruments, strong and swift and skilled with their array of weapons. Sunset was far less convinced of the usefulness of Jaune Arc, but she was stuck with him now, so doubtless, she would find some use to make of him. They would all serve her purposes, for she would allow none of them to get in her way.

They were her team, and like a team of pegasi, they would pull her chariot and carry her to glory.

Author's Note:

Rewrite Note: First order of business is to note a small edit made to 'Reconnaissance' in which Sunset's having written in the magical journal before now has been removed. She has considered it but not acted on it.

Otherwise the big changes here are no contact from Winter for Weiss, and the reveals about Dove and Bon Bon.

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