SAPR

by Scipio Smith

A New Semester Begins (New)

A New Semester Begins

Blake stepped lightly into the SAPR dorm room. Sunset had already made it inside, but her hand glowed as, with a light touch of telekinesis, she shut the door behind their guest. The sudden noise of the door closing made Blake start, or start to start, before she mastered herself with an effort that she tried to hide but which Sunset fancied that she caught regardless. Was she frightened? Of a closing door?

Or a man with a red sword. Sunset could understand that, although she wasn’t afraid of Adam here. She was afraid of him when she faced him, as much as she might wish that she were not, but not here.

Here was her sanctum. Here was her home. Here, she had Pyrrha Nikos sleeping one bed over.

Here… well, if Adam got in here, then they were in big trouble, weren’t they?

Still, Blake hadn’t actually jumped; she’d just looked as though she might, so Sunset didn’t say anything about it, and no one else said anything either, if they’d even noticed. Nobody wanted to embarrass Blake, after all.

Some might say that what she’d been through already was embarrassing enough.

Blake glanced down at the camp bed sitting beside the door. The mattress was only about half the size of the ones on the normal beds, if that. “So, this is where I’ll be sleeping?”

“Actually,” Sunset said, and her hand once more acquired the distinctive green glow of her magic as she summoned her stuffed unicorn into her waiting grasp, “that’s where I’ll be sleeping. You can take my bed. I hope you don’t mind me leaving my stuff underneath it. Please don’t touch it.”

“No, I wouldn’t dream of it,” Blake said softly. “Are you sure about giving me your bed?”

“I’m the team leader,” Sunset replied. “What else can I do?” Any other option – either making Blake take the inadequate bed or else forcing one of her teammates to do so – would make her look like a jackass if it got out, which it almost certainly would. For the sake of her standing and reputation, she had no choice but to be self-sacrificing.

It was hard work, sometimes, trying to make people think well of you.

Blake hesitated for a moment. “Are you… certain?”

“Yes,” Sunset said, more sharply than the situation really called for. “Yes,” she repeated, more softly. “The bed is yours. I’ll manage.”

“Thank you, and thank you all for taking me in,” Blake murmured as she put down her case. After dinner, it had taken most of the rest of the evening to gather all of her stuff out of the BLBL dorm room and pack it up for her to bring here. It had been a process made harder by the way that Bon Bon kept sniffing as she stood there with her arms folded, glaring at them as they worked. It had gotten to the point where one more sniff, and Sunset would have shoved a handkerchief up her nostrils.

But it was done now, just as the day was done, and they wouldn’t have to deal with Team BLBL – or Team LBL, however you might pronounce that – again. Or at least, Sunset hoped not; she’d always thought that Lyra and Bon Bon were a pair of idiots, but she’d also thought that they were basically without malice. She no longer thought that.

So much for the magic of friendship. I wonder what Twilight’s going to say when I tell her about this?

‘Well, Sunset, friends fight all the time; why, I remember when my good friend Fluttershy turned out to be a changeling, but we all forgave her for it, and soon, so will Blake’s teammates.’

Actually, Princess Twilight probably does have a changeling friend. She’s that sort of person.

“It’s no trouble at all,” Jaune said warmly.

“You’re an honorary member of Team Sapphire now,” Ruby added. “Ooh, we should think about integrating you into our team attacks.”

“Let’s not depend on Blake too much,” Sunset said. “We don’t know how long she’ll be with us.”

“Okay, but we could still come up with some paired attacks with Blake, right?” Ruby asked. “Ooh, you and her could be called ‘Dark Phoenix’!”

Pyrrha chuckled. “Why don’t we give Blake a chance to settle in first? Please, make yourself at home.”

Blake looked around a dorm room which, honestly, they hadn’t personalised all that much. They had a couple of lamps – a table lamp shaped like a vase that Pyrrha had brought with her from home and a floor lamp that they had bought in Vale – and a lot of books on the shelves, and of course, there was Sunset’s unicorn, but other than that, the room was pretty bare.

“You’ve certainly done a good job of that,” Blake muttered.

Pyrrha chuckled nervously, looking away as if she was embarrassed by the fact that she didn’t have an enormous quantity of things with which to personalise her living space.

Sunset folded her arms. “Well, after we carved on the walls, we thought that was probably enough making ourselves at home to be getting on with.”

Blake blinked. “You carved on the walls?”

“Yeah,” Ruby cried excitedly. “Come on over here and see,” she gestured eagerly, and Blake smiled fondly as she walked with – Sunset fought the urge to use the term "feline" – grace across the dorm room floor to Ruby’s bed, where the youngest member of the team gestured to the marks that had been made on the white plaster by themselves and by the generation that had preceded them. “You see, it turns out that this room is where my parents’ team used to live when they were at Beacon, and they carved their initials into the wall right there.”

“S T R Q,” Blake read out. She paused for a moment. “Team… Stroke?”

“Stark,” Ruby corrected her. “Summer Rose, Taiyang Xiao Long, Raven Branwen, and Qrow Branwen.”

Blake was silent for a moment. “I don’t know who any of those people are,” she said, “but at the same time… it’s comforting to think that we are but one link in a chain of huntsmen and huntresses stretching back to the time of our parents, and beyond that to the founding of Beacon, and which will continue out long after we have left this school… long after we are gone.”

“Indeed,” Pyrrha said gravely. “We are not the first, nor will we be the last, if fate be kind. The world has been left to us by those who went before; it is our task to leave it to those who will come after, along with a legacy which, if we are fortunate, will inspire them to fight as bravely as we, inspired by those who preceded us, should strive to fight.”

“You’re a morbid bunch, aren’t you?” Sunset muttered.

“I don’t think that’s morbid,” Jaune replied. “I think it’s kinda nice, actually.”

“For myself, I think being reminded that we’re just one amongst many is a pretty gloomy prospect,” Sunset declared. “I suggested that we should make our marks upon the wall so that future generations can-”

“Wonder how you’re supposed to pronounce ‘S A P R’?” Blake suggested, looking over her shoulder with a mischievous glint in her eye.

Sunset snorted. “Marvel in awe at the fact that they are so privileged as to live in a room that was once occupied by the most famous huntsmen ever,” she corrected Blake.

“Hmm,” Blake mused. “Either way, I think it’s a pretty cool thing to do, although I’m a little surprised that you’ve gotten away with defacing school property like that.” She stepped away from Ruby’s bed and turned to look at the books in the shelves above the desks that lined two walls of the room. One of them must have caught her eye, because she stepped closer to Ruby’s desk. “Is that the Song of Olivia?”

“Yep,” Ruby said. “It’s super rare. Dove gave it to me.”

Blake looked at Ruby. “Dove gave it to you? But it’s supposed to be nearly impossible to find copies of it nowadays.”

“I know,” Ruby said, pride and self-consciousness mingling in her voice. “It belonged to his grandfather, he said; he probably shouldn’t have given it to me, but he said… there was something that he wanted to make up for.”

“A princely gift for someone who would appreciate its worth,” Blake murmured. “Whatever he did must have been quite bad to warrant such an apology.”

“Not really,” Ruby admitted. “It… it’s complicated. I probably didn’t deserve it, but… I couldn’t say no.”

“I don’t blame you,” Blake declared. “I probably would have accepted it as well.”

“You know the story too?” Ruby asked.

Blake nodded. “It’s referenced in a number of works on fairy tales and legends, and even summarised in a few, but as you know, very hard to find in its complete form. Tukson couldn’t find a copy anywhere.”

“Why is that?” Jaune asked. “I mean, if it’s such a well known story, then why has it gone out of print?”

“It’s well known, yeah, but it’s also out of fashion,” Ruby said, with a touch of melancholy in her voice. “It’s too long for a fairy tale collection, and nobody seems to read long fairy tales or myths that take more than a few pages like the ones in the school textbook. And the story is… I guess nobody wants stories about heroes anymore.”

“Everyone in here seems to,” Sunset observed dryly.

“Perhaps we are out of fashion also?” Pyrrha suggested.

“That…” Sunset began, and then trailed off because that was pretty inarguable in Pyrrha’s case and certainly could be argued for in Ruby’s. “I think Jaune and I manage to be somewhat modern.”

“Jaune, maybe,” Ruby said. “I’m not so sure about you, though.”

Sunset frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You were very at home in my house in Mistral,” Pyrrha pointed out.

“What’s this?” Blake asked.

“Sunset taught me manners when we were staying at Pyrrha’s place over the vacation,” Jaune explained. “Bowing and speaking and stuff.”

“Really? That… is not exactly the behaviour of a modern girl.” Blake observed.

“Okay, now I just feel picked on.” Sunset groaned.

“I’m sorry,” Pyrrha apologised at once.

“There’s nothing wrong with being a little old-fashioned,” Ruby insisted. “The world could use some old-fashioned heroes.”

“Like Olivia?” Blake suggested. “Is that the kind of heroine you’d like to be?”

Ruby shuffled uncomfortably on the floor. “Maybe… kind of. For most of the story, yeah; I know we don’t have a king, but I’d like to travel up and down the kingdom, righting wrongs and fighting monsters and villains. That’s just the life of a huntress. But I’m not sure about the ending, though; I’ve gotta say I don’t think that’s very heroic.”

“Don’t you?” Blake asked in surprise. “From what I know of the story, Olivia’s end is also her most heroic moment.”

“She gets herself killed because she’s an idiot!” Sunset cried. She paused. “Okay, I can see why that would appeal to you.”

Blake’s eyes narrowed.

“Don’t glare at me just because I’m right,” Sunset told her.

“Olivia doesn’t perish because she’s an idiot,” Blake explained. “She perishes because she has her pride; I would have thought that you of all people would have seen the value in that. Sometimes, we have to stand up for what we believe in, even if it costs us everything.”

“But there was nothing at stake,” Ruby said. “They weren’t defending anywhere; there was no one in danger. It’s a great fight, but at the same time, it’s just so pointless. When I think of all the other people Olivia could have protected, all the good that she could have done… the ending just makes me sad.”

Blake was silent for a moment. "You're a very selfless person," she murmured. "But, for myself, I don't think that I could ever judge someone who chooses to stand up for what they believe, no matter the cost, and sticks to their principles to the end. We should all hope to be so steadfast."

"Only if we choose the right beliefs," Sunset argued.

"Well… I suppose... that brings us right back to what we think of Olivia's beliefs, doesn't it?" Blake asked.

"I've gotta admit," Jaune said tentatively, "that from what Ruby's told us, Olivia sounds like a really admirable person… until you get to that part."

"Ah, but if you took away her pride, would she still be Olivia?" Blake replied.

"Yes," Sunset said. "She'd be the same Olivia she was before, just better."

"You're that confident that we can separate our flaws from ourselves and still retain everything else that makes us who we are, our virtues and our character?"

"You are not, I take it," Pyrrha said. "Which is a rather Mistralian attitude, I must say."

"My mother was Mistralian," Blake explained. "I mean… she's still alive," she added quickly, lest anyone get the wrong idea from her use of the past tense, "but she moved to Menagerie a few years ago, and before that… my parents moved around a lot when they led the White Fang. And yet… I suppose that she kept the attitudes, and that they rubbed off on me."

"Including that the hero's flaws are part of what makes them a hero," Pyrrha suggested.

Blake smiled. "Exactly," she agreed. She returned her gaze to Ruby and softly added, "Have you read it yet?"

Ruby nodded. "It lives up to its reputation. It's a pity that such a great story has been allowed to die out."

Blake hesitated for a moment. "I know that it was a gift, but… may I read it? It's something that I've heard of, but… to be honest, you haven't done anything to convince me that it's not worth reading."

"Sure," Ruby said. "You can read it if you want." She paused for a moment, before her face lit up eagerly, illumination by a sudden flash of inspiration. "Or you could read it out to us!"

Blake blinked. "You mean… like a bedtime story."

Ruby pouted. "You don't have to make it sound childish," she declared. "I just thought… we've all talked about it; it might be cool if everyone could hear it, and then we could all talk about it actually knowing what happens instead of just what we're told. And without having to pass the book around for everyone to read too! Like a book club or something. What do you guys think?"

Jaune shrugged. "I've got no problem with it. It might be fun, if the story is as good as you say."

"I have no objections," Pyrrha added.

"Nor me," Sunset said, as she sat down on the camp bed. She grinned. "It'll be like being a kid again, when my teacher and I used to sit in front of the fire with hot chocolate while she told me stories." She frowned. "Do you guys want some hot chocolate?"

"It's a good idea, in theory," Blake said softly, "but I'm not sure that I've got a voice for reading stories."

"I wouldn't mind reading," Pyrrha volunteered. "If nobody has any objections."

Nobody did, and so, Jaune ducked out to make hot chocolate for everyone – minus Pyrrha, who didn't want to risk damaging the old and venerable book. While he was out, Pyrrha plucked The Song of Olivia off the shelf and carried it to another bookshelf underneath the window with a surface flat enough to serve as a seat. Pyrrha tucked her scarlet sash underneath her miniskirt and sat down delicately atop the shelf, her legs positioned as though she were riding sidesaddle, while Blake and Ruby sat down side by side on Ruby's bed.

Jaune returned shortly after with the drinks, and no sooner had he distributed them than he, too, was sat on the bed, waiting.

Pyrrha's hands were gentle as she opened up the book, resting it upon her gleaming cuisses. Her lips twitched in the slightest smile, and her voice sounded as gentle as her hands had seemed as she began to read.

"'Once upon a time, in the days of King Charles, whom men called the Great, in a little village to the north, there lived a girl named Olivia. The daughter of a shepherd, Olivia spent her days watching her flock, keeping a weather eye out for wolves or grimm – although men knew that grimm rarely troubled the flocks, a fact for which they were exceedingly grateful. Nevertheless, the village in which Olivia lived sat hard beside a dark and looming forest, a forest which all knew to be the haunt of the creatures of grimm, a place into which few dared venture and from which all feared the grimm might emerge, hungry for bloodshed.

"'Olivia, for her part, was not afraid; she knew what others could not see: that she had it in her to be so much more than just a shepherdess. She would have welcomed an appearance by a beowolf, or even an ursa, for then, she might have proved to her father and to all the world that she was brave enough and strong enough to travel to Vale and join the gallant knights who served King Charles and rode forth across all of Vale to keep the kingdom safe from danger. But Olivia's father mocked her ambitions, telling her that if she ever saw a grimm, she would soon think better of her foolish dreams. And so Olivia watched her flock until, one day, she awoke to find that one sheep had wandered away from the others – and into the grimm-infested forest.

"There was only one thing Olivia could do: she was too kind of heart to abandon any part of her flock to the wilds, and she was too proud to admit to her father either that she had failed to keep watch or that she was scared of the forest or the grimm who lurked within its shadows. And so, with a staff in one hand and a sling in the other, she ventured forth into the woods…"

---

“May we join you?”

“Cinder,” Sunset said, looking up into the face of Cinder Fall, wearing her black Haven uniform, casting a shadow over the table as she stood nearby. She held a tray in her hand, but there was precious little actually on it: a glass of plain water and a flaky pain au chocolat that looked as light as air and only a little more filling. Three other students, whom Sunset believed to be her teammates, stood a little way behind her.

She smiled. “Sorry,” she murmured. “I should have opened with ‘good morning’ shouldn’t I?” She chuckled. “Good morning, boys and girls, may we join you?”

Sunset glanced at the empty seats on the other side of the table. Blake had joined Team SAPR for breakfast, but none of their usual dining companions – Team YRDN, Team RSPT, not even Team WWSR – were down for breakfast yet to join them. They were all alone on the long table, even as the dining hall filled up around them.

“Be our guest,” she said. Team YRDN would just have to sit a little further down the table than usual.

“Much obliged,” Cinder purred, as she took the seat opposite Sunset at the head of the table. Her teammates took the seats on her left, facing off against the members of Team SAPR.

“So,” said a dark skinned girl with vivid red eyes, who wore her bright green hair in a bowl cut with two long tails descending down to her waist, “you must be Team Sapphire. Cinder’s talked about you a lot.”

“Only good things, I hope,” Jaune ventured.

The green-haired girl smiled at him. “Of course. Nothing but the highest compliments.”

“Always nice to have our reputation spread,” Sunset said. “I’m Sunset Shimmer, leader of Team Sapphire; this is Ruby Rose-”

“Nice to meet you,” Ruby added.

“Jaune Arc.”

“Hi.”

“And of course, Pyrrha Nikos needs no introduction.”

Pyrrha laughed nervously. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“And this is our guest, Blake Belladonna.”

“Hello,” Blake said quietly.

“Of course,” Cinder replied. “You’re the one who… well, we won’t talk about that; you must have suffered quite enough with your time in the Atlesian service.”

Blake made a sort of noise from the back of her throat that gave nothing away.

Cinder chuckled. “In any case, I’m Cinder Fall, leader of Haven’s Team Clementine. These are my teammates,” she gestured to the girl sitting immediately to her left. “Lightning Dust.”

“Yo,” Lightning Dust muttered as she dug into a plate piled high with meat, all slathered under a thick layer of red sauce. She was a muscular pony faunus, with eyes of dark yellow set in a hard-looking face that was not devoid of scars, upon her cheeks and beneath her eye. Her hair was amber streaked with gold, shaved on the sides of her head and worn in a backwards-sloping crest down the middle of her head. Her tail was the same colour as her hair and brushed the floor as it swished side to side as she sat.

Sunset’s eyebrows rose. Lightning Dust? Did you choose that name yourself? She would have remarked upon it, but this was Cinder’s team, and there was such a thing as courtesy; she wouldn’t allow Cinder to speak ill of her team, and she wouldn’t speak ill of Cinder’s team, either.

“Emerald Sustrai.”

“Hey there.”

“And Mercury Black.”

Mercury smirked. “What’s up, guys?” He was a tall young man, not exactly lithe but not so broad in the shoulders as Lightning Dust, with an untidy mop of silver hair atop his head worn in a very self-consciously cool style that put Sunset a little in mind of Jaune, if Jaune could be bothered to style his hair in the morning instead of letting it flop about all over the place. His eyes – partially hidden beneath his fringe – were grey. His features were sharp, like a knife.

“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you,” Ruby greated. “Are you excited about the Vytal Festival?”

“There’s a long way to go before that,” Emerald pointed out.

“There’s a long way to go until the tournament,” Ruby acknowledged, “but what about everything else? All the students from different schools, all the rest of the festival, you being in Vale?”

“Of course, Ruby,” Cinder agreed. “We’re delighted to be here in your fair city, and we fully intend to make the most of our time here.”

“If you ever need someone to show you around the city, I’d be happy to take you into Vale sometime,” Sunset said. “I’m not a native here, but after a whole semester, I know my way around.”

Cinder smiled. “Thank you, Sunset. I think I’ll take you up on that some time. Perhaps this weekend?”

“Sure,” Sunset agreed, “so long as neither of us gets spirited away on some training mission that comes up urgently.”

“Oh, I haven’t signed my team up for training missions,” Cinder declared.

“Really?” Sunset said, her eyebrows rising. “I have to say I’m surprised.”

“Me too,” Ruby agreed. “You were really good out there against the karkadann.”

“You flatter me, Ruby, but the truth is, I did very little out beyond Mistral,” Cinder replied. “It was your team that did all the work and rightly reaped the glory for your accomplishment. I was, for the most part, merely a bystander.”

“You give yourself too little credit,” Pyrrha said. “You were of great assistance.”

Cinder stared at Pyrrha for a moment before answering, “Your praise warms my heart, Pyrrha Nikos, whether I have earned it or no.”

“Why haven’t you signed up for training missions?” Sunset asked. “You can’t tell me that you don’t feel ready; you were prepared to go out and face a grimm beyond Mistral with only Pyrrha to support you.”

“Perhaps the experience chastened me and taught me my limitations.”

Sunset smirked. “I don’t believe that for an instant.”

Cinder stared into Sunset’s for a moment before she chuckled, “Of course not, that idea is quite absurd. No, I’m afraid it’s my team who I don’t think are quite ready for that sort of thing yet. It may be Ozpin’s way to throw his students into the fire and see who burns to ash and who is forged in flame, but Professor Lionheart favours a more gentle, nurturing approach; I think my teammates need a little more seasoning before they face real battle.”

Sunset looked down the line of Cinder’s teammates. She found it hard to agree with Cinder’s rather condescending assessment of her own subordinates. Lightning Dust looked positively mutinous at the assertion that she wasn’t ready for combat, and Mercury looked as though he was struggling to restrain a sneer of contempt.

But Sunset supposed that Cinder knew her own teammates best. All the same, she couldn’t resist saying, “You know you’ll never win the tournament with an attitude like that.”

“Oh, don’t worry about us,” Cinder said. “By the time of the tournament, I’ll have everyone seasoned to perfection.”

“Now you make us sound like a steak,” Lightning muttered.

Cinder laughed. “It’s a figure of speech, Lightning, meaning that by the time of the tournament, everything is going to be just the way I want it.”

“Unacceptable!” the shrill voice of Nora Valkyrie turned the heads of all eight students to see Team YRDN approaching the table.

Cinder quirked one eyebrow. “Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing,” Ren assured her. “It’s just that you’re sitting in our usual seats.”

“Nothing’s wrong?” Nora demanded. “Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand, but you can’t take my seating arrangements from me you… you Haven interlopers!”

“Calm down, Nora,” Yang said good naturedly, with an undercurrent of humour in her voice.

Cinder started to rise to her feet. “I wouldn’t dream of-”

“It’s fine,” Yang assured her. “Plenty of room to go around, right?” Her eyes flashed momentarily red. “Provided that it only happens this once.”

Cinder stared at Yang with a nonplussed expression. “Was that supposed to be intimidating?”

“Or funny,” Yang admitted. “But, uh, apparently it was neither.” She chuckled uncertainly. “Tough crowd,” she murmured, before walking around the other side of the table to sit down beside Blake. Nora sat down next to her, with Dove and Ren taking the seats opposite Blake and Yang next to Mercury as introductions between Team CLEM and Team YRDN followed.

“Hey, Haven guys,” Yang said. “Did you have a Legends class over at Haven?”

“You mean, did we have to study fairy tales?” Mercury replied. “No, we didn’t.”

“Do you think there’s something wrong with fairy tales?” Blake asked calmly.

“He might,” Cinder said, “but don’t mind him. He’s an ignoramus. Those of us with more open minds know that there is a great deal of truth to be gained from the old stories.”

“You mean universal truths about the human condition?” Pyrrha murmured.

“Indeed,” Cinder agreed, “but also more concrete truths, facts buried within the myths. I believe that behind every fairy tale, there was someone to which it really happened, if not just like that, then certainly at least in a somewhat similar way.”

“Really?” Sunset said. “All fairy tales?”

“Why ever not?”

“Some of those stories are pretty far out,” Sunset pointed out.

Cinder chuckled. “That’s what makes it so intriguing to imagine that they might be true.”

“If some of them were true, it would be rather horrifying,” Pyrrha said softly. “At least, that is how I feel. There is so much power in some of those tales, unspeakable quantities of it. Power that we are probably better off without.”

“That might have been true, once,” Cinder conceded, “but not anymore. Now, when men are capable of creating such power as can, well, as can create a fleet of flying fortresses and hang them from the sky like stars set in the firmament, then what is there to fear from a little touch of magic?”

What indeed? Sunset thought. She was proud of her magic, but she wouldn’t pretend that it was anything special compared to the power of an Atlesian warship. She couldn’t swat one of the northern cruisers out of the sky with the power that was in her; she doubted that even Celestia could have achieved as much. They were too big, too well-armoured, and too sturdily-built, and that was without getting into the guns.

“That kind of power can be understood, if only by Atlesian scientists,” Pyrrha said. “What you are describing would be… incomprehensible.”

“Isn’t that part of the fun of imagining?” Cinder replied. She chuckled. “Apparently not. I would have thought that the Champion of Mistral would be more bold.”

“You’ve seen Pyrrha fight; you know that she is fearless in battle,” Sunset declared.

“In battle, yes, you are without fear,” Cinder acknowledged. “In battle, you are confidence itself, but… there are many kinds of…” She trailed off. “Never mind. Suffice it to say that no, we do not have a class of myths and legends at Haven, but I’m eager to see how Beacon approaches the subject.”

“I’m surprised,” Sunset said.

“That I’m eager?”

“That you don’t have anything like this,” Sunset explained. “It’s not just fairy tales; it’s ancient history too. I’d have thought you’d be all about that at Haven.”

Cinder laughed. “Oh, we are taught Mistralian History, from the foundation of the Kingdom by Theseus, but without any of the sprinkling of lore and myth from other kingdoms that I think will make your class much more interesting. Forgive me, Pyrrha, but memorising the long line of your ancestors begins to verge upon the tedious after a while.”

“I don’t blame you,” Pyrrha replied gently. “There are a great many of them.”

“Are you having those classes while you’re here at Beacon, like the Atlesians are having Etiquette classes?” inquired Ruby.

“No, thank gods,” Lightning Dust spat. “And you won’t catch me going into an Etiquette class either.”

“Did somebody say ‘Etiquette Class’?” Ciel inquired, as Team RSPT walked towards the table. “I see that you have unexpected company.”

“This is Team Clementine of Haven,” Sunset announced. “Cinder Fall, Lightning Dust, Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black. And this is-”

“Team Rosepetal of Atlas,” Rainbow interrupted her. “I’m Rainbow Dash, the team leader, and these are my teammates: Ciel Soleil, Penny Polendina, and Twilight Sparkle.”

“Good morning,” Ciel said.

“Hello!” Penny cried cheerfully, giving a wave with one hand.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Twilight added.

Lightning Dust stared at Rainbow Dash. “You’re a faunus,” she observed.

“So are you,” Rainbow said, with equal astuteness.

“Yeah, but they made you team leader.”

Rainbow smirked. “I don’t like to brag-”

Sunset snorted.

Rainbow ignored her to continue on “-but I am kind of awesome.”

“Hmm,” Lightning mused.

“Don’t get any ideas,” Cinder muttered dryly.

Team RSPT took their seats, and the conversation meandered largely aimlessly as more and more students came into the dining hall. They talked about what the day and the week might bring, whether Team RSPT had signed up for field missions – they had – and what kind of missions the three teams that had actually signed up for field missions might like.

“If there are any missions available out in the regions, I might like that,” Ren said. “Assisting with village security in some way, especially with the grimm threat so… unusually prevalent at the moment. Such places need help more than most.”

“Those kinds of places mostly manage not to attract the grimm,” Dove replied.

“Mostly,” Ren declared. “Not always.”

Dove was quiet for a moment, before he nodded. “True,” he said quietly.

“Personally, I’m hoping for something a little more grandiose,” Sunset said. “Another dangerous grimm hunt perhaps.”

“I would rather a singularly dangerous grimm did not approach Vale simply so that we can hunt it,” Pyrrha replied.

“Hey, Blake,” Rainbow said. “Are you going to come to Etiquette class?”

Blake looked at her across the table. “I think I’ll pass.”

“Ah, come on!” Rainbow cried. “It’ll be… okay it won’t be fun, but you’ll get something out of it.”

“Really?” Blake replied sceptically. “Such as?”

“Such as…” Rainbow trailed off. “You’ll know how to behave if you find yourself in Atlas and have to go to a fancy party.”

“You’ve never been to any of the fancy parties I’ve invited you to,” Twilight pointed out.

“Yeah, but if I ever did, I’d know how to act,” Rainbow told her.

“I don’t think I’m ever likely to find myself in Atlas,” Blake said.

“Never say never,” Rainbow said.

“Why do you want me to come to your Etiquette class so much?” Blake asked.

“Because I think it will be good for you,” Rainbow said. She grinned. “And because if I have to suffer through it, so should you.”

Blake shook her head, and the conversation flowed on like a river rushing towards the sea.

The dining hall filled up as they spoke of trivialities, and as it filled up – as more and more people passed their table – so more and more of those people glanced at Blake with a mixture of curiosity or naked hostility. The other three members of Team BLBL – Sunset was going to have to get used to thinking of them as Team LBL and trying to find a way to pronounce it in her head – very pointedly did not look at Blake, but in a way that drew attention to her nonetheless. Blake’s eyes followed them as they walked ostentatiously to a different table. Dove’s gaze followed them too, but only Blake’s ears drooped unhappily as they sat down.

Blake’s ears continued to droop, and she started bowing her head too, as the curious, nervous, almost frightened gazes kept coming, as they mingled with the hostile stares, as the whispers of ‘White Fang’ and ‘don’t believe that she was a spy’ and ‘can’t believe they let an animal like her’ passed by, thrown out like grenades by the students as they walked on to their seats. Nobody said anything to Blake; nobody wanted to draw attention to her plight and position any more than they had to, but in spite of game attempts to keep the conversation going to distract her, there was no getting away from the fact that – face-saving Valish cover story notwithstanding – she had become an object of fear for some and hatred for others. Rare it seemed was the student who did not have some opinion upon the presence at Beacon of Blake Belladonna of the White Fang.

Or perhaps they just noticed the ones who had an opinion more than those who did not.

Ruby was the first one to actually dare draw attention to the goliath in the room as she placed one hand on Blake’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay, Blake,” she said. “In a couple of weeks, everyone will have forgotten all about this.”

Blake glanced at her, an indulgent smile upon her face. “I know you mean well, Ruby, but I didn’t spill punch all over myself at the dance; people found out who… what I really was. That isn’t something that people will just forget about when something new comes along. This… is something that I’ll have to live with.” Blake looked away from Ruby, looking down at her breakfast where it sat, half-eaten, in front of her.

A commotion from the cafeteria doorway drew the attention of Sunset. Team WWSR had just collected their breakfasts and were now embroiled in a dispute of some description.

It didn’t take Sunset very long to work out what the source of the dispute was.

Cardin was holding his breakfast tray in one hand, gesturing aggressively towards Blake, who had – unfortunately – noticed it by now. Cardin was also saying something, although thankfully, he was too far away for any of them to hear it. Weiss was replying, seeming to be most put out, and Flash chipped in with his own opinions on the matter.

Probably backing Cardin up in talking all manner of slanders about Blake; that seems about his style, Sunset thought. He wouldn’t stand up for me; why would he stand up for her?

Russel, as was his wont, said very little.

Whatever was passing between the members of Team WWSR, it ended with Cardin stomping off on his own to sit with the Blake-less Bluebells, while Weiss, Russel, and – strangely – Flash walked towards the table occupied by SAPR, CLEM, RSPT, YRDN… and Blake.

Blake did not exactly look pleased to see them.

Her chest began to rise and fall. Her eyes closed and then screwed tight shut. She placed her hands heavily on the table as she lurched to her feet, letting her tray sit there in front of her as she murmured, “Excuse me.” She stepped back and began to walk away with as much dignity as she could muster in the circumstances.

The tattered shreds of her dignity did not survive even to the way out of the hall. She had started running even before she made it through the doors.

“I’ll call Sun,” Rainbow said.

What does Sun know about being in this situation? Sunset wondered as she got to her feet and began to run after Blake, pushing Flash out of the way – and over onto his ass, his tray hit the ground with a clatter beside him – as she pursued the other girl out of the hall and into the courtyard.

“Blake, wait!” Sunset called, the sound of her voice bringing Blake to a halt. She did not turn around. She stood under the shadow of the huntsman statue, her head bowed, her left hand clasping her right elbow.

“You can’t let them win,” Sunset told her when Blake did not turn around. “You can’t let them grind you down.”

Blake turned around, her ears still drooped as she fixed her golden eyes on Sunset. “Sunset… you don’t know what I’m going through.”

“I understand what it’s like to be the outcast,” Sunset replied. “I understand what it’s like to feel like the whole world is against you.”

Blake laughed bitterly. “That isn’t a new feeling for me; I’ve felt like that for half my life.”

“Then how is it that it never made you angry?” Sunset asked.

Blake was silent for a moment. “Because I’ve seen what anger does to a man; I want no part in that.”

Sunset had no need to ask who she was referring to. She could barely keep herself from shuddering at the memory of that glowing sword, as red as blood, the memory of that face. It was all she could do not to put one hand upon her face to check there was no brand upon it.

I need to talk to Weiss about that.

“You’re not him,” she said quietly.

“No,” Blake acknowledged. “What enrages him… it merely saddens me.”

“'Merely'?”

Blake shrugged. “It’s just a word.”

“And you are someone who chooses their words with care.”

Blake shook her head. “What do you want, Sunset?”

“I… I don’t know,” Sunset admitted. “What do you need?”

“What do I need?” Blake repeated. She sighed. “Even if I knew where to begin, the things I would begin with are not in your power to grant.”

“Well, yes, I was hoping for something a bit smaller scale than ‘equal rights,’” Sunset said.

Blake chuckled. “I need… I would like… for what Ruby said to be true. I’d like to believe that there will come a time when everyone will just… not care anymore.”

“Maybe there will,” Sunset suggested. “Ruby… is young, and too good and brave for her own good, and yet… she’s sometimes smarter than we are. Maybe she’s right about this too. But until then, keep your chin up. Like you said, pride is the thing that we have left when everything else has been taken from us.”

“Thank you for reminding me that everything else has been taken from me,” Blake muttered.

“I didn’t-” Sunset stopped, rolling her eyes in exasperation. She pouted petulantly. “You’ve still got us,” she pointed out.

“Then I don’t need my pride yet, do I?”

“Well, now you’re just being contrary, aren’t you?”

The corner of Blake’s lip twitched upwards ever so slightly. “How did you do it?”

Sunset blinked. “Do what?”

“Survive a school where everyone hated you.”

“Not everyone hates you.”

“Close enough, don’t you think?” Blake asked.

Sunset knew that Blake didn’t want a discussion on how many students precisely held her in some form of fear or contempt compared with the numbers that did not, and so she conceded Blake’s point, at least for now. “You don’t want to know how I survived,” she said. And I don’t want you to know what I did to make them hate me.

Blake stared into Sunset’s eyes. “No, I suppose I don’t,” she agreed, her tone barely audible.

I wish I could make them stop, Sunset felt like saying. I wish that I could make them stop staring at you, even if I had to scare them into it. But she couldn’t, so what would be the point in saying it? Instead, she said, “You are a better person than those who stare and scowl at you.”

“None of them have broken the law,” Blake pointed out.

“And none of them are a pain in my ass like you are, but that doesn’t make them better than you.”

“The fact that I annoy you makes me better than them?”

“The fact that you believe in something makes you better than them,” Sunset explained. “You’re like Ruby; you’ve got something… something driving you. Conviction. It drives me nuts, and it scares the crap out of me sometimes, but at the same time… it’s kind of glorious.”

Blake was silent for a moment. “I… I would rather work with you than the Atlesians,” she whispered.

Sunset folded her arms. “Speak for yourself; I’m glad to be through with you.”

Blake’s lips twitched once again. “Thank you,” she said, her voice rising by a tiny amount.

“I haven’t done anything,” Sunset reminded her.

“I know, but… thank you,” she repeated.

“Blake!” Sun yelled, vaulting over the huntsman statue – and over Blake’s head – to land on his hands before rolling to a stop a few steps away. His tail wrapped around his waist like a belt. “Is everything okay?”

Blake was quiet for a moment. “No,” she admitted. “But… it’s not too bad, either.”

“Really?” Sun asked, sounding surprised to hear it. “But, Rainbow texted me and she said that-”

“I can guess what she told you,” Blake said, before he could repeat it – and force her to relive it, “but it’s-”

“Don’t say it’s okay if it’s not,” Sun said, his voice gentle as he walked towards her, holding out his arms. “You don’t have to pretend with me.”

Blake allowed his arms to close around her, her eyes closing as he rested her head against his chest. Sun held her that way, for a little while, as his tail snaked up towards her and gently began to tickle her nose.

Blake started to giggle like a much younger girl. “Sun, stop,” she cried, in mock exasperation.

“Don’t look at me,” Sun replied. “Sometimes, this guy just moves on his own.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, it’s a real pain when I’m trying to hang out, you know.”

Blake covered her mouth with one hand as she chuckled. “You didn’t have to rush over here because you heard I was in trouble,” she informed him. “But I’m glad you did.”

“Maybe I didn’t have to,” Sun accepted. “But I always will.” His stomach growled, rather disturbing the scene. “So,” he continued, “did you get a chance to finish eating before… you know?”

“I kind of lost my appetite,” Blake admitted.

“We could always go to Benni’s?” Sun suggested. “My treat?”

Blake’s eyebrows rose. “Your treat?”

Sun shifted uncomfortably. “Neptune’s treat,” he admitted. “But he won’t mind.”

Blake was quiet for a moment. “Okay,” she murmured. “That… sounds nice.”

Sunset watched as Sun steered her away, one arm around her shoulders. Sunset’s tail twitched as she fought to control her envy. It was nice, having somebody like that, somebody you could rely on, somebody who would take your side against the world.

Blake… she hadn’t lost everything while she still had him.

I wish I still had a blue-eyed fool to take my side, no matter how right or wrong I was.

“You didn’t get an invitation, I take it?”

Sunset glanced over her shoulder. Cinder stood a few feet behind her, hands clasped behind her back.

“You assume I want one,” Sunset replied.

“Yes, I suppose I did,” Cinder conceded. She started to walk, not towards Sunset but around her, circling her, passing close to the statue and then beyond it to come around on Sunset’s other side. “There are some who don’t believe that she used to be an Atlesian agent.”

“I’d never have guessed.”

Cinder chuckled. “It’s not true, is it?” she asked. “She really did use to be a member of the White Fang.”

“You can’t expect me to answer that.”

Cinder’s circle took her behind Sunset, forcing the latter to look over her shoulder once again. “I suppose not, although some might say that you just did.”

Sunset frowned. I suppose I did walk into that a little bit.

“It doesn’t really matter,” Cinder continued as her circular path brought around Sunset and in front of her once more. Her glass slippers chinked lightly against the stone. “The truth is that, if she really was a member of the White Fang… I could sympathise.”

Sunset’s eyebrows rose. “Really?”

Cinder stopped, looking up at one of the Atlesian cruisers that hung suspended in the sky overhead. A flight of one of their numerous kinds of combat airships flew past, banking hard to the right as they turned over the Emerald Forest. “They’re really beautiful, aren’t they?”

Sunset studied the Atlesian man-of-war. “I… I can’t say I agree with you, I’m afraid.”

Cinder chuckled. “I admit that, from an aesthetic standpoint, they have their faults, but all the same… when you look at those ships up above, what do you see?”

Sunset considered the cruiser a little longer. “Power,” she said.

“Yes!” Cinder cried, wheeling around to face Sunset. “Atlesian power, the might of Atlas rendered in steel.” She resumed her circling. “The power that the Atlesians hold, the power that they flaunt, the power that they deny to others. The power that they especially deny to the faunus,” she added, as she came up on Sunset’s right. “If the faunus choose to try and grasp the power that is denied to them, then who am I to judge them for that?”

“The White Fang are not the faunus,” Sunset said firmly and with a touch of sharpness in her voice, “and you don’t know what it’s like to be a faunus.”

Cinder did not reply to that, not at first. She hummed tunelessly under her breath as she completed a full circumference around Sunset, ending up in front of her, roughly where Blake had been standing until not long ago. “No,” she admitted. “I don’t. But I think I was just given a first-hand demonstration of what it’s like to be a faunus and of what drives so many of them to take up arms with the White Fang.” She paused. “What happened to your friend was not right,” she added. “Nobody should be punished for trying to better themselves, for trying to become strong. After all, isn’t that why we’re all here? To learn how to become strong?”

“Speak for yourself; I’m strong enough already,” Sunset declared, folding her arms. “I’m here to learn how to become great.”

“A worthy ambition,” Cinder conceded. “And yet…” She approached Sunset, and when she resumed walking around her, she was closer this time, close enough to brush her fingers lightly against Sunset’s shoulders. “You weren’t strong enough to protect Blake, were you?”

Sunset’s ears flattened against the top of her head. “No,” she admitted through gritted teeth. “I wish that I could stop all of this, but-”

“But what if you could?” Cinder asked, coming to stand right in front of Sunset.

Her eyes were like fire. Mesmerising. Sunset couldn’t look away from them. “What do you mean?”

“What if you could stop them?” Cinder repeated. “What if you could snatch the hurtful words right out of their mouths? What if you could make them pay for their cruelty and their callousness, for thinking so much of themselves and so little of those beneath them? What if we could make them pay?”

“We?” Sunset said. “Why would you want anything to do with this?”

“I’m willing to help you,” Cinder replied. “In a good cause, of course.” She smirked. “So… what’s it going to be?”

Comments

[RDDash]

I am hoping that Sunset would punch Cinder in the face at some point. The woman is way too annoying with her attitude when she was a student in Heaven

[Adser]

10531291
Doubt that is happening anytime soon. It's the same smugness that annoys others the reason why Sunset likes her so much.

I do think that we will see Pyrrha or Ruby throwing that punch, after they notice how bad of an influence Cinder is on Sunset.

[JMP]

“Nothing’s wrong?” Nora demanded. “Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand, but you can’t take my seating arrangements from me you… you Haven interlopers!”

Was not expecting a Firefly reference, but I'll take it. Skimmed the last few rewritten chapters. Wasn't sure we'd still end up at this point, but I suppose if Blake didn't become an Atlesian operative, that would change...a large chunk of the rest of the story. Councilor Arvis annoys me, as does Cardin, but eh. We'll see what happens. Cinder is....very unsubtle. Kind of amazing to see how far some of these characters have come in the current arc, then reaching back to this time for the updates

[alfonso_rd_33]

Councilor Arvis annoys me, as does Cardin

Hippocryts... I mean hippogriffs are always annoying, and Cardin tenfold so

[AdverseFlower95]

Well it looks like Flash need to deal with other's perception of him because of how he chose to broke it off with Sunset. Both her and Cardin thought that he would just be automatically against Blake.

Anyway its always good to see interaction between Cinder and Sunset in this half of the story.

[Snowdrifter]

“There’s nothing wrong with being a little old-fashioned,” Ruby insisted. “The world could use some old-fashioned heroes.”

c.tenor.com/lHqa2O6g8kkAAAAM/captain-america-reference.gif

[Sorentis Stars]

"I wouldn't mind reading," Pyrrha volunteered. "If nobody has any objections."

Have Salem read the book?

[Raul]

11252378
My sudden desire to have Jen Taylor read audiobooks has spiked.

[sonicandmario826]

I’m really interested in seeing Sunset and Cinder interact in this story. Seeing who sunset was in the past it actually does feel like Cinder could tempt her to the dark side.