• 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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The Warriors in the Woods (New)

The Warriors in the Woods

The beowolf snuffled as it crept along the ground, its snout pressed to the forest floor.

Sunset’s hand closed around the hilt of Soteria.

The beowolf raised its head, tentatively sniffing the air.

Sunset sprang out of hiding behind the tree that she had been using for cover, charging towards the grimm with a great shout that startled birds from the trees around them.

The beowolf’s head jerked up, a growl forming in its bony mouth.

A growl that was cut short as Sunset sliced off the grimm’s head with a single stroke of her black blade.

She exhaled through her teeth, grimacing as the deceased monster began to turn to ash before her eyes.

It wasn’t who or what she wanted to kill, but it was better than nothing.

She might have been banned from attending any classes, but there was no rule that said she couldn’t creep – or teleport – down into the Emerald Forest to get a piece of the action.

Actually, there was a rule, but with all of the teachers, you know, teaching, there shouldn’t be anyone to actually catch her in the act.

And nobody even knew to look for her.

Although when she phrased it like that, it started to sound a little stupid to have come down here without telling Ruby or Pyrrha where she was going. But on the other hand, if she’d told them where she was going, then they would have tried to talk her out of it, and Sunset was in no mood to be dissuaded right now.

She needed to keep training. She needed to get stronger.

She needed to kick some ass and kill some monsters.

Monsters like the beowolves she could hear drawing near, their growls and howls growing louder. Perhaps they were all psychically linked and could sense the death of their scout.

Or perhaps they could smell her.

It didn’t really matter, the same way it didn’t really matter how many of them there were. One or twenty or two hundred, she’d take them on.

Soteria was in her hand, but Sol Invictus was slung across her back with the chambers unloaded to discourage her from using it. That was part of the rule that she had set herself when she came down here. Shooting Adam didn’t get you anywhere – she had ample proof of that by now – so she wouldn’t shoot; at the last resort, she would use her bayonet or just club grimm with the stock, but she wouldn’t shoot. She would use her sword and her magic and her brain, and hopefully, while she was slaughtering the grimm, she would come up with a way of getting Adam too.

A way that didn’t involve getting herself stabbed a second time.

Unconsciously, Sunset’s hand – her scarred hand, scabbed and marked from where she had caught his blade – drifted to her stomach, above the wound that he had dealt her. He had left her a mark there too. Jaune's aura had been too ragged from that impressive stunt with Pyrrha and the train to heal her so completely that she was beyond scars.

She would carry the marks of Adam’s esteem for the rest of her days. There was a hole in her cuirass too, where his blade had penetrated her armour, but she didn’t mean to get it repaired until she’d killed him.

The howling of the beowolves drew closer, ever closer; they were so close now that the undergrowth was rustling as they drew near, the bushes waving as though a sudden wind were blowing through the forest.

Sunset turned side on to face the approaching creatures of the dark, thrusting out her scarred hand towards them; the scars were obscured by the green glow of magic that gathered above her palm.

A score of magical spears, each as long as Pyrrha’s Miló and tapering to a sharp point, appeared in ranks like an honour guard in front of Sunset, points slightly downwards.

Adam was fast, sure, but he couldn’t point that sword in every which way at once; so long as she forced him to take one blow – a blow from the front – then she could hit him from the sides and rear, just like she was prepping for the grimm right now.

Mind you, Adam wasn’t likely to give her such time to prep.

The beowolves burst out of the thicket, their eyes blazing, their masks pale as they bared their teeth at Sunset, opening their mouths to let loose a roar that still had the power to make Sunset shiver.

No matter how good she got at killing these things, they would always be able to unnerve her a little.

Because no matter how good she got at killing these things, she would only ever be one mistake away.

And as much as I’d love to say I never make mistakes…

The beowolves charged out of the bushes and straight into the killing ground that Sunset had prepared for them.

A pulse of magic burst from Sunset’s hand. The alpha beowolf, towering above his subordinates, raised forearms covered in plates of bone thicker than the toughest armour, crossing them before his face to take the blow.

And as he did, Sunset unleashed her spears of magic which fell like rain upon him and the rest of his pack.

The roaring and the howling of the beowolves were turned to cries of pain as the magical missiles burst upon and amongst them in a shower of explosions. The dust from the blast choked the air, obscuring the beowolves – the surviving beowolves – from view, but Sunset didn’t wait for the chance to observe the results of her handiwork. She was too static when she fought; she stood in one place far too much. She needed to be more like Rainbow Dash, more like Blake; she needed to be moving all the time, especially against someone like Adam.

She ran to the left, and with her free hand, she shot small blasts of magic from her fingertips into the dust cloud; against Adam, she probably wouldn’t take the risk, but she ought to be okay against beowolves.

And she was rewarded by a howl of pain, so that was worth it.

The first beowolves began to emerge from out of the smoke, leaping out of the cover that Sunset had provided them to fall upon where Sunset had been just a moment before. Two pulses of magic leapt from Sunset’s palm in quick succession to strike them down.

Sunset kept moving. She ran forwards now, leaping over a knot of tangled tree roots as she tried to create more magical spears, in a ring now, surrounding the location of the pack. She had to be able to do it quickly, to do it on the fly; it was the only way that she could hope for it to be of any use in battle.

The smoke and dust began to clear, beginning to reveal the beowolves huddled together, facing in all directions, seeming to be themselves waiting to see where she was now.

Sunset wasn’t going to give them the chance to react. She unleashed her spears, though they were only half formed, and as they fell, she formed some more, pushing her magic to conjure up the missiles and hurl them like thunderbolts from heaven down upon ground and grimm alike. They were incomplete, they were underpowered, but that didn’t matter; if she kept them coming from all sides, then she’d wear him down for sure.

And so, she cast her spears and supplemented them with blasts of magic from the palm of her hand for good measure, and as weak as they were, they were nevertheless numerous enough that they tore apart the surviving grimm until only the alpha remained.

He alone withstood the storm, being so old and so well-armoured by his bony plates and sharp spines that he withstood the assaults of Sunset’s magic; at least, they didn’t kill him, although they seemed to be hurting him.

Sunset teleported, appearing behind the alpha and level with his neck, hovering in mid-air for a moment as she drew back Soteria for the coup de grâce.

The alpha stretched out one hand to grab her by the neck, turning its bleached bone head to roar into her face.

Blake burst out of cover, crossing the clearing in a blur of motion; her wild black hair flew out behind her as she ran, shots snapping from Gambol Shroud’s pistol configuration to slam into the alpha’s flank. The beowolf roared, and as Blake closed the distance between them, it swiped at her with a paw almost as large as she was. The stroke connected, and Blake’s clone dissipated like smoke as the real Blake appeared above, her ribbon swirling around her as she descended, spinning in mid-air, to slice through the alpha’s paw with blade and cleaver alike.

She didn’t give the grimm time to howl in pain before she leapt up, jumping off the remainder of the alpha’s arm to cut off its head in a single stroke of her cleaver scabbard.

Sunset managed to land on her feet as the dissolving grimm relaxed its grip around her neck. “Blake? What are you doing here?”

Blake landed nimbly in front of her, her blade and cleaver held loosely in each hand. “You’re welcome,” she observed dryly.

“I didn’t ask for your help; I asked what you were doing here,” Sunset snapped.

Blake stared at her, her golden eyes flat. “You’re still welcome,” she observed.

“I’m still not going to ask,” Sunset muttered. “If I can’t beat a pack of beowolves how am I supposed to…?”

“Supposed to what?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Sunset growled, turning away from Blake as her ears flattened on top of her head. She was more annoyed at herself than at Blake, but she couldn’t very well snap and shout and growl at herself, could she?

Blake’s voice was grim and lost all hint of humour. “It’s him, isn’t it?”

Sunset said nothing. Her chest rose and fell beneath her cuirass, and her scarred hand twitched, her fingers starting to clench into a fist as the memory of that red sword, of a world turned red as blood and black as nothingness, flashed before her eyes.

“So the answer to your question,” Blake went on, “is the same as you. Since we can’t go to class, I came here: the best place to get in some training.”

“Why?” Sunset asked.

Blake’s eyes narrowed. She cocked her head very slightly to one side. “Didn’t I just tell you that?”

“You’re here because you’re not strong enough to beat him yet,” Sunset said flatly.

“Exactly-” Blake began.

“So?” Sunset demanded. “Just let Rainbow Dash take care of it.”

Now it was the turn of Blake’s ears to flatten against the top of her head, disappearing in the midst of her wild tangle of black hair. “This isn’t Rainbow Dash’s fight; it’s mine!”

“No, Adam is mine,” Sunset snarled into her face. “Mine to kill, mine to avenge myself and Ruby on.”

Blake was silent for a moment. When she spoke, her voice was softer now, tender and imploring. “Sunset, don’t,” she said, and her voice cracked. “Please don’t.” She shook her head. “Revenge… it’s a poison. What do you think made Adam the way he is? Do you think that brand on his face made no difference to him at all?”

“I don’t care what made him the way he is,” Sunset growled.

“Then what do you care about?”

“I care about the fact that he beat me!” Sunset roared, turning from Blake once more to exclaim it upwards into the sky. “I care about the fact that he nearly killed Ruby; I care about the fact that he nearly killed me, and both times, I couldn’t do a damn thing about it!” She paused for breath. “I care about the fact that I took a hit from him so that I could get hit on him in turn, but he walked away from my best shot, while I ended seconds away from death! I care about the fact that Ruby was seconds away from death. I care about the fact that he scared the crap out of me, and even when I wasn’t scared, it didn’t make any difference!” Spittle flew from her mouth. “That’s why I have to kill him. That’s why… I have to prove that I’m stronger than he is.”

“You sound like him when you talk like that,” Blake whispered.

“Do I?” Sunset grunted. Her tail swept back and forth as she shuffled her feet, crushing the grass beneath her boots. “Maybe that’s why I have to kill him,” she said softly.

“It won’t kill that part of yourself,” Blake replied, her voice trembling. “Giving into it… will only make it stronger.”

“Can you deny that he deserves to die?” Sunset asked.

“It always starts with someone who deserves to die,” Blake said. “It starts with a monster, and everybody cheers, and then-”

“Oh, don’t start with the slippery slope fallacy; we’re both smarter than that,” Sunset snapped. “Just because I put down a rabid dog doesn’t mean that I’m going to become a serial killer.”

“If you’re so sure of that, then why do you feel like you have to kill Adam?” Blake demanded. “If you’re so sure, then why are you so afraid?”

“I’m not afraid of him,” Sunset snapped.

“No, you’re afraid of yourself,” Blake declared.

Sunset was silent for a moment, her breathing heavy. She looked at Blake. “What would you have me do?” she asked. “Should he be allowed to roam free? Should I trust that everyone will be as lucky as me or Ruby?”

“Of course not; it’s not a binary choice between you staining your hands or…” Blake trailed off. “I…”

“Want it for yourself?”

“No!” Blake exclaimed. “That… Adam’s life is… the last thing I want. But I was there. I was one of those who cheered him on when he struck down monsters. I was one of those who called him the Sword of our people, our Lord of Battles. I was beside him when we knelt at the feet of Sienna Khan and learned from her what it was to fight and lead and rouse others to follow us into the fight. Adam… Adam is my responsibility.”

“Just because you and he were… he hasn’t tried to kill your… he hasn’t tried to kill you.”

“I think he has, actually,” Blake pointed out.

Sunset waved her hand dismissively. “You know what I mean.”

“No,” Blake said. “I don’t.” She glanced down at her feet. “You’re not the only one he made to feel powerless.”

Sunset was silent for a moment, taking in the sickening implications of what Blake had just said. “I thought you said-”

“I said the world had made him cruel,” Blake pointed out. “I never said that his cruelty had only been directed out towards the world.”

Sunset’s mouth hung open for a moment. She… she had no idea what to say. It was too far beyond her frame of reference, too far from her experience. She had no idea what to say, and hence, she said nothing.

Blake’s head was bowed. “You’re a kind person, Sunset,” she murmured. “I think so, anyway. I… I’d rather that you didn’t prove me wrong, like he did.”

“I’d rather not prove you wrong either,” Sunset replied. “But if I don’t do this… if I can’t beat him, if I hide from him, if I… what are you doing out here?”

Blake looked up at her. “Well, I was out here looking to train.”

“Exactly, because you don’t think that this fight is over,” Sunset said.

“Of course it’s not over!” Blake cried. “Just because Torchwick’s in jail... Adam’s still out there-”

“And there’s a good chance we’ll have to face him again,” Sunset finished, quietly but sharply. “Which, being the case, I think that I should prepare to face him. If I don’t… what else should I do? Hide from him? Leave it to Pyrrha?”

“You advise me to leave it to Rainbow Dash,” Blake pointed.

“Rainbow’s the team leader; it’s her job to be out in front.”

“Technically, it’s a team leader’s job to give the directions,” Rainbow broke in, as she descended towards them from out of the sky, the jets of her wingpack burning with a soft hum as they lowered her at a steady rate down to the ground. She kept her metal wings unfurled, spread out on either side of her so that they were nearly touching the trees on either side as the tips of her toes touched the ground. “I just stay out in front because I’m the toughest on my team, not counting the… we’ll talk about that later,” she said. “The point is: you are both idiots.”

Sunset scoffed. “That’s a bit rich coming from you, don’t you think?”

“I may not have read as many books as you, but I knew better than to come down into the Emerald Forest by myself,” Rainbow pointed out.

“I don’t see Ciel or Penny or Twilight with you,” Sunset replied.

“Twilight’s up on the clifftop, and you know what I meant, smartass,” Rainbow said. “I talked to Pyrrha, Ruby, and Jaune, and none of them knew where you were. Either of you.”

Sunset winced, while Blake asked, “Then how did you find us?”

“I had a hunch,” Rainbow replied. “So, you both came out here to kill grimm.”

“It’s the next best thing to fighting men,” Sunset said stubbornly.

“It’s a quick way to burn yourself out,” Rainbow insisted. “You got a week off for a reason.”

“I got a week off because I almost died!” Sunset snarled. “I got a week off because I was weak! I got a week off because-”

“Because you’re in this kind of mood,” Rainbow remarked.

“Shut up,” Sunset snapped. “You… you wouldn’t understand.” She turned away, swinging her sword in the air. “General Ironwood’s protégé, private lessons, access to all the latest fancy toys straight from the lab, you’ve never had to worry that you weren’t strong enough-”

“I worry all the damn time that I’m not strong enough!” Rainbow shouted. Her voice dropped as her wings folded up onto her back. “That never goes away; no matter how strong you get, you’ll always worry that it’s not enough. I have so much to protect and just two hands to do it with, and I… I get it.”

“Get what?” Sunset demanded.

“Why you want Adam Taurus so badly,” Rainbow answered.

“I thought you said we were idiots for that?” Blake reminded her.

“You’re idiots for coming out here like this without telling anyone,” Rainbow said. “You’re idiots for not taking the rest that you need. But I get it. I get you, anyway.” She nodded her head towards Sunset.

“She’s afraid of him,” Blake said.

“I’m not afraid. I took a hit from him-”

“That doesn’t mean that he stopped scaring you.”

“You’ll see-”

“It’s not that fear,” Rainbow said. “Well, I guess it could be, a little, but that’s not why you want him, is it?” she asked. “It’s not why I want him.”

Sunset shook her head. “You’re nothing like me, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow was silent for a moment. “Twilight told me once that, deep in the depths of the ocean, there are these fish, these really ugly fish. They live in the dark, you see, they… they never see the sun because the light doesn’t go down that far. They swim around in the dark, and they’ve got no eyes, and they’re just the ugliest things that you’ve ever seen in your life. But, maybe… do you think that it’s possible that if one of those fish could fly, could swim I mean, up out of the darkness, if it could feel the light on its face, if it could see the sun, do you think that, do you think it’s possible that one of those ugly little monsters could become something beautiful?”

“No,” Blake said flatly.

Rainbow’s eyebrows rose. “Thanks for that,” she muttered.

“People don’t change, not like that,” Blake declared. “I used to think that… when Adam started to become… I thought that I could save him. I thought that it was my job to save him. I thought that… I thought that the love of a purehearted maiden could turn the beast into a handsome prince. I thought that if I was kind and gentle and patient, then I could gentle his fierce temper. I thought that-”

“Are you going to list off every romance cliché or just your favourites?” Sunset asked.

Blake scowled… before the briefest hint of a smile crossed her face. “I admit, I wasn’t without influences in that regard,” she admitted. “But my point is that it was all lies, all of it nonsense, all of it… I let him… I endured because I thought that I was supposed to endure; I thought that by enduring, I would… reach him, somehow. I thought that it was my fault that I wasn’t changing him. But the truth is that people don’t change, not like that. Adam was changed by the world that he lived in, and the love of one stupid girl wasn’t enough to overcome that. That’s not how life or people work.”

“I disagree,” Sunset said. “And I guess that Rainbow does too, or she wouldn’t have brought it up, although I’m not sure why she bothered.”

“You’ve only known me after I swam up towards the light,” Rainbow told her. “Before I met Twilight-“

“You’re not Adam,” Blake said. “Neither of you are.”

“But we could have been,” Rainbow said, quietly and with surprising – Sunset was surprised, at least – earnestness, “if the dice had fallen a different way. If we hadn’t met the right people. If we hadn’t met the right people.” She glanced at Sunset. “The truth is that I always expected you to join the White Fang.”

“Oh, really?”

“Why not?” Rainbow asked. “You’re strong, arrogant, you have a chip on your shoulder-”

“Yes, thank you, I wasn’t actually looking for a list,” Sunset said quickly before she could go on. “Besides, strong and arrogant describes every top Atlas student, including you.”

“But I don’t have a chip on my shoulder to go along with it,” Rainbow said.

“Neither do I, now,” Sunset said firmly, and almost sincerely.

“Now,” Rainbow repeated.

“Now,” Blake said, her tone dull and dispirited. “Now that you’ve met Ruby and Pyrrha and…”

Sunset frowned. “Blake?”

Blake’s golden eyes flickered between the two of them. “Do you really think that you could have become like him?”

“My best friend from when I was growing up is in the White Fang,” Rainbow admitted. “I found that out during the attack on the train. We grew up in the same neighbourhood, but I fight for Atlas, and she fights to bring it down. It all comes down to… luck. And the fact that I was rescued. That we were rescued.”

“Then why couldn’t I rescue Adam?” Blake demanded, her voice cracking. “If one person is really all it takes, if love and compassion are enough to pull someone out of the darkness, then why couldn’t I reach his heart? If Twilight and Ruby can do so much, then why am I so-?”

“You’re not,” Sunset said.

“I couldn’t save him no matter how much I tried-”

“That’s not your fault.”

“Isn’t it?” Blake cried, her whole body trembling. “How is it not my fault? Whose fault is it? Why… why wasn’t I… why?”

“Because he was too far gone?” Sunset suggested. “Because he didn’t want to be saved? I don’t know, but what I do know is that it isn’t your fault.”

Blake looked into Sunset’s eyes. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because the wisest, noblest, most compassionate person I’ve ever known tried to change me once, and they couldn’t manage it,” Sunset revealed. “But Ruby could. Sometimes… that’s just how it goes. Sometimes, things just happen, and you can’t explain them, and you can’t blame yourself for them.” She ventured the slightest trace of a smile. “Although, of course, you will, because that’s the kind of person you are.”

Blake didn’t appear to find that amusing, but at the same time at least, she didn’t seem to be taking offence at it either.

“We all want that guy gone,” Rainbow declared. “We all want him out of the way. We all want to prove that… that we’re better than he is, that the path we’ve chosen is better than the one he’s walking down. And we will get him, together.” She put one hand on Sunset’s shoulder and another hand on Blake. “But not if you wear yourselves out or work yourselves into a frenzy when there’s nobody even around.”

Sunset glanced at her. “So what are we supposed to do instead? Sit around doing nothing?”

“Relax, yeah, for a little while,” Rainbow declared. “Why don’t you come into Vale with me and Twilight? She wants to go book shopping, so you’ll enjoy it more than I will.”

That was a little tempting, somewhat more tempting than sticking around here and looking for more grimm.

And… as much as Sunset might not like to admit it, Rainbow Dash made a good point.

It was always annoying when that happened.

“Together?” she asked.

“Together,” Rainbow repeated.

Blake hesitated, her eyes flickering between the two of them. “Together,” said, more quietly than the other two, and more slowly, but she said it nonetheless.

Rainbow nodded. “Great,” she said. “Now, let’s-”

She was cut off, or at least interrupted, by the sound of something growling close by.

Rainbow sighed. “Of course, you two have drawn in the grimm.”

“Us?” Sunset squawked. “What about you, Miss Ugly Fish?”

“Why don’t we leave the question of whose fault it was?” Blake suggested. “Unless we want to attract even more grimm?”

“Good point,” Rainbow said, pulling her submachine guns out of her holsters. The three of them stood back to back as the beowolves began to slink out of the bushes. “Okay, people, time to go to work.”

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