Labyrinth, Part One

Roman Torchwick sat at the controls of bullhead as he flew away from the now-compromised hideout.

It wasn't a total loss; they'd already sent the dust to Mountain Glenn and they had other safehouses in Vale that they could switch to their primary HQ in the kingdom, but all the same…he didn't like it.

He sighed. "I hope Cinder got what she wanted out of all this, because it was an absolute bust otherwise."

Neo sat beside him in the cockpit, legs crossed, toying with her parasol. She looked up at him, her mismatched eyes guileless. She signed, But we got out. Isn't that all that really matters?

Roman chuckled. "Yeah, I guess that is all that matters in the end, isn't it? Not sure that the animals will see it that way…or that Cinder will, come to it." The opinion of the White Fang on the outcome of this business didn't unduly bother him, but the potentially capricious attitude that Cinder might hold towards the outcome of this business…that, he confessed, did concern him somewhat.

But it was her choice, Neo signed.

Roman shook his head. "You've got a lot to learn about the way the world works kid. If she decides to get mad about this little experiment then the fact that it was her idea isn't going to matter a damn, or save whoever she decides to blame for it all." He reached into his breast pocket for a cigar. "There ain't nothing so capricious as a woman."

Neo folded her arms and pouted her lips.

Roman chuckled. "No offence intended, kid."

The pout faded from her face, but Neo continued to look up at him with curiosity in those colour-changing eyes.

Roman clenched the cigar between his teeth as he gently banked the bullhead towards their next headquarters. "Something on your mind, Neo?"

Why did we cut and run so suddenly? Neo signed.

"You ask me that as if it isn't what we do," Roman replied. "We're thieves, Neo, criminals; we're not soldiers, we're not huntsmen, we're not fanatics. We stay alive. Dying for a cause is for suckers."

I know, Neo replied. But maybe we could have taken those three.

"Maybe," Roman conceded. They hadn't had their weapons, after all. "But why take the risk?"

Is that all?

Roman reached for his lighter. Funny, it wasn't in the pocket where he always kept it. With one hand steady on the stick, Roman patted down his other pockets only for them all to come up empty. Where was that-

Neo flipped the lid open on his lighter, and then snapped it shut again. The smile on her face was feline in its smugness.

Looking for this?

"That's it, you're not spending any more time with that Emerald girl," Roman grumbled as he snatched the lighter out of her hands and lit up his cigar.

You're not supposed to smoke in flight.

"Smartass," Roman muttered. He breathed the nicotine into his lungs. "You're getting good. I could almost believe you'd be able to make it on your own out there."

But I'm not alone. I've got you.

"Yeah, you do," Roman murmured. That was why they were both still alive and free after all this time. Guys like him, in his line of work, didn't have families. Roman's marriage hadn't stood up to the test of his move into criminality; he hadn't seen his kids in years. Your work was your life when your work included staying one step ahead of the cops twenty four-seven; guys like him didn't have families, it was a career choice for loners.

But Neo was different. He had her and she had him and they watched each others backs and no one had ever gotten close to them.

But he couldn't say for certain how long that might last. Not with Cinder and the White Fang and everything else that was going on. His life had gotten a hell of a lot more complicated recently, and he had no idea how it was all going to end.

You never answered my question, Neo signed.

Roman shrugged. "I've forgotten what it was."

Why did we leave so soon? Why didn't we fight?

"Because…" Roman trailed off, wondering if he ought to say what was on his mind or not. Ah, hell; if he couldn't tell Neo the truth then… "Maybe I wasn't that unhappy that the princess stopped me from killing little red. Maybe, just maybe, I got out so that I wouldn't have to try again."

Neo smirked. I knew it.

"Oh, you knew it, huh? What did you know?"

You like her, don't you?

Roman snorted. "She's a little young for me. And I prefer blondes."

You know what I mean.

"I guess I want to see her grow up, you know," Roman said. "She what she turns into when she opens up those eyes of hers and sees what the world is really like. I mean, don't get me wrong, she's an idiot, but…she kind of reminds me of me when I was that age."

Neo cocked her head to one side.

"That's right, I was an idealistic dumbass once, too," Roman said. "Shocking, I know, but I wasn't always this suave, sophisticated man of the world you see before you now. I used to think…and then I learnt better. When that kid learns the hard way, when she learns what I learned…I wonder what she'll do."

Should I be jealous? Neo asked playfully.

"Of little red? Come on!" Roman replied. "Wherever she could go, you're already there."

Neo smiled in self-satisfaction. Can we get ice cream after we land?

"Sure," Roman said. "What flavour do you want?"

What do you think?

Sunset walked through the darkness, a glimmering ball of green magelight hovering above her head and the sounds of her boots echoing upon the concrete floor.

When they weren't squelching through something that Sunset was quite glad she couldn't see.

She didn't rush. She advanced cautiously, with one hand upon the cold, damp, slightly sticky wall of the dark, enclosed warren in which she found herself. She had lost sight of Yang and Blake; or rather she hadn't seen them once she dropped into the dark. Perhaps – most likely – they had taken a different direction to her because this place was a labyrinth, with three different paths confronting her the moment she dropped down the hole. That was why Sunset walked with one hand on the wall: with a little touch of magic she was burning a line into said wall with her fingertip, a line that she could follow to find her way back again once her task was done.

She was angry, but it was not a wild rage that gripped her; Sunset had not lost all her reason in the throes of a berserker passion. It was a cold fury that was upon her, a wrath like ice that had encased her heart but did not – greatly – impede her reason.

She had followed Adam Taurus into this dark place, but if he thought to trap her here by leading her by the nose until she got lost beyond all hope of finding any way out he was very much mistaken.

She would avenge…she would revenge herself for what he had done, and then she would return to her team.

Return…and find out whether the youngest member of their team yet lived.

Sunset's face contorted into a snarl and her free hand – the one not scraping a line along the wall to follow home – clenched.

It was dark down here, lightless. The circle illuminated in a dull green glow by the magelight that hovered above her like her own personal fairy was the only thing in this place that Sunset could really see. She couldn't see in front of her, she couldn't see behind; she could barely see the wall that she was touching.

If there was one thing that was making her nervous it was that lack of vision. But she had had no choice, she couldn't just let him go, not after what he had done. Behaviour such as his had to be made an example of.

And besides, he only had a sword. If he wanted to close with her he would have to come where she could see him.

Sunset stopped. She heard something, a scuffling against the floor. It could have been a rat, it could have been a mouse, it could have been a reptile flushed down the toilet and left to mutate into a horror movie monster but Sunset doubted it.

More likely it was the monster she had descended into this labyrinth to hunt.

Slowly, she drew her hand away from the wall. Both her hands began to glow as she funnelled magic to her finger tips.

"You're very bold to come down here alone," Adam said, his voice echoing from out of the darkness.

Sunset's lips twisted into a sneer of contempt. "Tough talk from a man who cut and ran, abandoning his own men."

"Perry will get them out, I'm sure," Adam replied. "But in any case, you're one to talk aren't you?"

Sunset's eyes narrowed. She couldn't tell exactly where his voice was coming from, she couldn't see a thing and the way the echoes worked in here she couldn't rely on her ears to be a sound guide either. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"What are you doing here but running away?" Adam asked. "Abandoning your team-mate-"

"Don't talk about her!" Sunset snapped. "Don't you dare say a word about Ruby! You don't have the right!"

"Ruby? Was that her name?"

"Shut up!" Sunset yelled into the darkness, baring her teeth in a snarl. She took a deep breath. She was playing into his hands, letting him rile her up with the mere mention of Ruby. That was what he wanted, to put her off balance, off her game. But she had to play the game as well. He had to have weaknesses of his own, if she could find them.

"Shut up," she repeated, more quietly this time and more coldly too. "Shut up and let your sword do the talking. Unless you're afraid of a house faunus like me?"

Adam was silent for a moment. "Were you afraid to confront the consequences of your mistakes? Is that why you followed me here?"

"Perhaps I wanted to see you dead that badly."

"Dead by your hand?" his voice sounded amused as it drifted out of the dark. "Do you still think you have it in you to kill me?"

"I don't think, I know," Sunset said. "I swear that if it takes me a day, a year, or the rest of my life I'll see you burn for what you did to Ruby. And then I'll take your red sword and sling it across my back so that everyone will know that I'm the one who finished you."

Adam chuckled. "You want a trophy? That's practically barbaric. I can appreciate that. But do you think they will?"

"They?" Sunset snapped. "Who's 'they'?"

"Humans," Adam said. "Your team-mates, your fine friends. Do you think that killing me will make you a hero in their eyes?"

"I think it can't hurt."

"I don't want to fight you, Sunset."

"Then you shouldn't have cut down my friend in front of me."

"Your friend," Adam said from out of the darkness. "Doesn't it bother you that someone as powerful as you, someone truly gifted with such a versatile semblance as you, is valued only on the level of children such as those you lead, if that?"

"If that?" Sunset said. "If that? I'm not on their level, I'm their leader."

"A leader of children, treated as a child," Adam replied. "Or else a weapon in someone's armoury, a tool for someone else to claim the victory. Is that all that you want?"

"A petty thug like you wouldn't be able to comprehend what I want."

Adam laughed. "Try me."

"I'd rather blow your head off."

"Yes, but you'd need to be able to see me to do that, wouldn't you?"

"Why don't you come out and let me see you?"

"And why would I do that?" Adam asked. "I am not your enemy, Sunset Shimmer. The White Fang is not your enemy."

"No?"

"No," Adam whispered, sounding so close that he might have been standing right behind Sunset, about to run a hand through her hair. "You…intrigue me. Your power, your passion…what could you not do if you were only willing to stand beside your brothers and sisters."

"The White Fang can't offer me a single thing that I want."

"And what is it that you want? To serve lesser men? To defend the Kingdom of Vale? Tell me, Sunset, what is it that you want?"

"Everything," Sunset said. "I want the world and all its glories, I want the kingdoms of the world spread out at my feet, I want to shine in every light and be the name on every pair of lips, I want it all. I want the destiny that was promised to me long ago."

From the dark came only silence. Then, after a little while, Adam spoke again, calmly and softly. "Would you believe me if I told you that that's what I want too? Not just for myself but for our people? Our rightful place in the sun is all that I desire."

"My glory is not for sharing with an entire race?"

"But it is for sharing with three humans who will take the lion's share and leave only scraps behind?"

"You really want me in your club, don't you?"

"The White Fang will always be a refuge for the broken and the damned."

"What makes you think I'm either?"

"Maybe you aren't, yet," Adam allowed. "But you will be. Dreams as grand as yours…someone with your ears and your tail will never allowed to touch the sky; we are not meant to soar as high as heaven. The pits as hot as hell itself, that is our place as far as they are concerned. You…you will never be as great as the Mistral princess in their eyes, nor the girl Ruby if she lives; I hear she's something of a young genius. And you, for all your talents, for all your extraordinary abilities, no matter what accomplishments you amass to your name, even if you should strike me down and kill me…you will never be as great as them because you are a faunus."

Sunset shook her head. "You're wrong." I am no faunus by birth, I was not born into ruthless subjugation; I came into the world a unicorn amongst a city of unicorns and as a unicorn…as a unicorn I failed.

So she thought, and thought truly…but all the same…a unicorn in a city of unicorns, to be sure, but a poor unicorn all the same; a poor unicorn in a city of the rich and powerful, a mare of no family whose mother had died bringing little Sunset into the world and whose father…what was Twilight Sparkle's family? Was she a foundling, or did some august and ancient line wait in the wings chinking coins to grease the path for the Princess of Friendship?

No amount of money could buy the ability to complete Starswirl the Bearded's unfinished spell. Nor even gain access to it.

Have I not made my peace with that, and with Twilight Sparkle too?

Apparently not if a few words from this creeping, skulking, fleeing villain can set me into turmoil.

Sunset shook her head. She was past that, she was beyond such things, she had moved forward and accepted her flaws and vowed to do better afterwards. She would be wise hereafter and seek for grace in her ambitions; or so she'd told herself. So she had convinced herself.

So she had lied to herself, at least in part, it seemed. It was still there, the instinct to blame her birth, her place, her station for all the misfortunes and disappointments of her life. The flaw was in Sunset's stars, not in herself. Even if it was not so, even if it only led to further disappointments…it was very tempting.

It was tempting to blame the world for not laying at her feet all the honours that were her due.

It was tempting to scorn Pyrrha and Ruby and Jaune. Tempting…but wrong. She knew that now, and though she was not beyond it she could see…she would not be drawn into that mire again, not by a man like Adam Taurus.

I could have been a princess. I could have been the paragon of my race but…I failed. It may pain me to admit it but I failed in my quest and strayed from my path. I failed. I will not fail again.

Though this is not my home and the faunus are not my race, yet I will be the champion of it.

"You will not turn me from my destiny," Sunset declared. "Your bitterness will not infect me, your hatred will not corrode me. My destiny does not lie in your camp or murderers and cutthroats. My name is Sunset Shimmer, and one day your sword will belong to me."

"I see," Adam murmured, sounding almost regretful to hear it. "Is that your last word?"

"Yes," Sunset growled. "Now come out, and answer for what you've done to my friend."

"If that is your last word, then let this be mine," Adam said. "Goodbye, Sunset Shimmer."

He emerged out of the darkness and into the light, head bowed like a bull as though he meant to skewer her on his horns. He was running, and he ducked beneath Sunset's hasty shot from her right palm as he drew his sword and slashed at Sunset's side.

Sunset recoiled as she felt a piece of her aura sliced away, the impact of the blow staggering her sideways as Adam retreated once more into the protection of the darkness.

"Your semblance is powerful and versatile," Adam declared. "But you need to be able to see your opponent before you can hit them."

"I thought we'd already had your last word," Sunset groaned. She looked before her, and behind, and saw nothing either way. She turned to the side, one hand facing each way.

Maybe she couldn't see him, but that didn't matter. Where could he go in a tunnel?

She fired a pulse of magic in each direction, aimed down the very centre of the passage in both directions.

Adam emerged from the shadows again, his crimson sword swinging. Sunset turned to face him, raising her hands to conjure a shield before her, but before she could do it he was right on top of her. He slashed across her midriff once, twice, driving Sunset back as she felt the blows through her aura like gutpunches.

He hit her on the head with his scabbard, hard enough to knock her down onto the cold, slimy floor.

Sunset teleported. It was risky since she couldn't see where she was going, but it was a straight line tunnel so she should probably be alright. She materialised about a dozen feet away. The magelight that had flickered above her disappeared, and she was plunged into darkness.

As she climbed slowly to her feet she could see nothing at all.

But she could hear the scraping of Adam's sword upon the wall, hear the tap-tap of is boots upon the floor.

She could hear him coming.

"Do you think that you can hide from me in darkness? In the shadows where I was born?"

Sunset took a deep breath, and spread her hands out until she was touching the walls on either side of her. She'd used a fair amount of magic already, but she still had enough juice left for this.

She conjured spears of magic, glowing bolts of green energy all around her pointing straight down the tunnel.

Parry this.

Sunset released them, first one at a time and then in a great rush, vorpal spears flying through the air, magic like darts ripping through the darkness, chasing it away.

She took delight in the lock of shock on Adam's face, briefly illuminated, before the bolts struck home.

Some of them, at least. A few he managed to parry with his sword before the rest slammed into him. They exploded in a burst of green, and she heard Adam cry out as he was thrown backwards.

Sunset advanced, cautiously but confidently enough to conjure more magelight. He had to have broken his aura by now, unless he had ridiculous levels like Jaune and even Jaune would have struggled to bear up under the amount of punishment that Adam had been taking tonight.

She found him lying on the ground, face down, unmoving on the grey stone. As her magelight illuminated him, Sunset could see that the back of his jacket bore a wilted rose design. Strange coincidence.

He didn't move. It was like he was down for the count.

Not much to do then, except…finish this.

Sunset's hand glowed with magic. One blow would be all that it took with his aura down. One blow…to take a life.

Not something that she'd ever done before. Grimm didn't count, they weren't really alive to start with but this…

Dear Princess Celestia, today I became a killer.

A killer of killers. A killer of a man who tried to kill my friend, who might have killed them for all I know.

This is revenge. This is justice.

This is all an animal like him deserves.

All the same, it wasn't something she'd been taught to do in either Canterlot. Even her huntress training so far had focussed on tournament fighting and killing grimm. Killing men was something else, and not something that there'd been much talk of.

This is justice. This is just deserts.

Sunset turned her palm so that it was facing Adam, and prepared to blast the life out of him.

His hand shot out and grabbed her ankle.

Sunset squawked in alarm as she was pulled off balance and to the ground, her magical blast firing into the ceiling and knocking shards of stone down upon the pair of them.

She would have teleported away but Adam still had hold of her, in fact he didn't let go even as he threw himself on top of her, only when he'd grabbed hold of another part of Sunset did he let go of her ankle.

"You can't get away if I don't let go, can you?" he asked, as he punched her in the face. And again, and again his fist rose and fell, pummelling her aura like a hammer descending upon stonework to smash it into splinters.

He picked her up and slammed her into the wall, then hit her again: once to the face, once to the gut.

Sunset punched him, a swing to the face that caught him on the jaw. It didn't faze him. He didn't even flinch. In fact he smirked.

"You rely too heavily upon your semblance," he said, and punched her in the gut again. "Without it you're not so impressive."

Sunset raised her hand, magic glowing in her palm, but he grabbed her wrist and twisted her so that her hand was pinned behind her back.

Then he slammed her face into the wall once, twice, three times. He spun her around again, grabbing her by the sides of the head and forcing her face down while he drove his knee upwards into it.

She didn't know what state his aura was in but she could feel hers getting weaker with every blow.

"And you thought that you could defeat me, kill me, here in the darkness where I live," Adam snarled as he threw her to the ground. He was on top of and astride her now, his teeth bared in an angry snarl. "Arrogance!" He picked up his sword from where it lay on the floor, and his scabbard too. When he pointed it at her head Sunset realised that the scabbard was also a gun.

Sunset tried to summon magic, but Adam spotted it and shot her in the hand before she could amass any power at all. Sunset winced in pain.

He took aim at her head again. The tip of his sword was resting between her breasts.

"Without your semblance what do you have left?"

"Me," Pyrrha cried as she leapt of the darkness, her red hair flying. Sunset's magelight glimmered upon her burnished shield as she swung it at Adam's face. He blocked with his sword, but this left him open to the jab of Pyrrha's spear. Milo changed to a sword as Adam scrambled backwards. Pyrrha pursued, slashing with her sword and hitting out with her shield. Adam was able to keep up with her, but she forced him back all the same, driving him away from Sunset like a bear driving the hunters away from its cub. And once Adam had retreated, melting back once more into the darkness, Pyrrha stood over Sunset like a guard and did not pursue him further.

"Can you stand?"

Sunset got rapidly to her feet. "Yes."

"How's your aura?"

"Somewhere in the yellow, I think."

Pyrrha tensed. "It was foolish of you to come down here. Yang and Blake?"

"I don't know," Sunset said. "I haven't seen them. How did you find me?"

"I saw that someone had left a trail along the wall, and I guessed that that was you," Pyrrha replied.

Sunset nodded, for all that Pyrrha had her back to her.

"We should go," Pyrrha said, speaking softly, barely louder than a whisper. Milo transformed into rifle form and she rested it upon her shield, which she held up to protect her chest. "I can't fight what I can't see, and your semblance is a poor match for his…his semblance or his sword, one of the two."

"You want to let him go?"

"I almost think," Pyrrha murmured. "That the question is whether he will let us go."

Neither of the two said anything else, not for a while. They waited, Pyrrha on guard and Sunset behind her, listening.

But there was no sound. Adam said nothing, nor could they hear him moving out there, somewhere in the dark beyond their sight. It was as though he had just melted away, into the shadows.

Sunset let out the breath she hadn't even realised that she was holding. "He's gone."

"So it would seem," Pyrrha replied. "He must have been too weak for a renewed confrontation. We should return to the others."

"Ruby," Sunset murmured. "Is she…"

"Ruby will be fine."

Sunset blinked. "Fine?"

"Jaune was able to stimulate her aura to heal her injury."

"Jaune?"

"He's awakened his semblance."

Huh. I guess I'm the only one who hasn't now, then. Good on Jaune, I suppose.

Sunset was silent for a moment longer. "Thank you, for coming after me. You probably-"

"Don't mention it," Pyrrha said gently. "I did…I couldn't have done anything else. Now, we really should get back to Ruby and Jaune."

It rankled with Sunset, to turn tail, but Pyrrha had a point. A very good point in fact. If Adam had gone they'd have a hard time finding him again and if they did…this wasn't the place, this wasn't the ground. In sunlight, where they could see him coming, then they would defeat him but here…how could you fight what you couldn't see.

Sunset would have that red sword somehow, but not here. And not tonight.

"Hey, Pyrrha?"

"Yes?" Pyrrha asked as they began to retreat.

"Can you teach me to fight hand to hand?" Sunset asked. "And maybe…with a sword?"