The Open Door
They were building a barricade across the road.
Trixie and Team TTSS had been drawn back to the front lines by … by magic, one might say, or simply by the fact that since they couldn't really get to safety, it hadn't felt right just hanging around with all of the Valish civilians, colours or no colours. And so they had come back, following the road that had led them to the gate, now heading back towards the outskirts of Vale, where the wild goats had been taking over the deserted suburbs.
They actually came across the goats a little earlier than anyone had been expecting; they had headed further into Vale and closer to the walls, mingling with some of the stragglers of the crowd closest to the city limits. As Team TTSS moved onwards, they soon found out just why the goats had been driven into the city.
Because the Atlesian troops had arrived, their retreat finally carrying them out of the fields and into Vale itself, and they were establishing new defences on the outskirts of the city.
It was a lot like when they'd all first arrived at the Green Line from Beacon, in that the first things they saw were the Spider droids with cannons or missile launchers mounted on them; although these Spiders were still getting into position, some of them still striding down the streets and making TTSS dodge out of the way of their clanking metal legs. No wonder the goats had run further into the city.
Then there were mortars being set up in the middle of the road, and then, further on from that, at the very outskirts of Vale where suburbs shaded into fields, were the infantry and Paladins, forming a rough line to keep the grimm at bay.
It was the standard setup, then, the same setup as the Atlesians had used to defend the Green Line, the same setup that had held the Green Line until that giant monster grimm got involved. It was the same, but it was different too. For one thing, everything seemed to be less, sometimes a lot less, sometimes just a little less; there were — or there appeared to be — fewer Spiders, and while that might have been because the houses were blocking the view of the others, it was also probably because they'd lost some in the retreat, when the grimm had first broken through the Atlesian lines. There were fewer Paladins too, and definitely fewer Knights standing in the line alongside the soldiers. When Trixie, TTSS, and all the other teams had arrived on the Green Line, they had found two Knights for every soldier on the rampart; now, there were a lot more soldiers and maybe one Knight for every five or six troops present.
Better that they should lose the androids than the soldiers, but still, that was a lot gone, a reminder of how much they'd lost when the defences were swept away.
Another reminder of that was the wounded; nobody was too seriously wounded — Trixie guessed that the really badly hurt had been airlifted to the medical frigates — but there were men with cuts and gashes, with claw marks on their armour, with bandages hastily tied around their arms. There were soldiers who lost their helmets, revealing tired eyes with dark circles around them. There were Paladins that sagged forwards as though the machines themselves were exhausted, never mind the pilots, and soldiers whose hands trembled.
But they worked anyway, setting up new defences on the edge of the city as they prepared to turn and fight once again. They smashed down doors to the nearby houses, wrenching them clean off their hinges and piling them up in the street alongside whatever furniture they could manhandle out of the houses to make a barricade out of. Low walls of sofas and dining tables sprung up before their eyes. Other soldiers smashed the windows of the houses, particularly the upper windows, and made ready to fire out of them. Rifle muzzles poked out of broken windows, the men and women who held the rifles invisible in dark rooms.
As defences went, it didn't really compare to what the Atlesians had earlier set up on the Green Line, but it was better than nothing.
Anything had to be better than nothing, right?
Colonel Harper was standing near the front line, just behind the barricade as it went up. Her sword was drawn, the blade resting lightly on her shoulder, and her pistol hung lightly in her other hand, down by her side. She had a group of officers around her, and her Mistralian orderly stood silently by, his own sword sheathed for now.
"So, you had the same idea as us?" Sabine said.
Trixie looked around to see Team SABR approaching, having just come from one of the connecting side-streets that ran between this road and one of the others parallel to it. Like TTSS, they still had the flag; Sabine still had the flag, the Battalion Colour of the Fourth, and like the Atlesian Colour in Trixie's hand, it hung limp now, so that you couldn't see the black bull or the battle honours.
Team SABR was intact; they had kept the standard, and they hadn't lost anyone to do it.
Trixie put one hand on her hip. "Excuse you, Sabine Silverband, but Trixie think you'll find that it is you who had the same idea as the Grrrrreat and Powerrrrrrful Trrrrixie."
Sabine snorted. "Maybe. It's a pity the Great and Powerful Trixie couldn't have had the idea of getting to the gate before it shut."
"I think the gate's always been shut," Starlight replied. "No matter when we left, or how fast we got here, there's no way that we couldn't have gotten to the other side of the wall. The Valish had never opened the gate at all."
Sabine wrinkled her nose. "They're a gutless bunch, aren't they?"
"They're scared," Starlight murmured.
"We're all scared," replied Sabine. "Even the Great and Powerful over here. It's what you do when you're scared that counts, isn't it?"
Starlight shrugged. "Maybe," she admitted. "But … if Mantle were under attack, and Atlas could either let people in and risk Atlas, or keep them out and keep Atlas safe in the process, do you think that we'd behave any better than the Valish are doing now?"
"One would certainly like to hope so, darling," murmured Rarity.
Starlight gave a thin smile. "Sure, but I—"
"But you didn't say 'hope'; you said 'think,'" said Maud quietly.
Starlight nodded. "Exactly."
"I think that we'd do something," Sunburst said. "We wouldn't just leave Mantle to die."
"Optimism, that's the spirit," Sabine said, and it was hard for Trixie to tell if she was being sarcastic or not, although she thought she was. She paused for a second. "You know," she said, "I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I don't think I'll go to Vacuo."
Trixie's eyebrows rose. "You were going to go to Vacuo?"
"I thought about it," Sabine admitted. "We thought about it."
"As in transfer to Shade Academy?" Trixie said. "Leave Atlas."
Sabine chuckled. "You say that like it's the worst fate imaginable."
"Isn't it?" demanded Trixie. "Why would you want to go to Vacuo? It's so sandy and hot and sticky and disgusting. Why … just why?"
"Because they treat faunus better in Vacuo," Starlight guessed. "That's right, isn't it?"
Sabine gestured with her head, almost like she was tossing it to one side, or twitching because of something wrong with her neck. "That was about it, yeah," she admitted. "Freedom, opportunity—"
"Freedom to sweat and opportunity to smell?" Trixie asked.
"Stuff like that is why they don't like us very much in Vacuo," said Sabine.
"I thought that was just the chip on their shoulder," Trixie replied.
"But you changed your mind?" Sunburst asked, bringing the conversation back around. "Why?"
"Because where have the Shade students fought during this battle?" asked Sabine.
"They … they haven't, have they?" asked Rarity in return.
"Exactly, girl who I don't know," Sabine declared. "They've sat up on Amity Colosseum, sitting this one because they're as much of a gutless bunch as the Valish who've kept the gate shut."
"I think it's more of a cultural thing," Sunburst said. "Vacuans don't—"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Vacuans don't believe in standing their ground and fighting; Vacuans pack up and move on when danger threatens; Vacuans are so agile, they're basically contortionists," Sabine said. "It got me thinking that freedom and opportunity are all very well and good — and I mean that — but I don't want to be like that. I don't want to cut and run all the time when things get rough; that's not who I am." She paused. "And then, as I was thinking about that, and how I might not really fit in in Vacuo, I realised that going to Shade and leaving Atlas would actually be me cutting and running so … looks like you're all stuck with me. With us." She glanced behind her. "Sorry, guys, I've changed my mind. I hope none of you were looking forward to us all getting sand in our boots together."
"It's more important that we be a team than that we be in the right kingdom for it," Reynard said.
Bella Roseye shook her head. "Whatever kingdom we are in together, that is the right kingdom for us."
Sabine looked at her. "'Whatever kingdom we are in together—' what kind of corny thing to say is that? You've been watching too many cartoons, Bella." She shook her head before looking at Trixie again. "I suppose we should let Colonel Harper know we're here."
Trixie nodded. "That sounds like an excellent idea, which is why Trixie was just about to suggest it."
Sabine snorted.
The two team leaders took the lead, with each of them holding tightly onto the colours, as their teammates fell in behind them. They walked — they marched — down the road to where Colonel Harper was conferring with her officers. The Mistralian orderly noticed them, but said nothing, and did nothing to draw the colonel's attention to their presence.
"There might not be time, but try and put some holes in the walls," Colonel Harper said. "There aren't enough windows facing directly outwards across the field, and we want to increase our firing angles, if possible. And remind the troops that ammunition resupply is unlikely for a while, so take careful aim and make every shot count. I want Military Huntsmen deployed by squads along the line in support of rifle companies. Lieutenant Raleigh, I want you to take a sergeant and sixteen men into reserve, just in case the dragon comes back. If it starts dropping grimm behind our lines, then it will be your job to deal with them."
"Yes, ma'am."
"That's all," Colonel Harper said. "Take your positions."
As the officers dispersed to their respective units, Colonel Harper appeared to finally notice Team TTSS and Team SABR. She looked at them, half-turning in their direction.
"Cadets," she said softly. She glanced upwards at the colours that Trixie and Sabine gripped tightly. "I see you kept them safe, then."
"Yes, ma'am," Trixie said. "Although we couldn't get them to safety because—"
"Because they Valish aren't letting anyone through the gate, yes, I know," Colonel Harper replied. "That's why we're setting up here. General Ironwood has ordered us to hold this position until we can evacuate the Valish civilians by air, after which it will be our turn to be lifted off the battlefield. We just have to stand our ground until then, or until the grimm decide that they've had enough punishment for one night and call it quits."
"Yes, ma'am," Trixie said. "We thought that, since we couldn't get through the wall and couldn't get the Colours to real safety, you might like them back on the line."
"We thought that they'd be better off here than being held in the middle of a bunch of civilians," Sabine added. "And so would we."
Colonel Harper was quiet for a second. Again she looked up at the flags, which hung limply down from their staves.
"I see," she whispered. "A part of me wants to tell you to take them back, to stand around with the civilians with them because they'll be safer there than they will be here. A part of me wants to tell you that I'm not sure that we can hold the grimm here, and I don't want our standards to be food for beowolves or ursai." She paused. "Another part of me wants to thank the two of you, all of you, because this might be the toughest fight in the history of the Fourth, and it's as well that we fight it within sight of the colours. And another part of me realises that it's too late now; if I send you and the standards away, then anyone who notices will lose heart, and that would never do." She smiled, at least a little bit. "So welcome back to the battle, all of you." Her smile faded. "Guard those standards with your lives. If our line crumbles, I expect you all to be the last to fall, in defence of the colours."
"You can rely on us, ma'am," Trixie said. "We've kept them safe, and we will keep them safe."
Colonel Harper nodded, and Trixie thought that she might even be nodding approvingly. "Very well then," she said. "Take up your positions just behind the—"
The dragon roared, loudly and from behind them.
"Take cover!" Colonel Harper shouted. "Everybody down!"
Trixie ducked, bending her back and her knees, holding the colours so that they almost touched the ground, half-shielding them with her body. She didn't look up. She didn't see the dragon, but she heard the beating of its wings as it flew overhead.
Flying overhead was all that it seemed to do. It didn't drop down to rake its claws down the road and snatch people up like it had snatched up Team FNKI; it didn't unleash a blast of breath the way it had burned a hole in the defences. It just flew overhead, and when Trixie dared to look up, she found that it had flown clean over and was almost out of sight now, flying into the night.
The dragon roared again, louder than it had roared before, and this time, its roar was answered by the grimm of the horde, beowolves and ursai and goliaths and all the rest roaring and howling and trumpeting in unison.
It's letting them know it's back to take charge again, Trixie thought.
She swallowed.
"Up!" Colonel Harper shouted. "Up and to your posts! Soldiers of the Fourth, make ready!"
Soldiers rose up from their crouches, or from the ground where they had thrown themselves; those rose up and stepped up to the makeshift, half-completed barricades, resting machine guns on overturned tables and raising rifles to their shoulders.
And not a moment too soon, as the first grimm began to charge out of the darkness, the moonlight gleaming down upon the white bone of their armour, their spiky spurs, their masks with the red markings on.
The Atlesians began to fire; it seemed weak compared to the wall of flame that had met the grimm upon the ramparts of the Green Line, less intense, more sporadic, but the grimm were met with fire nonetheless, and the leading grimm began to wither and die under the rifle and machine gun rounds.
Behind the line, the Spider droids began to fire, shells whistling as they arced over the Atlesian defences to explode in the darkness, their brief bursts of flame illuminating the night where the grimm gathered.
There seemed to be so many of them, even after all that they'd killed, all the losses the grimm had suffered, there still seemed to be so many of them.
And the dragon emerged out of the night, flying straight towards them.
Sunset stopped her motorcycle.
Ruby was there. Ruby was standing in front of her.
It shouldn't have been so unexpected. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to Sunset at all, she should have known — she had known — that this was coming; when she and Weiss had set out for the battlefield, this had become inevitable, and yet…
And yet…
And yet, Sunset was still, and stiff, and frozen.
Because Ruby was there.
And Ruby knew that Sunset was there too; she was looking at Sunset the same way that Sunset was looking at her.
There was no escape, for either of them.
There was no sign of Pyrrha either, or Penny; that might be better, or it might be worse, Sunset wasn't sure.
There was really only one way to find out.
Sunset slowly dismounted from her bike. Her movements were stiff, awkward, and slow and sluggish in consequence. She could hear the dragon roaring somewhere out beyond the wall, rendered invisible now by the height of the wall and by how close Sunset was to it, but not even the roaring of the dragon could move Sunset to a greater haste, could not make her motions more fluid. She moved like a puppet, dancing upon invisible strings, everything a little awkward, action by action, lacking in coordination, lacking in a sense of realism.
In such a halting, hesitant, and awkward manner, Sunset got off her bike and took off her helmet.
If Ruby hadn't known who she was before, then she couldn't not realise it now.
Weiss, behind Sunset, had gotten off the bike first but didn't say anything.
Sunset kind of wished she would, but at the same time, was also a bit grateful to her for staying silent.
Which of the two emotions ended up prevailing would probably depend a lot on how Ruby reacted, which couldn't be far off now.
Sunset waited, silent. She didn't say anything because she wasn't entirely sure what to say. It would be better by far, she thought, to let Ruby make the first move; then she could see how Ruby felt.
It was hard to tell how Ruby felt from looking at her. She had kind of a blank look on her face; even from her eyes, it was hard to work out what was going on in her head.
Ruby tilted said head to one side a little and said, "I think I … you're Sunset Shimmer, right? You helped the First Councillor deal with the situation with the Defence Forces." She nodded approvingly. "That was good work; thanks for helping to get that straightened out."
Sunset stared at her, not replying. She'd waited for Ruby to make the first move, but now that Ruby had, Sunset was still completely at a loss as to how she ought to respond to it. Of all the things that Ruby could have said, she chose to open with that. Sunset supposed it was nice to have a little gratitude, but it was so far from what she'd expected that it left her a little out of sorts, floundering in a sea of confusion.
And what was with the 'you're Sunset Shimmer, right' like she didn't know who Sunset was?
"I…" Sunset began. "Well, thanks, I suppose," she muttered, scratching her chin with one hand.
"It is Sunset Shimmer, isn't it?" Ruby asked.
Sunset blinked. "Y-yes," she said. "Yes, it is."
"It's nice to meet you," Ruby went on. "I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose."
Sunset kept on blinking, blinking rapidly, eyes flickering as though she was asleep. Perhaps she was asleep, and this was all just some kind of weird dream.
That might actually be nice.
Except I'd wake up in Skystar's house and have to go through all this again.
"Are you okay?" Weiss asked, stepping out from behind Sunset.
"Hey, Weiss," Ruby said. "Yeah, I'm fine, why?"
"Because you're talking like you don't know someone you've been living with for the past year!" Weiss declared sharply.
Sunset said nothing. She waited for what would come next.
Ruby looked at Weiss now, not at Sunset; she looked at Weiss almost as though Weiss was the weird one, whose behaviour, words, and actions made no sense at all.
"No," Ruby said. "No, I think I'd remember that." She returned her attention to Sunset. "I mean, I have dreamed of someone like you, but … but that was just a dream. I don't know you."
Ah. Okay, so that's how we're going to play this, Sunset thought. That was … honestly, probably the best that Sunset could have hoped for. She wasn't entirely sure it was the best time, but leaving that aside, it was hard to see any way that this could be handled any better. Too much had happened to do anything but ignore it, pretend that it hadn't happened, or that it had happened to someone else.
"Yeah, I don't know you either," Sunset replied softly. "Although I think we might have some mutual friends."
Ruby shook her head. "No," she said. "No, we don't. Mutual … acquaintances, maybe, but not friends; not my friends."
Bit harsh, Sunset thought. Especially on Penny. "I … I'm sorry to hear that."
"Is this actually happening?" Weiss demanded.
Sunset ignored her, and so did Ruby, for that matter.
"It's okay," Ruby said. "School wasn't for me; that's why I decided to drop out."
'Drop out'? Drop out and do what? Wait tables?
"It wasn't a good fit for me," Ruby went on. "But I think it would suit you, though."
Is she … is this a way of telling me that … that I can go back. "Are you … you really … you think so? I mean, I enjoyed it, mostly, but—"
"Then stick with it," Ruby advised her. "You might as well. I mean, what's stopping you?"
Sunset stared down at her. Ruby was … Ruby was giving Sunset her blessing to come back. Ruby was letting her back into Beacon.
Admittedly, that meant Ruby was leaving Beacon herself, but if she was being honest with Sunset, then she hadn't enjoyed it, in which case … in which case, she might be better off out of it. Providing that she wasn't leaving just to help Sunset out, but then why would she? What reason would Ruby have to use Sunset with such kindness?
What reason would she have to feign having never met me before?
Maybe she's had a change of heart towards me?
Not so great that…
Not so great that what? That she can acknowledge it? Does that really matter?
No. No, I don't suppose it does. If she wants to go, if she wants to walk another path, then fine, good luck to her. I hope she's happy.
And I…
"You … you really think that's a good idea?" Sunset asked.
Ruby nodded. "I do. I think your friends would be really glad to see you again."
Sunset blinked twice, three times, more. "And … and you?"
"I've got a better offer, one that suits me better," Ruby replied. "At least, I think so, anyway. An offer that will let me do what I want."
"I … I see," Sunset murmured. They would … they would take me back? I'd be allowed to go back?
Ruby will step aside and let me back.
I can go home.
Sunset blinked rapidly, for she was blinking back the tears that welled in her eyes. "That…" She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "That sounds like very good advice. I think I'll take it, thank you."
Weiss rolled her eyes. "You … really? Are you both … are we really doing this? Am I losing my mind here?"
"Maybe," Ruby said. "But hopefully not."
Weiss snorted. "Listen, young lady, I will not be Angelstreeted! I know that—"
"Weiss," Sunset said softly. "Please, that's enough." She didn't give Weiss much of a chance to respond before she asked Ruby, "We've been in the city helping with the issues there; have you come from outside the walls?"
"Yes," Ruby answered. "I just got over the walls with some help from Nora."
"Okay," Sunset said. "So, what's the situation?"
Ruby hesitated for a second. She glanced down at the ground. "It's hard to know where to start," she muttered.
"Sunset knows about Beacon," Weiss said. "So you don't need to cover that part. Just tell us what's been happening out on the battlefield."
"On the battlefield," Ruby said softly. "Right." She closed her eyes and took a breath. "On the battlefield, the Valish troops routed almost as soon as the grimm attacked; all of the stuff with General Blackthorn and everything, it just got to them, it was too much. Plus, they weren't really properly equipped to face a grimm attack like that; the nevermores and the griffons were tearing through them, and they couldn't respond. So they ran, but with the help of the Haven students and the Mistralian forces, we were able to sort of hold them, and the Atlesians were holding their line too. Yang, Ren, Nora, Penny, Jaune, and I went to look for the Apex Alpha leading the horde on our flank—"
"That was rash of you," Weiss said, "And Yang, for one, should have remembered better."
Sunset, who had bitten her tongue, felt glad that Weiss had said it, even as she had no intention of saying anything in that vein to Ruby herself. After all, if they were strangers, then why should she care what huge risks Ruby ran with her survival?
She might give Jaune and Penny an earful about it later, though, because really? Seriously? Hunting the Apex Alpha? Because that had been such a good idea, hadn't it, the way that Sunset had almost led Yang and Weiss to their deaths — and Blake, too, for that matter.
What were they thinking?
"We had to do something," Ruby insisted. "The grimm were going to overwhelm us with sheer numbers if we didn't take action to stop the horde."
"Pyrrha wasn't with you?" Sunset asked. Ruby had named the three members of Team YRBN, and three members of Team SAPR, but not Pyrrha. She had named Jaune, but not Pyrrha. Had she … had she already been wounded by the time that they embarked on this adventure?
Had she been … worse than wounded?
Had their farewell before the Emerald Tower been a true farewell? Before Sunset even got the chance to congratulate her on her tournament victory?
"She stayed behind with the Haven students," Ruby said. "I was worried that if they saw her leaving, then they would think she was fleeing the battlefield and lose heart."
Sunset did not disguise her sigh of relief. "I'm glad to hear it," she admitted. "Probably a lot gladder than Pyrrha was to see Jaune go off without her."
"Yeah, she wasn't too happy about it," Ruby acknowledged. "Anyway, we found the Apex Alpha, and we killed it." She looked at Weiss with something close to defiance in her silver eyes.
Weiss put one hand on her hip. "And how did you escape afterwards?"
Ruby hesitated. "We … Rainbow Dash, Blake, and Ciel had been ordered to also take out the Apex Alpha by General Ironwood; their airship picked us up when we were all done."
"Mmhmm," Weiss murmured, sounding as though she had just had her point proven.
"We could have gotten ourselves out; we had a plan," Ruby explained. "Anyway, that disrupted the grimm facing us for a little bit, but then the dragon showed up, and … I guess you could have seen it from inside of Vale, right? It was that big?"
"We saw," Sunset said. "We saw it blast through the Atlesian air defences."
"It did the same on the ground too," Ruby added. "The Atlesian line was breached, and we … the Mistralians are pretty much gone. Their commander is probably dead, and…" She licked her lips. "We suffered … casualties."
Weiss took a step forward. "Yang?"
Ruby looked at her, blinking twice. "How … how did you know?"
"Because you…" Weiss trailed off. "I'm sorry, Ruby, I'm so sorry."
"Yes," Sunset whispered.
She hadn't known Yang that well, in spite of sitting opposite her for meals for almost a year, but nevertheless, that had been enough to give her a basic sense of Yang: good-humoured, generous, loyal. Not Sunset's kind of person in every respect — their tastes, as shown during the dance preparations, were not entirely compatible — but someone whom the right kind of people found easy to like. Certainly, Ren and Nora seemed to have taken to her; although she hadn't been able to dislodge Rainbow Dash from her place in Blake's affections, that was no slight against her — she couldn't offer Blake anything like the kind of things that Rainbow could offer her.
And she had been a good sister; she'd proven that almost from her first interaction with Sunset.
This had to be hitting Ruby hard.
"It's fine," Ruby said quickly. "It … it is what it is, it's the job, it's the life, it's … sweet and fitting. She died as a huntress." She breathed in deeply. "We should all be so lucky."
Weiss reached out towards Ruby's shoulder with one pale hand. "You don't need to pretend—"
"I'm not—" Ruby halted as she flinched away from Weiss' touch. "There's still a battle to be fought and a city to be defended. Nothing else matters now, nothing but…" She hesitated. "Weiss, I'm about to talk about some things that won't make any sense to you, but I can't explain it in a way that will make it make sense, so you're just going to have to deal with it, okay?"
Weiss' eyes narrowed. "You realise all that does is whet my curiosity?"
"That's too bad," Ruby said softly. She turned to Sunset. "Sunset, there's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to come out with it: Ozpin's dead too."
Sunset's breath caught in her throat. Professor Ozpin was dead? Professor Ozpin was … gone like his tower. The emerald lights that had gleamed in the sky over the past year had now ceased to burn, and so, too, the old man who had watched over them for the past year; he, too … his light had gone out.
The old man, the good old man, the old man whom Sunset had misjudged and distrusted and only lately come to respect and admire greatly. The old man who had put them in danger, who had recruited them into peril, who had asked much of them but who had nevertheless, after his fashion, done what he could to protect them.
The old man who had seen more in her than she had deserved to be seen.
Their leader was dead.
You tell me to return to school, Ruby, but Professor Goodwitch is not likely to want me in any capacity, as a student or as a servant against Salem. After all, Professor Goodwitch had made her dislike for Sunset — and the fact that she did not share Professor Ozpin's good opinion of her — quite clear.
Yet I would endure the exile to which you condemned me if only Professor Ozpin might live in recompense.
"Professor Ozpin?" Weiss cried. "But he stayed at Beacon! He didn't—" She glanced up and north towards Beacon, and towards the invisible Emerald Tower that had been laid to waste. "How could you know this? If the Professor was killed just now, when the tower fell, how would you know?"
"Ozpin wasn't killed when the tower fell; he was killed before," Ruby said, her eyes fixed on Sunset. "By Amber and her allies."
"'By Amber'?" Sunset repeated. "By Amber?"
"Amber?" Weiss asked. "You mean that girl you hung around with? Wasn't she Professor Ozpin's niece?"
"Amber?" Sunset said, ignoring Weiss. "Amber, but…" The words died in her throat.
Sunset's words died in her throat, but Cinder's words rose out of the dark depths of her mind. Cinder's words, and Sunset's own scornful words with which, secure in Amber's loyalty, she had dismissed them.
"Cinder," she whispered. "Cinder was telling the truth?"
"Cinder guessed right, seems like," Ruby said. "Pyrrha and Ozpin said that she didn't offer any proof, that's why you didn't believe her … but she was telling the truth. She used her semblance to put me to sleep during the tournament, then sneaked away during the attack on the school with Dove, Lyra, Bon Bon, and Tempest Shadow."
"Dove?!" Sunset cried. "Dove too?"
"Jaune thinks not," Ruby said. "Jaune thinks Dove is only going along with it because he loves Amber." She shook her head. "Love is a weakness."
Sunset thought that Ruby was wrong about that, but even if she had been in the mood to contradict Ruby — which she wasn't — the present circumstances made it hard to argue the point. If love was a strength, after all, why had Dove gone along with Amber's treachery?
And yet, at the same time, for all of that, Sunset felt as though she ought to say something. "Without love, what is there to fight for?"
"Everyone, whether we like them or not," Ruby replied.
"I may not understand half of what you're talking about," Weiss said, "but you said that Amber and the others slipped away from Beacon during the grimm attack, but Professor Ozpin was alive when the attack was over, and everyone left, either for Vale or for the battlefield."
"They came back later, when the school was deserted," Ruby explained. "That's when they killed Ozpin."
They came back later when the school was deserted to get the Relic. "How?" Sunset asked. "And … and how do you know?"
"Lyra confessed to Rainbow Dash what they'd done, after Ozpin died," Ruby said. "She found her conscience a little late. Rainbow, Blake, Ciel, Penny, Jaune, and Pyrrha — and Sun — have gone to Beacon to try and stop Amber."
"And now it was your turn to stay behind," Weiss pointed out.
"I thought I could do more good with the huntsmen," Ruby said. "I thought … I hoped that maybe, if I got lucky, I could use my eyes on the dragon and kill it."
Sunset barely heard her. To be honest, her concentration had slipped from what Ruby was actually saying the moment that she'd said that everyone else — and Sun, apparently — had gone to Beacon to face Amber. To stop Amber, Ruby had said, but that might not be so easy; Amber was, after all, the Fall Maiden.
We beat Cinder. Cinder had half the Fall Maiden's magic too, but we beat her last night, and we didn't have Rainbow Dash with us then; you could even argue that we didn't have Blake.
You could also argue that Cinder didn't care whether she lived or died last night. That was what Sonata had said, after all, when she had castigated Sunset for ignoring Cinder, for turning her back on her, for throwing her to the wolves — or the Siren. She had alleged that Cinder had charged into battle with Team SAPR seeking death, and Cinder had not contradicted her.
Sunset doubted that Cinder would have contradicted Sonata, even if Sunset had listened to everything that she had to say instead of telling her that she didn't have time.
I had good reason to tell her that; Councillor Emerald had a bullet in his stomach.
And besides, I doubt she would have told me that she hadn't sought death last night; it made more sense as an explanation for what she did than any other.
The point was that, for Cinder, living or dying in the battle against Team SAPR had been almost beside the point; the readiness was all, the victory was nought; the only thing that mattered was the glorious charge into battle against the odds, unafraid. It had been the culmination of all of Cinder's Mistraliad fantasies, with Cinder herself as Pyrrha, or Juturna, or maybe a melange of both and several other characters besides, all those who saw ten thousand fates of death surrounding them and declared 'let us go, and either die yielding glory to another or else win great glory for ourselves.'
Amber was of a different sort. Not for Amber the glorious charge, the courageous end with head held high, no; Amber was … Amber was more of Sunset's colour.
Mind, I never valued my own life as much as the lives of my friends.
Amber, though, valued her own life, as well she might. She wanted to live; she wanted to live with Dove; she wanted…
She wanted to be free of all of this, and so she had killed the man who loved her, and would give away the Relic to Salem, so that she would not be Salem's enemy anymore.
Cinder's words, Cinder's surmise, Cinder's theory that they had so badly wanted to dismiss, that they had not for a moment wanted to believe, made a terrible sense.
Amber wanted life and liberty, and so secure both she would… she had already shown the lengths that she would go.
Did you know how much he loved you, Amber? Did your fate make you incapable of believing it, or did you simply not care?
For all that Amber had done, and despite who she had done it to, Sunset could not … she could not find it in her to bear Amber great malice, to hate her, to condemn her, to feel anything other than sorrow. Sorrow for Ozpin yes, but sorrow for Amber too, now that the wave of disbelief had washed over her like an incoming tide. Amber had been scared, and Sunset knew only too well what fear could make one capable of; Amber had been wounded, and being wounded, had been understandably fearful, terrified, of further wounds.
Amber had been placed in a position for which she was unsuited by temperament, one that asked sacrifices of her that she was unwilling to make. Professor Ozpin should never have made her his Fall Maiden. That she had been placed in this position was a tragedy, one that had consumed Professor Ozpin himself, one which might yet consume Amber herself.
Or else it would consume Sunset's friends.
Sunset bore Amber no hate, but she feared her; she feared her on behalf of Pyrrha and Jaune and Penny and the Atlesians; she feared her because Amber was not Cinder. She would not look with sunshine upon a glorious death. She would fight to survive like a rat in a bolt hole, with all the might and magic at her command, and with that might and magic … who else might die tonight? Who else might be listed along with Professor Ozpin amongst the fallen?
So young, and I not with them.
Be kind, fate. Ten thousand fates stand further off.
Spare them until we meet again.
"Sunset," Weiss said, intruding upon Sunset's thoughts like a teacher asking after the homework. "Sunset, I know you're worried about them, but … try and pay attention, will you?" She paused a moment. "Look, I don't understand half of what you've been talking about, except I understand enough to know that there's a great deal that you aren't telling me. Fine. Keep your secrets, if you like, although whatever it is that you know must have been important to … to kill Professor Ozpin for and draw your friends and my friends away from the battle to Beacon. But leave that for now, if we must, if you like, since I am outside the circle of knowledge." She huffed and folded her arms. "Why did we see you come flying over the wall like this? What's happening on the other side?"
"The gates are shut," Ruby replied. "And it must be the same with all the gates or people wouldn't be standing around outside this gate like they are. They're not letting anyone through; everyone is stuck on that side, including Leaf's mother and stepfather and stepsister, our mutual friend, Leaf. So I guess we do have a mutual friend."
"I have to admire your commitment to this," Weiss muttered.
"That doesn't make any sense," Sunset said. "Not about Leaf's family, but about the gates. Councillor Emerald ordered everyone to evacuate behind the Red Line; how are they supposed to do that when the gates shut? He announced it on television; how can his orders just be ignored?"
"Considering he's having emergency medical care, quite easily, I should think," replied Weiss.
"That's why I had Nora hit me over the wall," Ruby explained. "Because it was the only way I could get over the wall and because someone has to open the gate from this side and let everyone through before the grimm arrive."
"Are you…?" Weiss hesitated for a moment. "Are you sure that's such a good idea?"
"Wh— yes!" Ruby cried. "Weiss, didn't you hear what I just said?! There are people trapped on the wrong side of the wall, a lot of people."
"There are a lot of people on this side of the wall too," Weiss pointed out. "And, as you also pointed out, the grimm are coming. What if they get through the gate?"
"We can hold the gate," Ruby said.
"With all due respect, you haven't held the grimm at any other point, and at none of those other points were hordes of people trying to get past you to safety at the time," Weiss responded. "You're talking about putting the whole of Vale at risk to save a relatively small number of its people."
"It's a risk that we have to take," Ruby insisted. "We have to fight to save every life; that's what makes us huntresses."
"What makes us huntresses is that we kill monsters, nothing more or less," Weiss responded. "We don't have the right—"
"Councillor Emerald gave the order," Sunset said. "Councillor Emerald commanded the people of Vale to evacuate through this gate. The right or wrong is immaterial; the First Councillor has commanded it, and his command will be executed."
Weiss frowned. "And if Councillor Emerald had commanded you to fire on the Atlesians, as General Blackthorn did, would you execute that command also? Are all the soldiers who followed their insane commander in his instructions to be lauded for it?"
"First of all," Sunset said, "Councillor Emerald was not mad, and second of all, things that are different are not the same."
"So the difference is that you agree with Councillor Emerald?" asked Weiss.
"The difference is I owe him this service!" Sunset snapped. "I … I owe him this. I owe him more than this. This was his word, this was his wish, this was his avowed intent, declared to the whole of Vale, and I … I cannot substitute my judgement for his. Or your judgement, for that matter." She paused. "I couldn't keep him intact tonight; the least that I can do is what he would want me to do."
Ruby sighed, in what might be the clearest indication that her time with Sunset had not been as solely confined to dreams as she claimed.
"You can't know he would want this in these circumstances," Weiss said softly.
"I can't guess what he would want, no; I can only say what he said he wanted," Sunset said in answer.
"Do you really think this is the wrong thing to do?" asked Ruby. "You really think that we should turn our backs on these people?"
"No, I think that we should stand before them and fight as hard as we can," Weiss said. "But more than that … if being a huntress is about saving lives, then what about all the lives that you're putting at risk, how can they be worth less than the ones you want to save?"
"It's not about worth more or worth less," Ruby insisted. "It's about the fact that we can't make that choice."
"And yet, here you are," Weiss said, "making that choice." She folded her arms. "I won't try and stop you, but I think you should seriously consider—"
The dragon roared from beyond the walls, yet even louder than its roaring was the sound of screaming, hundreds or thousands of people screaming, screams so loud that the gunfire of the troops was almost drowned out completely.
The sounds of hands banging on the metal gate sounded as loud as a battering ram.
Then the gate exploded.
Sunset threw out her hands, conjuring a shield around Ruby, Weiss, and herself — at least, she hoped she did. The flash of light had been blinding; she couldn't see anything; she was magically fumbling, guessing the limits of the shield.
The shield was being impacted, that was being pounded on, that was subjected to a rain of objects hammering upon it, making her barrier quiver with every impact. Sunset poured more magic into the shields, feeling her knees quiver and her legs grow weak from the effort. When this was done, she doubted she would have a great many spells left in her tonight.
The impacts ceased. The noise died down; she couldn't hear the dragon's roars or the screams of the people. All she could hear was a mewling of pain, each individual noise soft but combining together into a fearful cacophony.
Sunset opened her eyes, and dropped her magical barrier.
A trench had been carved into the road, and in that trench, there were no people to be seen; on the edges of the trench, however, there were people, wounded people, desperately injured people, and it was from their mouths that came the pitiful mewlings and the cries of pain.
That trench, surely the work of the dragon, had driven through the Valish gate, or rather, where the Valish gate had been, because where the dragon's breath had struck the gate was gone.
The way into Vale was open, and it would not be closed again.