One week since arriving in Patch

It was Friday afternoon and Sunset and Aeon were in her new classroom, busy setting things up before her students came in on Monday. Things had been going rather well for the two of them since arriving in Patch. The people around the town were very friendly and easy to get along with and there were actually quite a few faunus amongst the populace of the town. One of whom was the owner of the local bookstore, Tukson.

Sunset was especially impressed with the collection of books in his store and the two had struck a strong friendship from the start. What surprised her was when he mentioned that there was another young pony faunus girl that had a love of books too. Sunset was very eager to meet this girl as she hoped that she and Aeon could be friends, as they were apparently around the same age.

Aeon had been very open with the people of the island since they first arrived but he was still a child and had a tendency to be shy to the people at first, but instead of just hiding behind Sunset, he had taken to wearing his family’s mask. This was partially to hide due to his shyness and partially to hide the scars on the right side of his face. Aeon had been coming with Sunset to Signal as she couldn’t leave him at their home alone and she wanted to keep him close to spend time with him. So, she thought, what better to spend time together way than to have him come and help her at the school.

He was really excited to come and see the young Huntsmen and Huntresses. Aeon would often get lucky and catch one of the students out in the halls ditching a class they didn’t want to take or the occasional teacher on their break to bombard them with his questions. They were all too happy to talk with the young boy on their favorite subjects, their weapons, and fighting styles. When it came to the Grimm though, its when Aeon got the scary serious about his questions.

If Aeon wasn’t with Sunset in her classroom or talking to a teacher or student, you could find him in the library reading up on being a huntsman or sleeping in the break room. It took a couple of days, but everyone soon got used to the masked and bandaged boy of Patch. Some of the kids of the island were less than nice about his looks and started to call Aeon the Masked Mummy. He simply put up with it until one of the boys got up the courage to try and get physical when he punched Aeon in the face knocking his mask off. He only looked at the other boy and try to walk away but that’s when the other kid made a huge mistake.

“SCARFACE!” laughed the child.

Without a second thought, Aeon walked over to the other boy and proceeded to beat the living hell out of the kid who called him the name. Aeon was raised in the wilds of Anima where he and his village had to fend for themselves so he was already much physically stronger than your average seven-year-old boy. Sunset soon put a stop to the beat down but not before Aeon gave the other boy two black eyes, a broken nose, and several missing teeth. She didn’t blame him for the way he reacted be she still punished him accordingly by having him sit at a desk and right lines in her classroom. This is what he was doing now while waiting with Sunset to meet up with a couple of the school’s other more popular combat instructors. They were also brothers apparently, or rather in-laws at least.

It was around one or two when the brothers walked one had blonde messy hair and the other had a salt and pepper slicked back hair.

‘They can’t be much older than me.’ Sunset thought as they entered the classroom.

But, what really surprised Sunset was the fact that they were accompanied by a trio of young girls, two who looked to looked to around Aeons age and the other who looked to be about two years younger. One was noticeably a young pony faunus much to Sunset’s shock. One of the two humans had long blonde hair and the other had short black hairs with red highlights.

Then the blonde headed brother steps forward and introduced himself followed by the other.

“Hello my name’s Taiyang Xiao Long,” said the young Huntsmen stretching out his hand.

“Name’s Qrow Branwen,” said the other aloofly, nudging Tai to the side, much to his annoyance.

“And these are my daughters,” interjected Tai as he motioned to the girls for them to introduce themselves.

“Hi, my name’s Yang,” said the oldest of the trio with a bright and sunny smile. Her hair was done up in a pair of pigtails, and she just screamed confidence.

“Um, my name is Twilight. It’s nice to meet you two.” The faunus says with a bow, clearly a little shy.

“Hi there, my names Ruby.” The youngest girl says, her hood being pulled down by Twilight, showing her pure silver eyes.

“Nice to meet all of you. My name’s Sunset Shimmer and the one over at the desk writing lines is my personal student slash adopted charge Aeon Crim. He got into a little altercation in town with one of the local boys and is being punished for it,” Sunset says looking over to Aeon as he put his head down in shame.

“What happened?” asked shyly Ruby.

“Oh, the boy called Aeon a bad name after knocking his mask off his face. Then Aeon proceeded to beat the living snot out of the boy.,” Sunset explained.

“HAHAHA! Good on ya kid” laughed Qrow.

“Qrow!” snapped Tai.

“What?” Qrow simply shrugged.

“Hey, I know him. He’s the boy that everyone’s been calling the Masked Mummy. I heard about that fight from some of the kids around town,” said Yang as she rushed over to Aeon. “Everyone hates Rook Noir because of his bullying. I still can’t believe what you did to him.”

“Was he really in that bad of shape after the beating?” asked Tai nervously looking at the masked kid.

“Aeon is very kind and sweet. But he has a tendency to blow up on certain subjects such as his scars. That's why he hides them under bandages and his mask. The mask is a family heirloom so it means a lot to him. He lost his whole village to Geist pack about a month ago when I found him,” Sunset explained in a low whisper as the two other girls ran over to join their older sister.

“I heard about that. They were looking for every able-bodied Huntsman and Huntress they could find. They even came here recruiting. Wait, you're from Mistral and use a longsword and revolver that combine into a longbow for long range sniping,” Qrow said with a little quiver in his voice. “What the heck are you doing here in Patch?!”

“Qrow are you okay?” asked Tai in concern as it takes a lot to normally get his brother in law this flustered.

“Tai this chick is currently one of Mistral’s top Huntresses. The Archer of the Sun, Helios. Why are you here, seriously?!” yelled Qrow. “Wait are you on some kind of undercover op for the area?”

“Shhh. Please keep the Helios stuff between us three. I’m not on some sort of job here. I came to teach and to give Aeon a chance at a better life,” Sunset said as she glanced at the children then smiled as Aeon had removed his mask to let the girls see his face.

“Seriously? You want to give the kid a new life? I guess that would work here in Patch, but he will find out sooner or later. You should tell him before too much time passes, else he will feel betrayed.” Qrow points out as he watches his nieces fuss over Aeons scars, much to his embarrassment.

“Aeon knows why I brought him here. I told him the truth before we left Anima but I left it up to him to choose what path he wants to take. I’ll tell him who I was when he’s a little older and able to understand titles. If anything, he’ll still want to be a Huntsman even more after I tell him who I am,” Sunset said, looking to the children as Aeon explained the meaning of his mask. She then looks to Twilight and got a feeling of familiarity from her.

“Tai, can I ask you a personal question?” asked Sunset as she looked to the young blonde Huntsman.

“Uh, sure Sunset,” answered Tai in a half sure tone.

“I’m not trying to pry or be offensive but I can tell that Twilight and Yang are around the same age but Twilight isn’t from your loins. Is Twilight adopted like Aeon?” Sunset asked as her ears shifted downward.

“Yeah, Twilight is adopted. We found her in the woods about a little over a month or so ago when me, Ruby and Yang were on our way to the lake for a family outing,” Tai explained, scratching the back of his head as he looked to Qrow for help while his brother-in-law only gave him the ‘I wasn’t there for most of it’ look. “She has amnesia from whatever event caused her to be there. So I decided to adopt her seeing as how her options were limited and she wouldn’t be able to look for her birth parents until she was older. Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know. I just have this feeling…” Sunset trailed off and paused, looking at the children as they laughed at Aeon describing his fight. “It’s almost like a lost connection or something. Like we come from the same place. I don’t know how to describe it. Maybe it’s a faunus thing.”

“Maybe it’s a pony thing,” snorted Qrow. “Sorry, I’m not anti-faunus. I meant it the most serious way I could but I still laughed. Seriously though, pony faunus are amongst some of the rare breeds of faunus out there. That goes double for their semblences too. I’ve heard some of you ponies are so strong you can easily take on some of the larger Grimm packs by yourselves.”

Qrow looked over to his nieces as saw that Yang and Aeon were now talking alone while Twilight and Ruby had made their way to Sunsets bookshelves. ‘Something tells me these four are going to be very good friends.’ Qrow thought as he turned his gaze back to the older pony faunus.

“We might have to keep an eye on Yang and Aeon,” commented Qrow as he motioned to the duo with a nod.

“Why Qrow? They seem to be getting along just fine to me. Even better it seems they are almost in sync with each other…” Tai was saying when he looked over to see Aeon and Yang clap handshaking with sinister-looking grins on their faces.

“I’m guessing Yang has a pretty similar attitude to Aeon and that there are certain things that people do to set her off,” Added Sunset as she shook her head. “Those two are going to cause a lot of trouble around the island when either one runs into any type of issue involving themselves, each other, Ruby, Twilight, both of them, or the other three of the group. Am I getting what your thinking fellas?”

“Nailed it Helios. As usual. “ Qrow chuckled before a dagger whizzed by his head and stuck in the wall off to the side just behind Tai's head. Qrow looks to Sunset out of the corner of his eye to see her tossing a couple of the same type of dagger in the air and catch it in her fingers only to throw them up again.

“Say it again. I dare you,” Sunset said as she twirled the remaining daggers while beams of death flew from her eyes at Qrow. Tai just looks between his brother, the dagger and the faunus a couple times before sighing with a smile.

‘Oh boy, this is going to be one wild ride.’

Two Years Later….

“Get back here Noir! You think you can steal Twi’s favorite book and not have us find out about it. She’s Yang’s sister and one of my best friends!” yelled a running angry masked boy. “Face me now coward, and I’ll be merciful or face me and Yang later and be nothing but a bloody pile of meat on the ground.”

“Just try it Scar Face! You can’t beat-” the boy was cut off by a fist to the gut by a blond ten-year-old after turning the corner, dropping the book he was waving at Aeon.

“What was that about stealing one of my little sister's favorite books?” Yang questions fiercely.

“He snuck into Sunset’s classroom and stole the Grim Reaper book that Twi lent me while Sunset and I were at the auditorium sparring a bit. Sunset had a staff meeting to go to so I went to the classroom to wait and saw jerkface here trying to sneak out with the book,” huffed Aeon as he grit his teeth revealing a very angry face as he took off his mask. “I think he was going to burn it to try and get back at me for ignoring his threats.”

“Not was idiots,” Said the bully get to feet as he pulled a small red dust crystal from his back pocket and crushed it just enough to for cracks to form.

“I am going to burn it,” Noir said chunking the cracked crystal at the book causing it to shatter and explode catching the book that had been on the ground to catch on fire. “Ignore me will ya. Your two are going to be in the gang and listen to me or I’ll go to your houses and do them what I just did to that book. HaHaHa!”

“You… bastard!” yelled Aeon and Yang as they lept on Noir and proceeded to break his face, again.

In the last two years, Aeon and Yang had gained a reputation for being the ones who defended the younger kids around Patch from bullies, like Noir. They’d gained a lot of names but some o the more prominent ones were The Crimson Duo and The Crimson Dragons. Of course, this caused Tai, Qrow, and Sunset to see a lot of each other outside of work. So much so that their families had pretty much merged together.

Not all things had been great for Aeon and Sunset though. Around a month or so after they had settled in, they got word from Tusk that the Orphanage had been burn down by a group of Huntsman. Luckily the kids were all away in school and Tusk had been in town to meet up with an old war buddy. It turns out this buddy was none other than the Patch’s local bookstore owner Tukson. They found this out when he and Sunset were telling each other of their past adventures and current events in their lives..

As for the fate of Tusk and the orphans they had a little bit of a guiding light. Tukson, Sunset, Qrow, and Tai were able to pull some string to bring Tusk, Lily and the other older kids that were too old to be put back into the system to Patch.

When it came time to introduce Tai and Qrow, things were more of a total silence from shock and admiration of who Sunset’s Dad and teacher was. Tusk had more than a vast reputation from his days on the Mistral Elites as the Sword Eater and for what he gave it up to do. They didn’t know whether to ask for his autograph or to grovel and say ‘We are not worthy’. Tusk chose his own option of bear hugging the young Huntsman brothers as a thank you for their help in gratitude and a warning to not play with Sunset’s heart while also cracking a few ribs in the process.

When it came time for everyone to meet up, Lily had mixed feeling on coming to Patch and seeing Sunset. Lily wanted to see her big sister but she was still hurt over the fact that Sunset had adopted Aeon, who’d she’d only known for a little over a month, over her, who she helped raise from a baby. If Lily had to say she saw Sunset as more of her mother than her big sister. Still, even though she’d been hurt by Sunset’s actions Lily still kept her promise to the best of her abilities and looked of the little one while she could. Lily was still helping to look after the kids that had come with her and Tusk to Patch when they let her anyway.

Tusk had been keeping an eye on Lily to make sure she keeps up her grades in school while also training her personally. Thanks to her prowess Lily was able to get accepted into Signal without a recommendation but that didn’t mean Tusk didn’t give it to his daughter.

Sunset ended up being one of her teacher which meant that Lily would have to face her feelings eventually. After about a year she couldn’t help it anymore and challenged Sunset to a duel after school. Lily knew she had no chance of beating Sunset but she still knew this was the best way for her to convey how she felt to Sunset. After all, fighting was when Huntsmen and Huntresses were truly at home and able to understand the world.

Sunset had Qrow and Tai reserve an empty arena after school for her and Lily to face each other. Sunset knew something like this was going to happen between the two of them since Lily’s arrival in Patch but she was expecting it sooner rather than two years later. Sunset had always trusted and loved Lily and she’d seriously hurt Lily when she adopted Aeon over her and also just up and left her behind. Sunset had pretty much just abandoned everyone at the orphanage with what she had done and she knew it. That place had been her home and the little one had loved her and she left behind.

All for a young boy she’d barely known at the time. Sunset didn’t regret her decision to adopt Aeon then and she still doesn’t know but she did and does regret the state of things she left things behind at the orphanage. She started to think about this while she walked to the arena. So much so she didn’t notice Qrow walking beside her.

“Let me guess?” asked Qrow causing Sunset to jump a bit. “Sorry, thought you knew I was next to you. You must have been given everything that’s caused this some serious thought if you didn’t even notice my presence Sunset.”

“What do you want Qrow? I was trying to do some thinking on things before my match with Lily,” Sunset scoffed as she didn’t want to deal with Qrows antics.

“Oh, I can tell. You’re having the post-decision regrets and judging from the way your acting, you’re having some serious guilt about it. Look, I know you blame for a lot of the happens of what went down after you left but look at the life you had after you came here. Yes, you should have done a few things differently like take a couple of the younger orphans with you. I can tell you how I see things if you’re willing to listen, Sunset,” Qrow said stopping to look at their reflections in a trophy case.

“Sure, it can’t possibly make me feel any worse than I do now,” Sunset says as her ears flip down while looking away from her own reflection, not wanting to look herself in the eye.

“I think you made the right call. You wanted to give that kid a better life and you took him away from the things that would remind him of what he lost. Sure, if you would have stayed he would have had a larger family to support him but he still would lose many of those family members. I also think it was the right call to leave Lily in charge when you left. Yes, she was hurt by it and I understand you and Oleander are the closest things she has to blood family. She was and still is young and she’ll come to understand why you left her to take care of the others in time. You wanted to teach Lily the responsibility of not only being the one in charge but also the weight of what comes with it,” Qrow said with a soft grin looking to the Huntress.

“How is it you knew exactly what I tried to do Qrow?” Sunset asked in suspicion with one eyebrow cocked up.

“That’s my one of my secrets Helios, Now don’t you have a match with that Huntress in-training you call a little sister,” Qrow said as Sunset beamed annoyance at him from using her panhandle.

Arena B After School

Sunset entered the arena with her gun and sword already drawn. As she did her eyes came to rest on her little sister. Lily wasn’t so small any more as she was just below Sunsets shoulder in height. Her battle grab consisted of a candy apple red, long sleeve blouse the had a chest plate adorned with gold roses. Her sleeves were tucked into a set of sturdy but lightweight armored gauntlets that ran halfway up her arm that resembled lions claws. Her pants were the same color as her shirt with golden rose vine running down the legs as they ran into light brown boots that were loose and sturdy, yet light enough to allow graceful movements.

Lily’s weapon of choice was a little more on the unusual side though. She chose to use a lance that doubled as a dust rifle. There was a revolver in the lance that allowed Lily to change to different types of dust for either the lance or rifle in tandem. As a bonus feature, Lily also incorporated a secondary broadsword into the lance’s build for close quarters combat.

“I hardly recognized you in your gear Lily,” Sunset said as she smiled at her little sister who scowled back, but Sunset also saw a gleam of joy in her eye that came from hearing this statement.

“Why Sunset? Why did you take Aeon and just leave me and the others BEHIND?!” Liliana roared as she lunged at Sunset with the tip of her lance headed straight for the older Huntress.

Sunset barely frowned as she brought her own sword up and parried the thrust from Lily, raising her revolver level with the young girls face a moment later. Lily, managed to shift her weight and spun to the side, dodging a duo of shots from her older sisters gun.

“That is something I have been asking myself for a while now,” Sunset says before going on the offensive, slashing and thrusting her sword at Lily, the young human not expecting the speed of the attacks. She barely manages to dodge and block with her lance before she is forced to take out her second sword and tries to go back on the offensive. “But here’s my question for you Liliana. Why did you wait so long to confront me about it and let these feelings build up?”

“I thought you cared about us, about Papa, the little one and about me! You were more than just a big sister to me Sunset. You helped raise me from when I was just a baby. I CAME TO SEE YOU AS MY MOTHER!” Lily yelled with tears in her eyes. “But you just threw it all away. Everyone that meant you meant something to all for one little boy that you just so happened to find on one of your mission. I understand why you took him away with you. But you didn’t have to go and leave.”

“Lily-,” Sunset started to say but was cut off as Lily brought her lance and start to shoot lightning dust round at Sunset. Sunset used her more agility to keep from being hit. As soon as Lily stopped firing Sunset took a breath and recomposed herself in order to speak again.

“Liliana Pendragon, stop acting. like a six-year-old brat this instant,” without even realizing it Sunset had made her way straight to Lily even in the oncoming shots from Lily’s rifle and was now staring straight at the muzzle of her older sister revolver. Lily didn’t struggle as she knew the match was over at this point.

Then Sunset spoke in a stern soft tone, “I didn’t bring you with me for the very reason you just said, Liliana. The little ones needed someone to look after them as I couldn’t always do it. As a Huntress, I put myself in danger everytime I go out into the field. What would you have done and how would you have acted if I didn’t come back one day from a mission back then and even now?”

“But this is different you chose to leave and you took someone with you,” cried Lily staring into Sunset stern damp gaze.

“Lily, I love you as if you were my own flesh and blood. But I left because I couldn’t do certain things for the very reasons I left. I loved the orphanage and I loved those of you that lived there, but my time there was over. It was your turn to step up and become everyone’s big sister even more than you already were. First and foremost, as huntresses, we are in charge of protecting the lives of others over our own. That is the very first lesson Papa ever taught me. And do you know how and where I learned this lesson first hand?” asked Sunset as she lowered her firearm.

“The orphanage,” answered Lily coming to a realization that Sunset had actually entrusted their family to her and that Sunset wasn’t abandoning them but trying to teach her to be a Huntress like she’d always done.

“Yes, Lily. It was our home, Papa, and caring for you and the little ones that taught me how to be the Huntress I am now. I know it wasn’t fair to all of you to just up and leave but I never abandoned any of you. If I could’ve I would’ve taken you all with me, Even Papa. But I thought it was the right time for you to start your journey to become the Huntress I know you can be. Even this experience will help you,” Sunset says throwing her weapons down, inviting Lily to her embrace.

“It’s true, I wanted to give Aeon a chance at a life away from the reminders of what he lost but that doesn’t mean I ever abandoned any of my family. I promised myself I would never abandon anyone ever again. Not after I abandoned my old teacher. Even If I am not around, I’ll never abandon you.”

Lily then released her hold on her weapons letting them fall to the ground and threw herself into Sunset grasp and started to sob uncontrollably letting a flood of two years worth of anger, sadness, and fear of abandonment wash away.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry big sister please don’t be mad at me, I’m sorry,” Lily cried out in tears of sadness as she begged for her sister’s forgiveness.

The gathered crowd of orphans, students and huntsman smiled and joined their own groups for some hugs, the Rose-Xiao Long girls all together, while their father, uncle, and friends were getting crushed by Oleander. Aeon looked to his adopted guardian and teacher and smiled that she made up with her sister.

Sunset smiled and lowered the two of them to their knees, hugging her sister, rubbing her head and gently shushing her as she used to when she was a child. In an odd way, Sunset now understood how her old teacher felt when she was a little filly. Sunset just closed her eyes and continued to hold her sister, enjoying the slightly nostalgic feeling behind it.

Lily stopped her endless tirade of apologies and merely enjoyed the feeling of her sister's arms around her, as well as an odd new feeling, like that of a feather pillow. Lily risked a small glance at Sunset, and barely stopped herself from gasping.

Lily could swear a pair of translucent, orange wings were coming out from behind Sunset and wrapped around her.

Author's Note

I know you guys have been on the fence about Sunset, Aeon, and Lily. Please note that this wasn't always my plan for some of the OC's. Due to the popularity of some them and some of the RWBY characters Garnet and I have decided that we well include them in more of major roles. I'm sorry for the way events played out in the last chapter but this was my plan after seeing how popular Liliana Pendragon has become. We will be switching back to the events of Equestria for a few chapters. Please continue to read and comment.