It has been a long time since Blake has seen a city. An actual city, not some prison or a temporary settlement used to hold slaves but an actual city.

The Faunus finds herself nervous, amber eyes flicking to every little movement and person walking by. Cities used to be something Blake found familiarity in, having grown up in urban jungles and grimy alleyways. Now she feels foreign, as if there is too little to grasp in these clean streets and tidy stores.

It's just been so long since Blake had stepped on a sidewalk and been able to view crowds of people moving at their own pace without leashes or swollen skin that, for a minute, she wonders if this has ever actually happened to her before. The thought is of course illogical as Blake fondly has many memories of Adam taking her out to some random town to train new troops there or simply go to relax. The Faunus takes a shaky breath as her mind wonders if those memories weren't just an effect of Blake fighting to regain sanity, or if they truly, truly existed.

People walk by, glaring and snickering at Blake; some even turning their heads in disgust. A couple walk side by side to each other, gasping at Blake's cat ears and putting their hands over their child's eyes. A dog barks at her, the owner griping the leash loosely and snickering at the idea of letting go and seeing what havoc that might cause. A man coughs and blushes when he notices her, putting a hand to separate him and the Faunus from view.

Blake is shown yet hidden.

She breaths in, and then out deeply, straightening her posture and keeping her eyes leveled in front of her. She was not afraid. She would not be afraid. She was never going to be afraid of these humans.

Yang is right next to Blake as the two of them walk through the crowded streets. The blonde huntress has her hand between her slave's shoulder blades, lightly guiding her through the mob of people that part to let them through; as if coming to close to Blake will result in some kind of disease.

The Faunus feels gentle fingers rubbing her back slightly and doesn't know whether to flinch and show discomfort or relax into the attempt to comfort her. Blake subtly leans closer to Yang when a burly human passes by and licks his grimy lip while eying her up like meat on a rack. Yang gives him a sharp glare, one Blake knows is commonly used to stop others from ogling their property, and the crowd begins to get the idea that Blake is not meant to be harassed if the now fully weaponized gauntlets on Yang's wrists have anything to say.

Memories of Adam leading a young Blake across war encampments fly through the Fauna's mind, Yang's light guiding pushes bringing back times when Blake was far too innocent and had no idea how to work a gun or get around a White Fang settlement without running into random tents by accident.

Blake breaths in and out deeply and stiffens suddenly, trying to quell painful remembrances of those very same camps set a flame. Yang's hand twitches and moves away from her back, most likely thinking she has touched Blake too much. The Faunus would speak up and pull Yang's hand back, to have something to guide her through all too bigoted crowds and angry glares but stops as the huntress takes a few more step to open a shop door. Yang gives her a grin, glancing at Blake to signal her to come in.

The Faunus bites her lip and follows Yang into the store, carefully peering in to see lines of books running across the walls and the old smell of paper wafting throughout the building. Blake smiles ever so slightly at the lines of novels and familiar scent of fresh writing pads that generously fill the shop's levels.

Yang looks back at Blake, noticing her blissful closed eyes and happiness among the books. She smiles too.

The moment of joy cannot last uninterrupted, and a worker comes over and asks the two if they needed any help. It was normal and expected but Blake is a bit taken aback at how the employee has addressed her as well, not just Yang. The huntress doesn't seem to notice and turns to Blake with a silent question of what she wanted to do.

It takes her a few seconds to answer, as she was still not used to this type of directness from anyone, but she eventually manages to stutter out how she wants to go to the adult historical fiction section. The worker happily obliges, leading both of them to the correct place and gives them a wave signaling how he now had to leave.

"So, what do you want to get?" Yang suggestively holds up a few novels with various humans staring out of the cover, frivolous attempts to be as dramatic as possible.

The feeling of discomfort rises up in Blake's chest again. "Are you sure this is alright?"

"What do you mean?" Yang asks, her arms dropping a bit. "Not into these kinds of books? I mean, the covers are a bit tacky but-"

"No." Blake interrupts, "I mean... Buying the books in general. That's not weird to you...?"

The huntress furrows her brow, completely lost. "I know I'm not that much of a reader but give me some credit here Blake."

A sigh. "No, I meant buying the books for me. Spending your hard earned money on me? A Faunus slave? Someone technically lower than you on the social ladder?" Blake gestures to herself, rolling her hands in a 'please add to this conversation' type way.

"Does this not click with you in any way at all...?" Blake continues, slowly shrugging for emphasis and leaving the question up in the air.

Yang puts the books down on the counter. "To answer that, it doesn't affect me in the way you think. I don't care what other people say about Faunus, you guys aren't bad, or lower."

There is an audible gasp from a woman behind them, Blake instinctively tensing up and curling into herself slightly in response. Yang on the other hand seems to not notice. Either that or she ignored it completely, and it was hard to tell.

"But-!" Blake begins.

"Nope!" Yang quickly interruptes. "Now. The real question here is what book do you want to buy because I did not haggle Pyrrha into giving me a gift-card for this place only to not use it on you."

Blake blinks as Yang suddenly thrusts a book into her face. The title was labeled as "Dust and Our History" and it sure lived up to its name. The Faunus crinkled her nose to stop a sneeze.

"I'm waiting for your answer." Yang sings, lightly tapping Blake's forehead with the textbook.

"...I'll start shopping."

Yang smiles.

The trip back to Yang's house is much easier than the first one to the book store.

A large pile of books, exactly seven heavy novels and ten lighter paperbacks if you want to be precise, are carefully in place inside of three well-worn fabric bags adorned on Blake's arms. They weren't extremely heavy as one might expect, but Faunus tended to be a bit stronger than the average human. The slave holders made sure of that at least.

Yang on the other hand carries a light packet of gum in her pocket and a new spare fire dust bullet clip for her gauntlet; which had been reserved to her especially by Weiss. There is always an awkwardness whenever Yang mentions Weiss for obvious reasons, primarily about the participated enslavement and exploitation of Blake's race, so Yang tries not to bring her partner up whenever possible.

Blake however can always notice the pauses in Yang's sentence where a story about Weiss would fill. It must be hard for her to not mention her partner, and Blake reckons she doesn't know a lot about Yang's life because of the omission. It makes her sad, the omission and lack of knowing about Yang's past, but at the same time Blake isn't sure she could handle hearing too much about Weiss.

Maybe it's easier for her to think of Weiss as a monster and not as a human; though the line between both had blurred a long time ago.

"So..." Yang starts looking at the bags Blake holds around her arms. "You uh, you need help with that?"

"No."

The huntress makes a 'hum' of acceptance, popping in another piece of gum into her mouth. That was her third piece, and at this rate the gum was going to be an unholy mushy blob.

Blake wonders if Yang stress eats. She seems like the type to. "You like gum, don't you?"

"Huh? Oh yeah." Yang replies, turning over the packet in her hands. "You want some?"

Blake nods, trying to reach for the packet even with the bags on her arms. Yang gives her a slightly worried look, and takes off the wrapper of one and asks her to open her mouth; saying how it would be way easier for her to not move the books just in case.

That makes more sense.

Blake sticks out her tongue, Yang giving her another weird look before realizing she's supposed to place the gum on it; which she does in due time.

The gum is minty and tastes like the strawberries some Faunus farmers gave the soldiers when they passed by the Atlas farming fields, and Blake wonders if the White Fang ever gave back money or service to them after the war. Hopefully they did. Those people were nice.

Yang coughs. "Hey, Blake?"

The Faunus snaps out of her day dream, turning back to Yang quickly. "Yes?"

"You alright? You're kind of staring off into space. Strawberry gum isn't that good."

Blake smiles slightly. "It is for me."

The huntress perks up. "Is it your favorite flavor or something?" She asks this, turning the packet over to the title side.

"No. You wouldn't understand."

Yang lets out a sigh. "There are a lot of things I don't understand about you."

Interesting word choice. "I can hear that you know," Blake replies, flicking her left cat ear for emphasis.

There's a look of surprise, then an; "Oh really?", then a cough and finally, a smirk from Yang. "Maybe I wanted you to hear me. You've fallen right into my trap Miss Belladonna!" She proclaims loudly, and Blake is happy there isn't many people here now that rush hour is over, because the Faunus, against her better judgement, can't help but smile too.

"And what purpose would that trap serve?" She asks.

"Isn't it obvious?" Yang replies, crossing her arms with a victorious grin.

"No. Not really."

Yang shakes her head as if to shame. "Well Blake, it's to learn more about you."

Blake hums in a 'is that so' sort of way, adjusting the books on her arms while doing so. "What do you want to know?" She asks, deciding to humor Yang a bit.

"Um..." The huntress taps her chin in thought, not used to this amount of openness from her. "Oh! Have you ever been to Mystral ? I know the Faunus took it from humans in the war, I've always wanted to see it though. Heard it has pretty some big tundra and mountains."

"It was breathtaking." Blake commented, taking in a breath as if to feel the cool air of Mystral once again. "The sunset comes over the mountains in just the right way, I used to stare at it with... Friends."

Another pause and the chatter of two woman walking in front of them fills the silence.

Yang looks away from Blake for a second. "You had friends?" With a jolt she whips back to Blake. "Not saying that you can't make friends! I mean-!"

"I know what you mean." She cuts her off quick, the last thing Blake wants is another ramble right now.

The huntress blushes slightly at the direct response. "Oh, yeah. So, what were they like?"

"Who?"

"Your friends."

Blake bites her lip in mild discomfort, taking a breath to steel herself. "Who my friends were is none of your concern. I haven't seen them for so long anyway, so I imagine they've all forgotten me by now."

"Forget you?"

"I was..." Blake hesitates again, trying to pick the right word. "Extracted. From my home, so to speak. It's not a subject I like to talk about."

Yang seems to take the hint and the conversation stops again. Blake is thankful for the silence, silence for her at least since she is more than equipped to tune out anything and anyone around her, although the same couldn't be said for Yang.

What Blake finds so weird about her master is that she was so... Ignorant? No, not ignorant... Persistent? Yes, that's it. It's odd to find someone who pretends to care, or in Yang's case does care, but it's not like Blake trusts her all too much on that front either. No, but then again it would be hard to maintain a front for what was it, a few months at the most.

Maybe Yang should be an actor instead of a hunter if she was pretending.

That would be funny, seeing the huntress on stage. She would probably play in those sappy romantic leads, just some actor who falls in love with the dark, heroic, yet stoic protagonist. Not like Blake would watch any movie though. She was more of a book type of girl. Words were far better than any technology in her opinion, screens just diminished interaction.

Huh. She should write that down.

The loud pop of chewing gum makes Blake jump a bit in surprise. It seems like she really did tune out everything again. She really needs to break that habit.

"So, Blake," Yang starts again. Dust, she really is persistent isn't she? "Is Atlas a nice country? Does it really have eight foot cacti?"

Eight foot cacti? "It is a desert region but the plants there aren't that big. It's a hunting area with underground and cliff built cities to stay away from the heat. I never liked it, but its fine for a visit."

Yang looks impressed. "You've really been to places, haven't you? All I've ever been to is places in crummy old Vale. It gets so boring after a while, you know?" She ranted, throwing her arms up in emphasis.

"I didn't stay in many places for long. My group and I were always traveling around." Blake added, wanting to smack her face into one of the 400 page hardcover textbook she had bought as soon as she spoke again.

"Why? Were you avoiding something?"

Maybe Blake could slam two books onto her head at the same time, then she wouldn't have to answer any questions. "Yes." Dear Dust, don't continue the conversation, don't continue the conversation...

"Oh, ha, it must have been Grimm right?" The huntress said, unsheathing her left gauntlet for extra effect. She gave Blake a wink, smiling widely. The emphasis is overly dramatic, but it gives Blake relief all the same.

The Faunus nods. "Yes. Atlas was full of Grimm when I last saw it." Blake could have easily lied, why did she even panic in the first place? Must have been a spur of the moment thing, it happened all the time.

"What kind of Grimm did they have there? Some kind of badger mole things or lots of weird snake mutants?"

The corner of Blake's lips turn up. "Not exactly."

The hissing sound of burgers on the pan filled the typical silence of the kitchen, signifying the food that was to come. Dinner time was Blake's favorite meal to cook, as breakfast was too early in the morning and lunch just felt like a hassle. Though it wasn't like she enjoyed cooking much, it was more of a mundane things for her in all honesty; just like most of the slave tasks she did were.

However, this session was different. Blake had put one of the books she bought near by the stove, propped up by a makeshift stand made of a salt shaker and two forks. There was a lot of things the Faunus had missed when she was in the slave holders. Apparently there was a large rebellion against slavery about two years ago, a mass murder spree of around fifty people when a group of Faunus broke out a holder and went on a rampage. It was aptly named "The Atlas Atrocity", which Blake found funny because of its alliteration.

A man named Tukson had lead the revolt and although the book degraded him for his actions, Blake found an intense respect for the man. If only he wasn't executed with his followers, maybe there would be some more hope to the story. Oh well.

The main thing with the book was how badly worded it was against the Faunus, and if it wasn't criticizing them, then it ignored the race completely.

Maybe she should have gotten more fictional ones instead, but then again she wasn't picky right now. Just reading an actual book was enough to tide her over for a while.

With a flip of the burgers and a flip of the page, Blake eagerly read through the recent history in Vale and Atlas. She took in as much knowledge as she could, albeit quickly skimming over the badly written Faunus parts. She was also making sure that the food wasn't going to burn, but it wasn't her main priority.

The chapter Blake was reading talked about Hunters, and the creation of each hunting academy. It was at the middle of the Beacon chapter, almost forty pages from the last time Faunus had been mentioned, that is the book talked about Blake's race again.

'Although Beacon was created for fighting the Grimm, it was with the urge of Vales government council that veteran students would be sent out to again at the Faunus where intense reinforcements were needed. This tactic was rarely used however, but many students volunteered to fight for the freedom of their race.'

Blake takes a breath, her heart beating a mile a minute.

'Although the decree was not passed for five years until the wars end there were many shining examples of heroism. Hunter Teams such as the legendary KILO, RNSG, EKSJ, and FIRN were main fighters in stopping the war and providing support for the soldiers; taking places as generals, scouts, and spies.'

Spies.

'After the war, some students still have volunteered for border patrol and Faunus watching.'

Faunus watching.

Something taps her shoulder.

Blake spins around, the spatula she is holding smacks on a surface and she stumbles back, her lower back hitting the oven.

"Blake..?"

Yang has blocked the strike with her aura, but the huntress still backs away from her slave in shock. It's not the sudden attack that's worrying her, its Blake.

Blake is worried too. No, not worried. Terrified. Her heart feels like its screaming, her vision is blurry, and nothing makes any sense. Yang wouldn't want to spy on her, she wouldn't be watching her, she can't... She can't hate her. No, no this is all wrong. Just paranoia. Just anxiety. It's fine. She's fine. It's okay. Okay. No.

No. It's not okay.

"Blake? Are you okay?"

Blake snaps up, her heart pounding and the words Yang's says after those are garbled and confusing.

Yang takes a step closer, her arms raised to reach out to her. She's saying something, but it's all white sound and Blake can't take seeing her right now.

So she runs.

Her room is safe, and the rush to it is blurry and fast but the door slams behind her and she takes big gulps of air.

Why is she like this? Yang has been nothing but kind, but nice but...

But a liar.

She's pretending. She has to be pretending. It's part of Beacon's program. Faunus watching. God, so stupid. So fucking stupid. Why? How could she even trust a human? Stupid, stupid, stupid Blake. Stupid monster. Idiot Faunus.

Blake pulls her legs to her chest, trying to breathe. Breathe in. Breathe out.

She remembers Velvet patting her back and saying how they would get revenge one day. Sun taking watch and biting his lip, taking glances at them before going back to the halls.

Why are they gone?

She wants them back. She wants Velvet and Sun and Adam and everyone back.

There's a pounding on door that makes Blake curl in on herself. She knows its Yang. That she's saying something but it's all just gibberish.

Blake's lips are moving too but she doesn't know what she's saying. It's too garbled.

She does know the pounding stops, and after a while footsteps signal Yang is gone.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Cry.

.

.

Authors Note

Okay yes, I know that this story has not been updated in a while and I apologize for that. I've just had a horribly terrible bad patch in my life recently. I figured I have depression, I came out to my parents and they took it horribly, and I'm pretty certain I am not doing well.

However this story is. I have rewritten all the chapters so they are actually coherent and make sense. Please re-read them!

Also I have made another Poll, which will help me decide where to go more in the story. Please vote.