2. A Rational Fear

The evening sun filters through the windows of Beacon's library, giving you a sufficient amount of light for now; you were sitting at a table in the corner of said library reading. It's been a couple days since Domino left and it's been... difficult, but luckily Weiss has been very helpful showing you around the campus, making sure you knew where everything was. She was also holding your hand the whole time, presumably so you wouldn't get lost or separated, but it was still kind of strange.

"Um... e-excuse me." a small, meek voice speaks.

You sigh inwardly, wondering who would be bothering you, especially since you were sitting where you were to avoid this very thing. You put your book down momentarily to address the person: it was a young girl in a Beacon uniform with brown hair, brown eyes and a very noticeable pair of rabbit ears on her head... she was a Faunus. You immediately tear your eyes away from her and turn your attention back to your book; your heart was beating out of your chest, sweat started to bead around your face and your old scars were throbbing - it was taking all of your willpower to not start hyperventilating in front of the unaware girl.

'Don't panic (Y/n), just do what Domino told you; breathe deep, don't look at them, and don't talk to them.'

Velvet on the other hand, was confused; she knows you heard her - you just looked at her! She understands that maybe you wanted to be left alone, but there was no one else in the library that she was aware of that she could ask her question to.

"Excuse me!" she says a bit more forcefully.

You slam your book shut, stand up, and hastily walk past her to the exit. Velvet sighs and walks away; meanwhile, Blake was witness to the whole thing. She scowls and marches after you to confront you. You exit the library and lean against the door and slide down it, breathing heavy; you wipe the sweat from your brow and stand up.

"Breathe (Y/n), just breathe." you take a moment to hug yourself and calm your nerves. You're caught off guard when the library door slams open, revealing Blake standing there staring intensely at you.

"What was that?" she demands.

You raise an eyebrow at her question - surely she didn't see that right? You decide to play it off and see how far that gets you.

"I... don't know what you're talking about..."

"Save it. I saw what happened with Velvet; what was that about?"

Apparently not very far. You turn your head to the side and scratch your neck.

"Look, Blake, i-it isn't what you think."

"Really? Because I think you're a racist piece of crap!" she accuses, getting increasingly agitated.

"No, no, no, no, no, it's not like that at all!" you protest. "I don't... hate Faunus, I... um..."

Blake crosses her arms, impatiently tapping her foot.

"Yes?"

"I-I... uh... you're just gonna think it's stupid."

"Try me."

"O-okay, well... I, um, I'm... afraid of Faunus."

Blake uncrosses her arms and her expression softens a bit, but she immediately hardens it again.

"Afraid of them? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Look, i-it's not important. Can you apologize to that girl - Velvet was her name - for me? I... I'm sorry." you say walking away.

"(Y/n), wait!" Blake reaches her arm out to try and stop you, but you're already gone.

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Blake walks into her room, closing the door behind her; she found Velvet and did what you asked and apologized to her on your behalf. The rabbit Faunus assured that there were no hard feelings, but Blake could tell that she was hurt by what you did. She looks around the room, searching for Weiss; perhaps she would know what your problem was. Luckily enough, said heiress comes out of the bathroom in her pale blue nightgown, ready for bed. She sees Blake and smiles, which she reciprocates.

"Hey Weiss?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know what's up with (Y/n)?"

Weiss crosses her arms, staring intently at her teammate.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he said he was... afraid of Faunus; I was just wondering if you know anything about that."

The heiress scowls, walking over to her bed and sitting on it.

"I do, what about it?"

"Is that so? Well then I suggest you forget he told you that; it's none of your business, so drop it."

"Hey I was just curious!"

"Curious about what?" a new voice speaks.

Ruby and Yang stroll into the room, curious looks on their faces.

"Nothing." Blake answers plainly, walking into the bathroom and slamming the door behind her.

"Jeez, what's her problem?"

"Eh, you know Blake, probably something about her books." Yang shrugs. "Come on, let's get ready for bed."

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Blake waits patiently for the elevator to reach Ozpin's office. She knows that Weiss told her to drop the subject of your fear, but it's been nagging at her all night; so much so that she barely got any sleep last night. So, if you weren't going to explain what was up, and Weiss wasn't, there was only one person to ask... the man who brought you here. She doesn't know what she'll learn, but hopefully it'll be enough to sate her curiosity. The elevator stops, letting Blake off; Ozpin looks up at her from his desk and smiles.

"Good morning Miss Belladonna; what can I do for you?"

Blake nervously saunters up to Ozpin's desk, holding her arm.

"Good morning Professor. I just wanted to ask a few questions... about (Y/n)."

"No doubt about his fear of Faunus."

Blake's tired eyes widen and she stands up straight, now fully alert.

"How did you-"

"I suspect that he was put in a position where he had to tell you; and you're coming to me because neither he nor Miss Schnee are being very... cooperative about it. Am I right?"

"W-well yes but-"

"Bur despite being told that 'it isn't your problem', you - being a Faunus yourself - can't just let something like that go."

Blake was taken aback - how did he know she was a Faunus?! Ozpin stands from his chair and strides over to her, studying her intently.

"I shall take your stunned silence as confirmation." he begins circling her. "Have you perhaps heard of a certain... incident that happened 7 years ago; an attack on a village by thee White Fang - the first of many might I add."

Blake pales.

'7 years ago? He couldn't mean...'

"Rhetorical question, I know you've heard of it - you were there after all."

"How do you know that?" the raven-haired girl growls through gritted teeth.

"I know plenty about you Blake," Ozpin chuckles, opting to use her first name. "I know your parents were extraordinarily disappointed in your involvement with the 'new' White Fang, I know that you ran away due to you disagreeing with their extreme methods, I know-"

"What does this have to do with (Y/n)?!" Blake finally snaps.

Ozpin walks back to his desk and takes his seat.

"Right, (Y/n)... you see the village that was attacked was his village; and he's the sole survivor of that attack."

"I... see..."

"Yes, but what you probably didn't know is that the White Fang kept him locked up and tortured him for 3 years."

"That's not-"

"What you were told would happen to him? I'm sure you know that Adam Taurus isn't the most... merciful person."

"But why?! Why would they do that to him?!"

"Because (Y/n)'s mother also defected from the White Fang - and as you can imagine, that wasn't something that was taken lightly. Not to mention that she also committed a cardinal sin..."

"Laying with a human... so (Y/n) is half Faunus?"

"Yes." Ozpin nods. "Though I doubt he himself is aware of that..." he says to himself. "But, that's enough about (Y/n)'s past, let's talk about his future."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Oh come now Blake, you're a bright one; surely after our conversation you can parse why I brought him here."

Blake narrows her eyes at the Headmaster; of course she knew what he was getting at, anyone could.

"So what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to help him, as Miss Schnee is doing. Who knows? It may prove to be beneficial for you as well as him. Understood?"

"I... yes sir." Blake bows.

"Good, you're dismissed."

Blake walks back to the elevator, entering it and pressing the button to go down to the ground floor. As the elevator descends, she's left with her thoughts - mostly about that day 7 years ago... she could never forget that day.

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The smell of smoke, blood and burning bodies assaults Blake's senses. She glances around what's left of the village through her mask; at fire, destroyed buildings, and dead bodies. Men, women... children... Human lives snuffed out too early by the White Fang - by herself. But Adam assured her that this was necessary, that the decades of violence and torment against the Faunus would be returned tenfold. This was justice! Right? A whimper from a ruined house catches her attention, she walks over to the source: a young boy - the same age as her it looked like - being covered by a red-haired older woman's body, her dark orange dress in tatters and splattered in her own blood; she was most likely his mother. Next to her was the body of a man, his lifeless body riddled with bullet wounds and debris. You crawl out from under your mother's corpse and grab her knife, holding it sloppily in front of your face.

"You... stay back! I'll... I'll kill you!"

You rush at Blake, but she easily sidesteps your attack, knocking you on your head hard enough to knock you out. You fall to the ground, the knife clattering to the ground; Blake looks over your downed form - she could just leave you there and move on, however, she makes a different decision... one that would come to regret in the future.

"Adam!"

Within seconds, a red-haired young man with small horns on his head dressed primarily in black carrying a sheathed sword, along with two other White Fang members, run up to her.

"Blake? What happened?!"

"Nothing, this... Human tried to attack me."

Adam scans the area then eyes your body, a scowl appearing on his face.

"Hmph, well I'm glad he didn't hurt you. Go on back to the airship, we're done here."

"What about him?" Blake gestures to unconscious body.

"We'll leave him alive; he'll relay the message that we aren't to be taken lightly."

"Well... okay." Blake reluctantly leaves the area.

When Blake is out of view, Adam turns to his associates, a wicked grin on his face.

"Sir?"

"Take him, you know what to do."

The soldiers nod and drag your body away. Adam walks over to your mother's body and kneels, turning her over and looking at her bloodied face.

"I never wanted this you know, but you should know that traitors to our cause need to be exterminated." he takes his mask off, wiping away a few tears that dared fall. "Goodbye... mother. I'll give your regards to Sienna." he stands, puts his mask back on, and leaves the body.

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Blake sighs as she leaves the CCT tower as she thinks back on that day. Right now, there's only one thing that's on her mind right now in regards to you.

'I need to make this right.'

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Short chapter again, but most of these chapters will be pretty short - not to mention that things are going to be rather... slow for a bit, but things will pick up soon enough. Only now do I realize that writing the romance for this story will be a bit... tough to say the least, for obvious reasons, but it'll be a good challenge for me I think. Also you're Adam Taurus' half-brother! Because I needed the reason for him taking you away and torturing you to make sense, so there you go.

So yeah, I'll be alternating between this and The Ties that Bind until this story is finished, 'cause I know this won't take nearly as long; but I might have something... else in between coming your guys' way sometime soon, so look out for that. As always, thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.