DISCLAIMER: I do not own RWBY or any of its characters.

Blake POV

Slavery was not something new to me. It was a risk all faunus were aware of then the revolution started, and unfortunately it became a reality for all those that survived. I tried my absolute best not to remember that time. I, along with many of my friends, was too young for war.

That didn't exactly stop us however. The brutal but effective training we received as children put us on the front lines. There was no shortage of volunteers. Joining the White Fang was akin to the promise of revenge; to fight for everything we had already lost. Because I was capable of producing a semblance, as well as controlling my aura, I was carefully selected and used accordingly.

The faunus really thought they could win. We had the passion. We had the skill. What we didn't have however, was numbers. Against the average human foot soldier, we had the advantage. But we were outnumbered by the humans from the very beginning, and so when Atlas unveiled its Sentinel line of automated soldiers, our downfall was all too apparent.

Waging a war against machines was impossible. At least, with the numbers and resources we had it was. What economy the faunus had all went into weapon production. There were no secret stashes like the humans believed, and there certainly were no weapons of mass destruction hidden like the propaganda said.

Piece by piece, the revolution was dismantled. Its leaders hunted down and executed, and its people forced into enslavement. Many of the human war generals claimed their share of slaves; the rarer the faunus, the more valuable. I had an aura as well as a semblance, which not only made her rare, but dangerous. Not only would I have been hunted down, I most likely would've been executed.

But, as fate would have it, my identity was one of the few things in the war I could call my own. I was a nameless assassin. So when it came the time for my team to make our final stand, we were just another group of faunus.

All of this led to my purchase by Winter Schnee, head of the Schnee Industrial Empire. The patriarch of the family was assassinated in the war, perhaps one of the White Fang's greatest accomplishments. However, retribution was swift, and Winter seized her late father's empire and brought the hammer down against the faunus.

Weiss Schnee, a girl no older than me, achieved the rank of Lieutenant in the military at an extremely young age, and proceeded to serve under her sister. I hadn't seen either of the Schnees on the battlefield for the majority of the war, but their reputation was infamous.

Weiss Schnee was also the reason I am now a slave. The anger I experienced that day was incomparable to anything else in my short life. My friends were captured, almost every one of them executed or killed in action as they were trying to escape. I was the exception. The younger Schnee ordered her men to stand down, choosing instead to put me in restraints instead of piercing my heart with that rapier of hers.

Whether it was out of misplaced compassion or pity, Weiss saved my life that day, and I have never hated another human more. What drove me away from taking my own life was simply the thought of revenge. And since then, I have been biding my time.

-Line Break-

Serving Weiss Schnee was a relatively simple task at first. The guards of course watched my every movement, but I eventually learned to live with it. In the first few months, I tended to her wants, including everything from cooking her meals to running the most mundane errands.

I hated it. Though I didn't show it, I despised being what was basically a maid to the Schnee heiress. Weiss irked me in more ways than one. She was spoiled and arrogant, and to top it all off she had the nerve to feel like a second class citizen. A small, infinitesimally tiny part of me understood why she acted the way she did sometimes. Being the little sister to the infamous Winter Schnee had to have its drawbacks. When your older sister has won a war, how could you possibly do anything to surpass her?

However, in many other ways I preferred her to her sister. While Winter had a complete disregard for Faunus life in general, not to mention a good amount of disdain, Weiss at least treated them as people. Some of them at least. For me, she reserved a degree of familiarity as well as what could mildly be defined as trust. I suppose that came with the territory of me practically being her maid, secretary, as well as a limited confidant.

After all, no one expects the faunus house slave to have anything to say to anyone.

I was interrupted from my thoughts about the heiress when a sharp vibration on my collar jolted me out of my thoughts. She was calling me. With that in mind, I left my tiny quarters and made my way to her. When I finally found myself looking at the outside of her door, I knocked.

"Come in."

I opened the door and quietly slipped inside.

"You called for me Ms. Schnee?"

She stood there in her usual attire. A pale blue bolero matched with a white combat skirt; the Schnee crest emblazoned on the back. Ice blue eyes flickered toward me, looking at me up and down with an air of evaluation before looking back at the scroll occupying her hands.

"Yes, I have a few things I need prepared today. First off, I will need Myrtenaster returned to me, the engineer should have finished its upgrades and repairs by now. Secondly, have the courtyard cleared for this afternoon. I will be needing it."

I nodded silently, before bowing slightly and turning to leave. That was another thing I preferred about Weiss. She let me forgo the usual formalities that came with being a faunus, at least in private. Why, I had no idea.

After a bit of travelling around the manor, I located the engineer, and appropriated Myrtenaster from the wiry man. The weapon was in a locked case of course, but I noted that the rapier was definitely lighter than the last time I held it.

Holding the weapon made me think of Gambol Shroud, my own weapon from the war. I crafted it myself, but ever since my capture, it has been lost to me. Whether it was locked in a vault or destroyed, I had no idea. The thought of my own creation rusting away buried underneath a ton of scrap metal immediately saddened me, and I shook away the thought.

-LINE BREAK-

I met back up with Weiss in the courtyard, giving her weapon back to her in the process. She hummed in appreciation before unlocking the case, and retrieving its contents, taking a minute to absorb all the changes made.

I was definitely right, the blade looked lighter, and more refined. Upon closer inspection, I saw that another chamber had been added to the revolving mechanism, and the handle was redesigned. Engravings decorated the weapon too. A bit flashy I thought, but it suited her well.

Weiss gave her blade a few customary twirls, before the ringing of her scroll stole her attention. She picked up immediately.

"Have they arrived?...Yes, alright thank you. My men will be there to escort him to me. You may hand him off at the entrance of the manor. Thank you."

She closed her scroll before retreating to the deck overlooking the courtyard. Evidently she was waiting for someone, and the curiosity got the best of me.

"Ms. Schnee, are you expecting someone?"

She glanced away from the entrance of her courtyard to me, and rolled her eyes a bit.

"First off, please just call me Weiss. I despise being called Ms. Schnee, you know that. Especially by you of all people, someone who can't be any older than I am. Besides, Ms. Schnee is my sister. Secondly, yes, obviously I am."

I grew quiet, choosing not to speak again. At this point, I wanted to see how things would play out.

A large sound caused my eyes to shoot toward the entrance. The first thing to come through were Atlesian Sentinel units. I immediately tensed. I knew there were several units on the manor, but for the most part they were never used outside of threat responses. I haven't seen any since the war ended.

Against my fight or flight instincts, I remained where I was. Led by what I could only describe as a full battalion of soldiers, was a man. A boy really, he was probably a little older than me so far as I can tell. He was under heavy restraints, as well as a heavy duty version of the collar I was wearing. A shock variant, if the restraints were anything to go by. He was even fitted with what I could only describe as a muzzle, to my disgust.

As the entourage got closer, I got a better view of this faunus. At least, I assumed it was a faunus. Who else would be so heavily restrained? Curiously enough though, there were no visible animal features that I could discern. He had black hair with dull, red eyes. The colors clashed a bit with his tanned skin, if I had to guess I'd say he spent a lot of time in Vaccuo recently. I could see the obvious muscles through the simple clothing he wore, leading me to believe he was a fighter of some kind.

Weiss looked at the faunus with cold, calculating eyes. She dismissed the guards with a wave of her hand, before approaching him. He met her gaze, unwavering with a hint of ferocity. She spoke.

"You are what they call the Champion of Vaccuo correct?"

He said nothing at first, his gaze still on her, before flickering to me, taking note of both my collar and my ears. He looked back at Weiss, before nodding once.

"Good. I will have Blake escort you to your quarters. You will find proper clothing there, as well as food. You have one hour to change and eat. Then, guards will escort you back here. We'll talk more then. I'll have your equipment here as well."

She looked to me, which I swiftly nodded and prepared to leave.

"One more thing."

Weiss stepped forward with a key, and promptly removed the muzzle from his face. She then disabled his heavy shock collar, before replacing it with a much less obvious one that bore the Schnee crest. Slowly, she keyed in the code to unlock his restraints, one at a time. She kept eye contact with him almost the entire time.

Nodding to herself, she waved to me, which I then took as a sign to leave. I looked at him, before gesturing for him to follow me into the manor.

We walked through the many twists and turns of Schnee Manor, before arriving at the room Weiss specifically directed me to with her scroll. We walked side by side, with one guard behind us and one in front of us. Neither of us said a word.

Before long, we were outside his quarters. I unlocked the door, and opened it for him. As he stepped in he looked back at me, as if expecting me to say something. I stared right back, at first refusing to break the silence, before taking the invitation for what it was.

"My name is Blake."

He inclined his head slightly, before speaking once.

"Oris."

With that, he closed the door behind him. I simply stared at the door for a few seconds, not knowing what to do exactly. He was quite honestly the first interesting that has appeared in this manor for months, part of me was dying to find out more about him, the other cautious about this whole situation.

Pushing aside the thought, I headed back to my own room, intent on resting for a bit. Perhaps I'll find more answers later in the day.

-LINE BREAK-

Weiss didn't call me until the late evening, and as I made my way into the courtyard I could hear what sounded like the clash of metal against metal. My curiosity piqued, I hurried forward past the guards to get a good view on what was going on.

There in the middle of the courtyard Weiss and the new faunus were going at it in a flurry of strikes and parries as the two fought seemingly without reserve. My eyes narrowed as I critically analyzed every move the Schnee heiress made. I haven't seen her in combat in a long time, I needed to see this.

After a while, it was obvious to me who the better combatant was. Oris struck hard, and he struck fast. His weapon of choice was a sword, one longer than my own Gambol Shroud, but with a similar if not thicker blade shape. As I noticed this, I took note of the rest of his gear.

He wore greaves up to his shins, while his torso was covered in what I recognized as a light version of the Atlesian Elite Vanguard armor. While it had no sleeves nor protection for the arms, its dozens of interlocking geometric plates protected the wearer's center mass extremely well. The armor itself also came with protection to the lower body as well, although Oris's seemed to be slightly damaged. It was very good armor, with weak points only in the lower back. Which could be exploited provided you were a good enough shot.

I know this because I spent a good three months hunting an Atlesian Elite just to kill him and study the armor he wore.

*BOOM*

A deep bass followed by resounding blast pierced my ears as my attention was abruptly brought back into the fight; Oris produced a massive shockwave somehow, directed at Weiss. Unfortunately, it also came my way. The sound wave was so visible, I had to cover my ears to stop the ringing, which honestly didn't help at all. I brought my eyes back to the fight. He had a semblance?"

All of a sudden everything clicked. The restraints. The time spent in Vaccuo. The weapons. This faunus was not only a slave, but he must've spent his time after the war in Vaccuo's famed Gladiator Pits. Usually those fights consisted of Faunus with more predatory animal traits; it was one of the reasons the whole war even started.

The fact that he wasn't executed after the revolution ended was incredible. My amazement quickly died however, as I suddenly realized that his time in the arena must have been beyond brutal. On top of that, if he was a champion like Weiss had mentioned, he must've been extremely expensive. Why is he here?

Oris parried Weiss's flurry of attacks with ease. He batted Myrtenaster aside with the gauntlet on his left arm, one that went all the way to his shoulder, forming a small pauldron. He brought his sword to bear, catching her off guard, but Weiss recovered just in time. She summoned a glyph and shot a torrent of ice at him, but Oris raised his gauntlet again, and this time I saw the glowing device that rested on its outer forearm.

A white barrier sprang to life, the size and shape of a shield, crackling with electricity. I was captivated by it immediately as it allowed none of the ice to pass through. Oris rolled back as Weiss pressed forward with her glyph. The constant torrent of ice forced him onto one knee as his shield took the brunt of the attack.

Finally, Oris retaliated. His sword transformed as he flipped it twice, its blade shortening and rotating down perpendicular to the handle as the body took form. A second later I realized he was holding a gun, one that I couldn't see well from this angle unfortunately. Weiss however, did see the hail of bullets that assaulted her. She blocked a few with her sword before realizing they would overwhelm her, and summoned a shield glyph in response.

Her view momentarily obscured, Oris pounced from his position, choosing to holster the gun onto his back and deactivating his barrier closing the gap with hand to hand combat. His gauntlet provided his left arm with enough protection to rip Myrtenaster out of Weiss's grasp.

He kicked her legs out from under her savagely, before grabbing her neck and putting her into a headlock. I held my breath. One turn and he would snap her neck, and she'd be gone forever.

The world seemed to still. Weiss stopped struggling in his hold as she realized there was no use. There was a moment of utter silence.

Then he released her. She fell forwards, coughing and trying to catch her breath before picking up her weapon and sheathing it. After dusting herself off and making sure her appearance was acceptable, she turned to him.

"Good. Very good. We will continue this for every day this summer. Should I be busy I will let you know in advance. Do you need Blake to escort you back once more?"

Oris looked at her before looking towards me. He shook his head, before turning back and waiting to be dismissed.

"Very well. Blake, come with me. Guards, please escort him back to his quarters after he is disarmed. See to it that he is fed."

Weiss then went and moved to the side, making sure her own weapon was in working condition.

I watched as Oris dismantled and cleaned his rifle. As I got a closer look, I realized it was much shorter than a rifle, possibly a carbine. The long barrel I thought she had seen from afar was in fact blade, which in this case acted as a bayonet. The weapon was skeletal in design, many parts of it exposed and bare. I assumed that was for the weight, which made the most sense.

In one fluid motion Oris morphed it back into a blade. With practiced familiarity, he flipped the sword once, which seemed to cause blade to retract into itself, causing the entire weapon to become nothing more than a somewhat large handle. As for what he did with it, he simply attached it to the lower inner part of the gauntlet itself. He then removed the gauntlet before the guards took it away, and escorted him out of the courtyard.

"Blake, with me please."

With that, she turned and walked away with a flourish, me following behind her. I honestly had no idea what to say to Weiss at the moment, so I said nothing as we headed back to her own room in the manor.

-LINE BREAK-

Thinking back, the fight was mesmerizing to watch. Weiss wasn't lacking in finesse, though she could use some more skill. The girl was talented; I'll give her that. But in a one on one fight I was confident I could easily kill her. She rose through the ranks as a tactician, not a fighter. I unintentionally growled at the thought. If only I could get my hands on Gambol Shroud. If only she weren't surrounded by guards every single day. If only I didn't have this damn collar around my neck.

My violent thoughts ended however, as other memories of Weiss surfaced. Memories that I was still coming to terms with. My relationship with her was a one sided roller coaster; I was careful to keep a silent facade. My expression was always neutral, from day one until now. Even through the first few months, when nearly every waking thought I had was to murder the heiress and her sister in their sleep. But as time went by, my immediate desire to do so quelled. Revenge was always in my mind, but it was no longer at the forefront.

If I, a faunus, was found guilty of the death of Weiss and Winter Schnee, death would be the thing I would have to worry about the least. I'd never live to see the outside of this manor. Was it worth it? I reasoned that I didn't have much to live for, and that killing my owners was the least I could do to avenge my dead friends and allies.

Weiss Schnee was why I was here in this manor acting like a moronic faunus who knew nothing more than how to work. But in truth she wasn't the real reason. In fact, the more I got to know her in the more I realized she wasn't very alike with the people who ended our revolution.

Weiss didn't care for humanity's domination of the faunus. She cared about approval. Her family's approval, to be more precise. But in the end, her family was the reason mine lay in the ground. And for that, I doubt I will ever forgive her.

My thoughts ended as we walked into the heiress's room. This time around, I knew what to expect. To be honest, the first time I walked in here I expected the most lavish, overly luxurious, and vapid room possible. But it wasn't. In fact, it was shockingly lacking in decorations. While it was definitely huge, the only thing that would've made me guess it was Weiss's room was the white and silver color scheme.

"Prepare another set of clothing for me."

With that said, she walked into the adjacent bathroom, leaving me to my task. I swiftly gathered from her wardrobe what I knew she liked to wear in the evenings, laying everything out on the bed for her. My ears twitched as heard the shower turn on, and soon I could hear gentle humming.

I sat down on one of the few chairs usually reserved for her carelessly thrown outerwear on a stressful day and just began to think. How long was I going to continue the way that I did? I no longer planned my assassination of the heiress every week. I didn't plan my escape every month as I once did. I simply existed. That fact alone tore at my insides; had I gotten so used to slavery that I let it claim who I was?

My fingers found themselves on my neck, tracing the collar that attached itself there like a parasite. Weiss had never used it to shock me into submission before. I couldn't same the same about her sister however. And while I would never ever admit it out loud, I was thankful for that. My mind went to war with itself over my conflicting feelings with the younger Schnee.

I was supposed to hate her. Above all else, I needed to hate her. But it was oh so difficult to hate the one person that has ever shown you kindness. Even from my time in the White Fang, I was never shown kindness. We didn't have room for that in our lives, everything that was given or taught to us was for our survival. Looking back, I almost chuckled at the thought. It was a rough way to live, not that any of us ever knew any different.

The sound of the shower turning off brought me back into the present. I rose from the chair and stood by the entrance, ready to leave if Weiss decided she didn't need me anymore.

The handle of the bathroom turned, and the heiress stepped out clad in a pristine towel, hair still damp with water. Her eyes searched the room for me, and when they found me she simply stared before beckoning for me to come closer.

Cautious, I stepped forward, closing the gap between me and her with a few strides. Weiss studied me for what it seemed like the millionth time, and suddenly stepped forward toward me. Our faces were separated by inches. I stared at the ground, not wanting to look her in the eyes. Not because I was afraid of her, but out of habit.

Her slender fingers grasped my chin, bringing my face up to meet her blue eyes. Her mouth opened slightly, as if she was about to say something, but they closed immediately. I was slowly starting to figure out what she wanted. It wasn't something Weiss asked for often. In fact, I could count on one hand how many times she tried this.

She pressed forward, her lips finding their way onto my cheek, before going lower. I stood there as Weiss slowly and tenderly kissed my throat, her hands unconsciously gripping my waist, pushing me back onto the bed.

I eliminated all emotional response to what she was doing to me. Or I tried to. The first time she tried, I recoiled from her out of instinct, shocked at the action. Instead of becoming angry and taking advantage of the fact that she literally owned me, she gritted her teeth and ordered me out. That was an action that did not go unnoticed by me.

The next time she tried, she was wholly intoxicated from a night of drinking. Drinking alone I might add, if I had to guess I would say that she was moping about how she'll never live up to her sister's accomplishments. Again, I pushed her away, electing to keep my distance until she inevitably passed out from the alcohol. I have no idea if Weiss actually remembered that night, but she never mentioned it again.

The third time she attempted something was in a situation not unlike this one. That was the first time I reciprocated. Or at least I didn't pull away. She didn't do anything other than kissing me a few times. I let myself believe it was an entirely physical attraction. It made sense I suppose; I was around the heiress long enough to figure out her dating life wasn't very active.

I nearly jumped as one of her hands found its way to my chest. She wasn't very experienced, but then again neither was I. As her ministrations continued, my body started to respond, although my brain was still trying to catch up. I kissed her back, and suddenly I felt a desire flare up out of nowhere. I purred. I couldn't help it, and I hated that she heard me.

Weiss redoubled her efforts, and after a few more aggressive kisses, she climbed on top of me in the bed, pinning my arms down in the process. I went with it, unsure of how far she wanted to go. As her hands snaked under my shirt, a loud buzzing interrupted the heated silence in the room. She groaned. Loudly. It wasn't the attractive kind either, and for some reason I laughed lightly.

For the first time today, Weiss's lips turned into a small smile, before she got off of me. Unlocking her scroll, she muttered under her breath.

"This had better be important…Yes?"

I tuned out the rest of the conversation as I tried to make sense of what just happened. Weiss was attracted to me. Wonderful. Now the person I kind of want dead wants me in her bed. I didn't know what to feel. I didn't know what my emotions were, nor what they should be. I hated not knowing. Was this normal? I didn't exactly have much time for romantic or sexual endeavors in my short life. I had no fucking clue what to do.

"Yes Winter, I am quite well aware of an application that I myself filled out. Yes, I know. This isn't a decision I thought required your input. Beacon Academy is none of your concern. Now if you would do me a favor and not bother me for the rest of the night, that would be much appreciated."

Weiss hung up and somewhat forcefully set her scroll down onto her nightstand, looking at me with tired eyes as she did so. I didn't move a muscle, unsure of how she would react to me right now.

With a sigh escaping her lips, the girl got back into bed, throwing the covers over herself in preparation to sleep. I took this as my cue to get out, and collected myself and prepared to leave. As I stepped toward the door she stopped me,

"No. Stay, please. I want you here for the night."

Her words were awkward, and despite the firm tone she used they still sounded hesitant and unsure. But I obliged nonetheless, and made my way into the bed with her. I pulled the covers over myself, and waited for Weiss to make a move, to which she disappointed me. I could hear her uneven breathing, as well as her constant fidgeting. Was the mighty Weiss Schnee embarrassed to make a move on her faunus slave? The thought almost made me laugh.

Eventually I decided to put aside all my buried feelings of vengeance, and saved the girl from her own embarrassment by curling up beside her, my head resting on her shoulder. As someone who slept alone for her entire life, I enjoyed the body heat of someone else next to me. Weiss took the opportunity, and wrapped an arm around my waist before tucking my head under her chin, before drifting off.

As my exhaustion began to catch up with me, I thought for one fleeting moment about how if someone had told me years ago that I would be in bed sleeping next to Weiss Schnee, I would have probably killed them out of annoyance. Now? I was in the arms of a girl I have managed to both hate and trust at the same time. The last thing that went through my head before sleep claimed me was that she had finally stopped fidgeting.

A/N: First RWBY AU story I've ever written. Drop a review if you like. Oris POV in the coming chapters.