Blake poked her head around the corner, peering into the street. Few people were ever out and about during a full moon night, and never in the Faunus slums. The moonlight shone on the deserted road, and most of the doors in the ragged buildings were locked shut. Blake darted across to an alleyway, slipping her White Fang cat mask into place. A doorway marked with the claw marks of the White Fang was set crookedly in the crumbling wall. Several murmurs escaped the building as Blake opened the door and entered the dimly lit room.

Around half a dozen other Faunus were in the room already, muttering amongst themselves when Blake slipped inside. None of them bothered to look up at her arrival, preferring to keep to their groups as they clustered around rotting tables in creaking barstools.

A man with an extensive set of deer antlers almost impaled a woman with bright green snake scales slithered into a seat next to him. Blake stepped past the duo, ignoring the envious looks sent her way. Her cat ears were easily concealed, next to the blatant traits that most Faunus were born with. Shle stepped towards the large table in the center of the room, peering at the large display of papers scattered in front of the owl Faunus seated at the table, shuffling documents. His large eyes were pure yellow, while his hands were scaled and his ears had disappeared.

"Cat! You get anything from your run?" He looked at her hopefully.

"Sorry Grey, nothing." Blake murmured. "Where's Taurus?"

"Oh, he should be back from his run soon." Grey slumped in his chair dejectedly. "I suppose he'll get nothing either. Nothing for weeks now!" He checked a box on a paper, then scribbled a note beside it.

"Taurus might return with something." Blake said quietly, but she wasn't holding out much hope.

"You really think that, Cat?" Grey swiveled towards her, his eyes brimming with despair. "No, you don't. All the runs have come up empty. The food drops the government give us are getting smaller and smaller. Raids are getting riskier and riskier. Even you have to admit, it won't be long before the number of people that are wasting away in the streets becomes all of us."

Blake turned to the map of Vale, looking at the small square in the corner that the Faunus were forced to live in. All over the map, dots and claw marks were crossed out with vicious red slashes. Grey watched her from behind his mask, tired and defeated.

"We can't just give up." Blake whispered to herself.

The door slammed open, startling everyone in the room. Grey stood in the doorway, empty handed. Grey looked at him, then turned away. Adam stormed over to the table, snatching up a red pen. He crossed out another of the dots, glancing at Blake before he crossed out another.

"There was food there yesterday, I swear there was!" Adam muttered as he slid his sword in and out of its sheath.

"We need to accept it; there's an info leak in here." Adam said loudly. "Food disappears the day we run for it. Raids that are simple become twice as dangerous overnight."

Several Faunus looked at him in surprise, then glanced suspiciously at one another.

"Well, what are we going to do about it?" The deer Faunus stood up, the tips of his horns scraping against the ceiling.

"We should start separating the information we all receive, so that nobody knows what the others are doing." Blake murmured to Adam, who nodded.

"We're doing something about it right now." Adam said. "It'll be fixed soon."

The snake woman hissed in obvious contempt. "Will it though? You say you'll fix it, just like you said last week that you would have food for us." The other Faunus were silent, watching the standoff with wary animal eyes.

"What else is there for you? The Dust mines? Enslavement to humans who'll wheel your corpse out to the incinerators as they take you sons and daughters to replace you until they are wheeled out in the same bucket you were in when you were dead? You would want that?"

The others were silent as the deer sat down, but the snake woman hissed as she ripped off her mask and threw it to the ground. She slithered out the door, crunching the shattered mask pieces into the floorboards.

Adam pulled Blake and Grey into a quiet corner before they could protest.

"We need to find something, quick. Nobody's going to sell their pride for food right now, but soon, people will be eating their own pride to get food." Adam muttered quietly. "Cat, you can hide your ears. You could pass as human. You could-"

"No!" Blake stared at Adam in shock. "Taurus, you can't be serious! I'm not going to pretend to be human!"

"What if it's the only way?" Adam murmured back.

Blake hissed and stood up. "Never!"

"At least the Dust mines have food." Grey muttered to her as she walked past him. She ignored him as she stalked out the door.

oOo

Blake sat on the roof of the building, hearing the door open and shut as the others trickled out. Her mask was sitting beside her as she gazed at the starry sky. The roof creaked as Grey leapt up and removed his mask. He sat down beside her with a weary sigh.

"I won't do it." Blake hissed at him before he could begin.

"We need food soon, Cat." Grey said.

"I can't just risk my life like that!" Blake snapped her fingers for emphasis, pinning her ears back in a feral manner. She looked down at her feet, refusing to acknowledge him.

"Cat-" Grey began, then started over. "Blake, you are the only one who can do this."

Blake glanced up in shock when he used her name; her real name, not the animal name she used in the White Fang. "I know you don't have anyone else, but it would be a death sentence if I were discovered."

"What else is there? Dust mines? You have your street corner, but what do the rest of us have?" Grey asked, furious.

"I found a place, the rest of you can find other places too!" Blake hissed. "My fish shop is easy enough to steal from, there's got to be other places like that!"

"It can only barely keep you alive, and so what if there are? Even if there's enough to support every Faunus, I'm sure that the city's bound to notice an influx in crime and a bunch of missing animals! And what about full moons? It won't work, no matter how much you try and hide from it." Grey spat out the words with more contempt for the world they lived in, rather than Blake.

Blake remained silent, tracing the edge of her mask. The moon glared down at her, reminding her of everything the Faunus were accused of; murder, theft. Anything that they could be accused of, they were. In the distance, the border wall that contained the Faunus in their prison glimmered with lights as the guards moved along the top of it, carrying rifles they wouldn't hesitate to use on a Faunus. Beyond, Vale's gleaming skyscrapers towered above the dark and dilapidated pit Blake had been born in.

"What would I be doing?" Blake murmured quietly.

"You would be finding places with food, reporting back, and leading the raids on them." Grey said, clearly happy about her acceptance, albeit reluctant. "Adam and I figured out everything beforehand. You have a reason to be in town, and it allows you to draw on your natural strengths. You won't have to do anything you can't."

"And what is this reason?" Blake sighed with exasperation.

"You'll have to go into Beacon." Grey said.

"Into Beacon?" Blake stared incredulously at Grey. "That's insane!"

"It's the best choice."

Blake sighed. "All right. I'll do it."

"Great! We'll give you all the details tomorrow. You should get home soon. It's almost midnight, and the laws are strict regarding full moon nights." Grey grinned at her.

"Yeah, tomorrow." Blake murmured as she rose to her feet, sliding her mask onto her face. Grey did the same as he bid her farewell and jumped down from the roof.

Blake gazed at the moon before she leapt to the next building's roof. She slid down the side of the rooftop, landing quietly in the street below. Already, she felt the moon's influence, calling her to hunt humans and devour prey and any too weak to fight back. She ran down the street as fast as she could, fighting the urge to hunt down any living thing. At the end of the street, she grabbed her key and unlocked the door to her crumbling shack. She slammed the door shut, panting as she twisted the key out of the lock. Blake dragged her table in front of the door, sighing in exhaustion.

She staggered away from the door, kicking her bed as she curled up to sleep in the corner. A distant scream of fury echoed through the streets outside, but it did nothing to deter sleep from dragging her from reality, and spinning wild dreams from the heritage loudly proclaimed by the cat ears sitting atop her head.

oOo

A/N: New fanfiction! I'll see how well this one's received. I will try and alternate updates between this fanfic and The Grimm Lords as best I can. So, here's a rundown of what the universe is like. It's an AU where Faunus are hated to the point where it's gone beyond lesser class status. Faunus are considered murderers and psychopaths by society due to the Full Moon condition that is referenced. The animalistic traits are more noticeable in general here, with less human traits. I figured that everything that makes them animal should be doubled, to make them easier to hate and fear. The White Fang is less powerful and more of a movement that goes against the stricter laws that are enforced for the Faunus.