The Day of Reclamation
REDux Edition
A Resonant-Ellipsis production
Written by Sabre Allicia
Welcome, to the REDux of the first Fanfiction I ever wrote. Except, now its 100% better and 20% cooler, with less errors and an re-polished story.
Effectively, it's the original, with a new buffed coat of paint, and a bit less of a complete mess. =^~^=
For the benefit of those who do not watch the show:
Faunus: Human/Animal hybrids, they primarily have human features, but with distinctive animal ones, such as ears, horns or tails in addition to their mostly human form. Faunus have faced extreme discrimination at the hands of the rest of humanity for their difference, even leading to a war. This story takes place a few years after a peace treaty was signed. Humanity promised equality for the Faunus, a promise they have since fallen short on.
Aura: A physical/metaphysical manifestation of the soul. The full properties of which have not been fully explored in cannon, I have filled this with my own interpretations.
Blake: IS TOTALLY A GIRLS NAME.
This story takes place 5 years prior to those events portrayed in Volume 1
Bright Lights, Burning City
There was something different about the crowd this morning.
Everyone seemed tense, she could see it, like a coiled spring ready to be released, maybe it was just the people here.
It was like everyone was on edge, like they were expecting something to happen. Even the nearby police officers, likely sent to contain any situation that may arise, seemed a lot more aggressive than she was used to. Blake hadn't even known there would be a protest today. Early that morning she had seen a group of Faunus walking in the same direction, one of whom had been carrying a large crate, emblazoned upon which was the organizations insignia. She had approached them and asked what was happening and they had told her there was something happening at the town square. And there she was, standing in the middle of a square in a city that she didn't know, amongst a crowd of expectant Faunus. Expectant for what however, she did not know either. She assumed the sudden resignation of the organisations now previous leader had something to do with it. She looked up at the ominous grey sky and smelt air that was thick and heavy with moisture, almost reflecting off the lights cast from the streetlamps and windows from nearby buildings. It looked like it was about to rain very soon. Which might explain why a large amount of people were wearing large coats. Blake started pondering the idea of leaving to get her own. She hated water. But if she left, she might miss the start of the rally, and the fact that everyone was growing even more expectant and on edge, told her that whatever was happening, was going to happen soon.
Not long after finishing that train of thought, two things happened at once.
Rain began to pour from the dark sky, its intensity increasing slowly as time progressed, while a man, to whom of which she had only seen once before, stood up upon the plinth of the squares statue. As he stood, a hush fell over the gathered Faunus, as if someone had cast a veil across the town square.
"Brothers; Sisters; My fellow Faunus of the White Fang. I only have two questions for you all, just two. Why are you here? We suffer and struggle throughout our lives, each and every one of us cast down by the society of man and its wish for our separation, segregation and subjugation. There is, I believe, not a single Faunus in existence that can claim that they are equal. That is why you are here, is it not? To show your displeasure towards the current state and stature of society. Well, I have this to say. Negotiations have ended. Despite all we have been promised, the society of man has failed to deliver. That is not to say there are not those within that society who would not sympathize with us, to aid us in times of our need, and I openly applaud those people, for standing against convention and expectations.
However, a few branches do not save a dying tree.
This system is beyond repair and redemption. The society is faulted. Their mentality is dated.
For is it not your right as a person to be equal? As a resident of this world to be treated fair? As a member of society to be respected? But no, the society of man maintains its disposition, it refuses to grant us what we, as individuals, have rightly earned. They sit, on their hierarchical thrones, continuing to treat us as outcasts. Man still believes us to be lesser beings, subject to their discretion while we fight for our lives in this urban jungle they call civilisation.
It is therefore I hereby claim, by the power vested in me as the leader of the White Fang Organisation, that we will no longer participate in any protests or demonstrations.
But rest assured; this is not our surrender.
For it has become clear to me, that if the society of man will not listen to our pleas, we must do what is right, and what is within our right to do. We must show to them that we are not simple ferals and delinquents, not to be cast aside and forgotten like idle rapscallion trash. That we will fight back.
It is clear, that the society of man is incapable of acceptance to that of which is different or diverse. It is in their nature to stay with that which is familiar, what they perceive to be safe.
If the society of man does not listen to reason and logic, then we must show them force."
He held up a detonator in his hand.
"I now only have one question for all of you.
Will you reclaim your destiny?"
Anger swelled inside Blake, she could feel the adrenalin coursing through her. She could tell it was running through the entire crowd, the energy emanating was almost electric. The man was right, she felt the truth behind the words he spoke. Humanities society had left them no choice. For the sake of everyone who had suffered as a result of human ignorance, Blake promised herself she would do what she could. Whatever it took to make a difference.
It was like someone had awoken a great beast, everyone moved at once. The detonator was triggered and bombs, evidently placed within support columns earlier, detonated upon the foundations of the town courthouse, levelling it to the ground.
The screams, shouts and howls of rage from the now violent crowd were nearly deafening. As deafening as the other explosions that occurred soon after.
Boxes which Blake had seen people carrying, sitting and standing on, which she had assumed were there to give their owners elevation in the protest, were broken open and its contents passed around. Fire bombs and Molotov cocktails along with firearms and kinetic blades. The coats, that she had seen everyone wearing, were cast aside as weapons ranging from swords and brutal looking bats to shotguns and other lethal looking weapons were drawn. The now mob of people, expanded violently, the nearby police officers were overwhelmed and beset on almost immediately. Explosions throughout the area rocked the ground, the noise of which, continued to be deafening, matching the volume of the shouts and cries of people mixed with the sounds of smashing glass and the smell of burning cinders.
Blake simply stood there, stunned. Until now, all of their protests and demonstrations had been peaceful, not a single fight had broken out. Shops damaged and property vandalised, but never had anyone been killed. She looked around her, at all the shops that now stood engulfed in a blazing inferno, at the shards of glass that littered the ground. She had no idea what to do. When the police finally sent reinforcements to crack down as they undoubtedly would, her fellow Faunus would be the ones being overwhelmed, and the angry mob would have no choice but to disperse, lest they bear the brunt of the law enforcements displeasure towards this escapade.
But there were also repercussions to worry about. She wasn't stupid and she knew what would happen next, she had seen it happen enough times already, though, judging from their actions today, this time would be much worse. The police would go door to door, seeking out any Faunus unfortunate enough to be found, and trial them without mercy. The police didn't hold a history of treating Faunus in the kindest of lights, and Blake knew, after today, it was only going to get worse. She had been present at every past rally, protest and boycott, and although she doubted that the she would draw the authorities attention. After today, as she looked around at the now destroyed square, at the people openly fighting police officers in the streets, and as in turn, no side showed any mercy; there would be blood for this.
And she had no real place to wait it out. She had to get out of here fast, the point that she had never missed a single meeting or left any rally until the last possible moment was in no way worth getting beaten senseless by a guard or officer.
As she begun to move, she turned and saw the only addition to the square since the crowd's arrival. A large blue flag had been tied to the top of the squares statue. On it, was the White Fang symbol, but behind that, were three scratch lines painted in blood red. Against her better judgement, her curiosity got the better of her and she slowly approached it, on the base of the plinth of the statue, written in the same red, was only one sentence.
'It has only just begun'
Her heart sank, she had hoped, though deep down, she knew it not to be true, that this was a one off event, that their demonstrations, although they would be treated a lot worse after this, would return to being peaceful, that it was just people frustrated and venting their anger. But now, it seemed there was a new agenda for the organisation.
She didn't know what to think, then the voice in her head simply said.
"Don't think, just run."
And she did just that, she had no intention of being arrested in a strange city, so she ran from the square as fast as she could. But as she rounded the corner of a street, a line of guards had already been deployed at the other end. She veered off to the side and into an alleyway, coming face to face with a police officer, weapon in hand, and an unconscious Faunus at his feet with blood slowly dripping from their head.
He turned to her and started to advance. She had learnt how to fight in order to deal with anyone who had decided to bully her, but she had never fought a fully grown adult.
As he charged her, he swung. She went low, ducking just under the officer's fist. She shot back up and violently punched the officer in the ribs, causing them to falter and allowing her to land another blow to his gut. The officer stepped back and launched a powerful kick. Blake evaded to the side, grabbing the officer's leg and shoving him backwards off his feet and causing him to fall and smack his head violently on the ground. She didn't even look back to see if they were still conscious, she just ran. Hopefully, from here, all she had to do was stick to the side alleys and try to make her way out of the city centre, to more of an outlying area, where she would draw less attention and where she could consolidate her thoughts and assess her situation properly, after which she could…
*smack*
She felt herself receive a blow, smashing her off her feet and hitting the ground hard, back first and smacking her head on the pavement. She didn't move. She couldn't move...
She slowly drifted in and out of consciousness, interrupted by bursts of extreme pain as she struggled to get up.
A ruthless kick landed on her side and she keeled and rolled over, rain battering her as her head throbbed, she couldn't open one of her eyes and the other was hazed with blood. Someone grabbed her by her hair and dragged her up and against a wall.
"You filthy Faunus will never learn will you…"
A completely merciless voice reached her ear. It laughed and slammed her head against the wall again.
Her head felt like it was going to split open from pain, and the world felt like it had been tipped upside down about 20 times.
This wasn't going to end well.
She might die here.
"Leave her alone!"
She heard her captor grunt as he let go of her, causing her to fall back to the ground. Her vision was bad and she was too disoriented to comprehend what little she could see, but from what she could hear, fighting was going on between whoever had knocked her down, and her would-be saviour, who, from what she could tell he sounded not much older than she was.
She looked up at the sky, hoping the rain would wash away some of the blood on her face. As she looked back down, she started to make out the general outlines of the two combatants, one, whom she assumed was her saviour, didn't look much older than she was, but he moved fast. From what she could make out as she lay soaking on the ground, was that he was using some form staff, judging by the sound it made when it hit the guard. Whether or not it was his, she was unsure, but he used it to shockingly good effect. He moved fast, he didn't appear to be using a semblance, but he was still able to move as a blur to her, continually attacking the guard without falter. He wasn't going to give them a chance to fight back. Her vision began to haze with blood again but she continued to hear continuous blunt impacts and grunts of pain from her attacker.
The sound of the guard getting beaten gave her a little satisfaction as she tried to move, felt a sharp jolt of pain go through the side of her head, and then returning to her previous position.
"..You son of a…"
She heard a loud smack and a dull thud as something hit the ground hard a few meters from where she lay. She then heard approaching footsteps, splashing softly through the water.
She opened her eye again. Rain, blood and tears from the pain clouded her view, but slowly, as the rain washed away at her face, she was able to see, although it was still exceptionally blurry. She was thankfully able to identify the person standing before her as the boy that had saved her, only now did she notice the animal ears atop his head. Dog, wolf maybe? They had that general shape. From what she could tell, he had dark hair and he wore a dark coloured coat, the staff she had seen him use was attached to his back in a shortened form.
He crouched low in front of her. "Hey, you alright?"
She tried to speak, but the only audible thing that came out of her mouth was a groan, her head felt like someone had hit it with a pipe.
"...looks like that guard hit you with a pipe…"
Well at least she was right about something.
"...must have heard you coming, probably didn't appreciate you taking out his friend. I don't know if you know this, but you knocked him out cold, smashed his head against the ground hard..."
He gently tilted her head back, so he could see her injuries.
"...from what I can tell, your left eye is just swollen, that guard hit you from the side and the pipe must have connected with your forehead, that's where all the blood is coming from, the cut itself luckily isn't that bad, it just won't stop bleeding. We have to get you out of the rain to let the blood clot…"
An explosion made the ground jolt and sway, causing Blake's ears to twitch. She saw the Faunus boy opposites twitch as well.
"I put too much plastic explosive in those bombs…" The Faunus muttered to himself as he shook his head "...like I said, time to get out of here."
He reached down, grabbed her arm, and slowly lifted her up. The world had stopped spinning and her coordination was starting to come back to her. At least she was able to walk with his assistance, although their pace was slow. She was still too disoriented to know where he was taking her, not like she knew where they should go either, she just hoped he did.
They reached a tunnel underneath a small embankment, and they stopped, he turned around and checked her head again.
"You should be fine, you have a concussion so don't go to sleep, just try to stay dry and hidden, the cut should stop bleeding in a while…"
He was going to leave her here.
As he turned to look at her again; and despite her physical injuries, she still gave him the most offended look possible.
He looked blankly back at her, at a loss for what to say.
"...look, I'm sorry, but as per orders, I'm not allowed to show or tell anyone where I stay..."
Orders? Whose orders? Now Blake's curiosity peaked, who was this guy?
She however, continued to glare at him.
"...listen, you shouldn't even be here, this isn't your fight."
She almost shouted at him through her disorientation and pain. "What are you saying? I'm one of you, this is my fight!"
He sighed again, "Not anymore it isn't…"
Blake had immediately regretted the outburst as her head spun violently and she staggered sideways, back against the wall of the tunnel, white clouding her eyes.
The Faunus walked up to her and helped her up, waving his hands over her eyes and trying to get her to focus.
"Unless that guard really did hit your brain out, might I remind you this is going to get worse, much worse, and people ARE going to get hurt. You don't belong here."
Blake just gave him a look of sheer determination.
"People are going to die if they're not careful, you hear me? Do you want to die?"
Blake looked directly into his ashened eyes and said determinedly but weakly, her teeth bared,
"...I want to fight."
The Faunus simply sighed at her and shook his head. "Do you have anywhere to stay?"
She shook her own head slowly.
He took one look at her, then looked at the other end of the tunnel, then back to her.
He didn't want to leave her here, he couldn't, not with the city in a situation like now, not with the police mercilessly hunting Faunus. But he was worried what his employer's reactions would be.
He sighed deeply. "Fine, come on…"
Blake felt a degree of satisfaction as they continued to walk.
After a while, her rescuer finally said something. "You know, you should really learn to fight someone more quietly, even I could hear you from the other side of the alley."
She pondered this for a moment, and despite her finding some sense in the statement, she still glared at him.
They maintained an air of silence for the rest of the journey.
However, as they continued, her condition began to worsen, she started to slip in and out of consciousness.
"You really need to rest, but we really need to get out of here soon. I'm sorry, but you'll just have to hold on…"
"...don't worry…" Blake's voice was barely louder than a whisper. "...I can make it…"
She felt warmth. From what, she didn't know. Every part of her ached, she felt like she could lie here forever.
Lie…
She was lying down.
But she remembered standing…
She opened her eyes and immediately closed them, there was something bright in front of her, which she assumed to also be the source of the warmth.
She opened her eyes again, slowly this time.
A fire.
Well, at least she could see now.
"Good, you're alive."
Blake slowly turned her head around to see the boy who just saved her.
She could actually see what he looked like now.
He didn't look old at all, probably 14 or 15, which might explain why he wasn't that much taller either.
His equipment was oriental styled, and judging by his skin tone and facial structure, she guessed he was also of the same origin. His voice however, sounded different from both someone from this region, and the region that was the origin of his ethnicity. She guessed that he had been away from his home for a long time.
His hair was pitch black, a very similar shade to her own. It wasn't long, she had seen boys with longer hair before, but it could hardly be considered short either. Atop his head, sat two wolf ears, the same shade of black as his hair. He was thin, but not muscular either but still maintaining the sense of being reasonably built.
He wasn't wearing the coat he had on when he had saved her and she wondered where it was, he only wore a damp grey shirt, with a black collar and sleeves. He also wore a casual pair of dark coloured cargo pants and some pretty sturdy looking work boots.
She soon found out why as she started to look around at her surroundings. As her strength found her again, she soon realised that she was lying in what appeared to be some kind of blacksmith's forge. It was dark, the only source of light being the fire lit within a fireplace adjacent to her. A table stood to one side of the room, littered across it were drawings and plans of multiple things. What they were however, Blake could not discern at this distance. The majority of the room was taken up by various complex looking pieces of equipment, the most simple of which Blake was able to safely assume to be a forge and an anvil. The whole place smelt like a combination of metal, burnt wood and charcoal.
She turned back to face him, he stood near her, leaning against one of the buildings support girders built into the wall. His facial expression was, from what she could tell, a mix between relief, curiosity and humour.
They looked at each other for a moment, each sizing up the other.
The teenage Faunus boy broke the silence first. "Well, given the fact you now know where I live, I believe it only fair that I know who you are. So, what do I call you?"
She hesitated for a moment. "Blake…, Blake Belladonna…"
He smiled at her and bowed a little. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss Belladonna."
She frowned slightly, she wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or not. After a while however, she returned the smile. "...so, what's your name?"
"Raven." He said bluntly.
She paused for a moment. "That's not your real name is it?"
He smiled a little again. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you're a wolf, and a Raven is a bird so…"
He smiled more and laughed. "What an astute observation Miss Belladonna, I indeed, do not possess wings, you are right however, Raven isn't my real name. It's a name given to me by my superiors."
He laughed a little to himself. "Because of my hair colour actually. In time, you might come to learn my real name, but until then, you can just call me Raven."
'Raven it is then…' Blake thought to herself.
"So…, what is this place?"
"This..." He smiled to himself as he turned to face the rest of the room. "...is my humble abode."
"You live here?"
"Yup."
"But…" She looked around the large room "There's nothing here, it's just a forge."
Raven pointed to a spot shrouded in shade slightly behind her.
She looked and saw a pillow on the floor in the dark. "...that's it…?"
He gave her a questioning look. "I sleep there, and I work…"He pointed at the forge."…There. It's not much, but it's not like I need anything else."
Blake pondered this for a moment but as she moved to sit up, she realised she was wrapped in something. It was his coat, the one he had been wearing when he saved her.
'So this is where it was...' She thought to herself.
He must have wrapped her in it when he brought her here. It was light, but dense, she had no idea what kind of material it was made from but she had a suspicion that the black material hadn't been dyed. But it wasn't waterproof, they must have been soaked by the time they got here, and judging by the fact the coat, and her own clothes were only partially damp, she must have been in front of that fire for a few hours at minimum.
"Listen, we need to get you out of those wet clothes. Don't want you getting a cold."
It was hard to say that without sounding exceptionally creepy, but he did his best.
He crouched in front of her again and gently moved her head into the firelight and checked her head again.
She looked into his eyes. They were the colour of ash.
A moment later he stepped back and held his hand out.
"Can you move?"
She nodded slowly and accepted his outstretched hand.
After she stood up, Raven moved off and started getting his gear, the staff she had seen him use, was strapped to his back, a black gauntlet encasing his left arm.
She handed him back his coat, which he graciously accepted and donned.
It fit him well, its length ran just over the height of his torso.
"Where are you staying?"
She looked at him and didn't say anything.
He looked at her again. "Where's the rest of your stuff?"
She simply shook her head. "I've only been here for two days, and the little I had I didn't bring with me..." She looked down at herself and back back up again. "...this is all I own."
He slowly turned around. "...seriously?" he said in an unbelieving voice.
Blake hung her head slightly.
Raven sighed. "Great, so we both don't have anything..."
She gave him a quizzical look as he scratched the back of his head, a guilty look on his head as he thought for a moment.
"...right, get ready to move, we're going out."
"...where are we going?"
"Well, seeing as we are practically and literally have nothing but the clothes on our backs and we desperately need food and supplies, I thought I would go and... requisition some things."
Blake gave him an incredulous look.
"Hey, if it were up to me, you'd stay here, however, I'm not leaving you alone inside an entire room full of sensitive equipment and documents. Plus, you already know way too much, you're a target now."
He drew his staff from his back and checked it. On his back, it was barely half a meter long, but after it extended at a brutal speed, it was nearly triple that.
"That being said, after what happened today, I think it would be best if we hid our ears."
How bluntly he said that took Blake aback.
She had secretly always wanted to be normal, not a freak stared at and mocked by everyone, but she had never wanted to compromise who she was, someone special had taught her that.
Raven held a black ribbon in his outstretched hand,"It's a composite nano-fibred impact resistant tether."
She gave him a look.
He sighed.
"Turn around…"
She gave him another look and slowly did what he said.
She felt him tying the ribbon around her ears. She hated people touching her ears, but she was more curious to what he was doing.
Once he was done, he stepped back and gave a satisfied look.
Then he frowned, stepped back towards her, tilted whatever he had done slightly, stepped back and walked off across the room and grabbed a large broadsword from a table
"...Riverglade…" he muttered to himself.
She gave him another questioning look.
He looked at her. "Oh, I give a name to everything I make, it helps me tell them apart."
"How can you tell?"
"I can feel it."
"How?"
He merely laughed. "I can't tell you my trade secrets now can I? Anyway I don't have any mirrors, so this will have to do."
He held the wide, near-chrome blade out in front of him, at her eye level, she looked into the polished blade into the reflection that shared her face. He had tied the ribbon into a black bow, perfectly covering her ears.
At first she didn't believe it was her, not until she twitched her ears and the reflections bow twitched in return did she realise what he had done.
She could finally walk around, hidden in plain sight.
All because of a little black bow.
The reflection lowered as he placed the sword back on the table while also grabbing something else from it.
She laughed a little when he put it on.
It was a fedora.
This time he gave her a look.
She still couldn't stop laughing.
He sighed.
"Well at least you're smiling. Come on…"
He walked over to one end of the room and lifted a large metal brace out of the way, at the same time he picked up a sword in its sheath from beside the door.
"...Exclusion…" he muttered to himself again
He drew the sword and swung it a few times, seemingly satisfied as he attached the sheath to his belt.
Blake realised something.
"Don't I get a weapon?"
Again he replied bluntly.
"Your bow..."
"...seriously…" She was completely lost. "What does it do?"
She started curiously patting the bow on the head.
"Aside from being a very strong ribbon, it lengthens if you channel your aura through it."
She just looked at him. "And what's that supposed to do in a fight?"
He simply smiled again and shrugged. "I have no idea, but seriously, you think I'm just going to give you one of my weapons? I barely know anything about you aside from your name."
She hated to admit it, but she saw sense in that.
If it were her, she'd have probably left him back at the tunnel.
Notes from the author/CREDITS (Because I sure as hell wasn't a solo player this round...)
Credit to OutlawRave for the cover image.
Resonant Ellipsis: You all know who you are...
It was you guys who kept encouraging me to continue this crazy escapade in the first place, (see the stuff I go through for all of you?) as such, you know who I'm going to blame if this entire shenanigan goes south. XD
LastJourneyHome: This guy is solely responsible for the fact that this story got a REDux at all. He's a amazing writer in his own right, as well as a great friend. His story is enough to reduce me to hysterics whenever I read it.
I cannot thank him enough for everything he's done.
I also cannot state how much I would recommend reading his series, especially if you follow anything Rooster Teeth or Achievement Hunter. (Keep an eye out for some input from yours truly in Chapter 14 :p )
Look up his story: Team LADS, Team GENTs, and Pimponia Tower (Yes, it's every bit as amazing as the name suggests. xD )
WhispersOfTomorrow: This person, is probably the most through editor I have even had the fortune to meet. Were it not for her input, this story would still have a fare more amount of grammar and spelling mistakes. Her effort cannot be endorsed enough, and I can't thank her enough for all she's done either. (I seem to be racking up quite the debt...)
She also writes Fanfiction, although not for the RWBY universe, (yet) her stories are still exceptionally well written, and defiantly worth checking out. Especially if you're a Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts fan.
Her stories are all published on wattpad, her personal website of choice for publishing.
Just go onto wattpad .com and search WhispersOfTomorrow in the search bar. I would highly recommend giving her stories a look.
And of course, last but certainly not least.
You, the reader: Yes, this is quite cliche. But, you took the time of day to read my story. ^_^
So, thank you.
Thanks for adding one more view to my read statistic.
And thanks for actually reading my story at all. (unless you skipped right to the end, in which case, congratulations, you just got credit for something you didn't do XD)
This is me giving back to the fan's that helped shape my favourite show in the world.
I hoped you enjoyed it.
Please feel free to leave a comment or a review.
I'd love to hear from you guys, and I'd love for you to tell me what I can do to make this even better.
=^~^=
~Sabre Allicia