Blood and Dust
"Where did my scar come from? My hate for the White Fang, and why I'm so afraid of others? I think it's time I told you the truth. It all happened nine years ago."
"Members of the White Fang, I am sure you are all well aware of why I have summoned you here, and I am sure you know of the crimes these traitors have committed. These worthless beasts thought they could just leave our family, and spread our secrets, and they would involve a young child in their evil endeavour. I am here to demonstrate to you what we do to traitors, and show you that the hands of justice are swift and merciless... starting with the woman." The tall, tanned, muscular Faunus turned and kept a short stare at the young girl about three feet away from him before lifting his giant axe - at least half of his own height. The young eight year old girl tried to stand but was quickly shoved back on the ground by a member of the White Fang. She turned to look at him from the ground and he reached for a baton on his side.
"Stay down you worthless animal." The White Fang member pulled the baton from its holster and raised it in the air. The girl raised her hands over her face and let out a yelp. The White Fang member swung his baton down onto the girl, striking the top of her head. The young girl screamed and began to cry upon contact. She grabbed the top of her head and felt a warm liquid touch her hands. Not wishing to see what the liquid was, she stared at her mother, who was flailing in place and shouting at the White fang member.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! Don't you touch her!" The young girl's mother was broken, her sanity shattered while facing death. The only thing she could think about was not being able to protect her child. "Shanti, I... don't hate us." The young girl continued to stare at her mother, still not sure what exactly was going on. She just continued to cry and stare at her mother as the tall muscular Faunus bashed her mother's skull with the handle of his axe, knocking her unconscious. The Faunus raised his axe, lining it up with the mother's neck.
"Shanti, close your eyes!" the young girl's father yelled, staring at his daughter with his tired and saddened eyes. The Faunus' axe came down on Shanti's mother, accompanied by a powerful shout. His axe cut clean through the mother's neck, the only sounds being the crack of her spinal cord, the Faunus's terrifying shout and the thud of the mother's head on the stone floor. Blood from the strike splattered in Shanti's face and she stared at her mother's headless body. "Mommy?"
Her father was furious, lashing out in his bindings, screaming at the top of his lungs, and threatening the Faunus.
"Let me off these binding and I'll slice your throat with your own ribs! You'll be begging for mercy when I'm done with you!" The tall Faunus made his way to Shanti's father and began to speak.
"Now, now. Is that anyway to talk to me? We wouldn't want anything more to happen to such an adorable little kitty cat like your daughter, would we?" The tall Faunus motioned his head at Shanti and the White Fang member behind her grabbed her by the hair, dragging her to his leader.
"She's just a child! Leave her out of this! She doesn't even know what's going on!" Shanti's father began to beg the tall Faunus not to hurt his daughter anymore than he already did. The tall Faunus laughed a little before stroking Shanti's bloodied face.
"You are a very adorable little kitten aren't you. You know, I feel bad about what this man did to your head now. Do you want me to hurt him for you?" The tall Faunus lifted his head at his henchman, then back down to Shanti who looked clueless. "You don't even know what I'm talking about do you? You're just a stupid little baby."
"Don't touch her, and do not call her stupid! She's leagues smarter than your stupid ass, you mongrel!" The Faunus turned to Shanti's father furiously and punched him square in the face, making his nose bleed and causing blood to seep into his mouth. "Is that all you got? I was expecting more from the executioner. You hit like a human - soft and flimsy!"
"Shut your god damn mouth you dirty rat!" the Faunus said as he hit Shanti's father in the neck, and lowered his face to eye level. "You have no power, you never did. You're just a stag and I'm the wolf. YOU'RE JUST PREY!" Shanti's father smiled and spit in the Faunus' face.
"Apparently the wolf that needs a better dental plan. You're just a thick headed bull." The Faunus' rage finally broke and he turned to Shanti, grabbing her left ear and cutting a piece off with his axe. This new pain spiked through Shanti's body, causing her to scream so loudly it made the people watching cringe. "You bastard! I'll kill you. I'll tear those stupid horns from your body and shove them right in your eye sockets!" Shanti's father was now blinded with pure rage, trying to pull on his bindings, trying to break free. Shanti fell to her knees, her vision starting grow blurry from the pain of both of her wounds.
"Take the child away! We will deal with her later. For now... oh, your death will be slow. I'll start with your arm!" The tall bull Faunus hacked Shanti's father's arm off as the White Fang member dragged her away. Her father screamed in agony as his limbs were cut off one by one, ending with his throat being slit open - the last thing she would ever hear from her father, the only person that ever truly gave her affection. This day would haunt her for the rest of her life. How she could only watch as her mother and father where brutally murdered before her eyes. They say time heals all wounds, but for Shanti, time made her realize more and more the gravity of that day.
"I've never shown anyone this burn until now. Not even my mentor. But I've shown you, and now I have to tell you the story of how it got there. It happened five years ago..."
A blinding light flashed before Rowen Viriatus. He tried to rub his eyes after the blindfold was taken off, but his hands were bound behind his back. As his vision adjusted, the twelve-year-old was met with a grisly sight: the bodies of several Vacuo citizens lay around the warehouse, some bloodied and beaten, others missing limbs or heads. Rowen felt his stomach turn as his eyes scanned the room for signs of life. He was laying on his side on the cold stone floor, badly injured but otherwise alive. A trickle of blood ran from his forehead, creating a small pool on the floor below his mouth. As he rolled over onto his back, a sharp pain ran through his left wrist up to his shoulder - his arm was broken. The sound of his gasps echoed through the warehouse, with nobody around to hear. In desperation, he tried to call for help. "Hello? Is someone there?" No answer. "Please! Somebody help," he cried, praying that anyone outside might hear him.
Just as he gave up hope of anyone finding him, Rowen heard the creaking of a door behind him. "Hello?" he asked, waiting for a reply. Instead, he was met with a kick to the stomach which knocked the wind out of him. Before he could catch his breath, he was dragged to his feet by an armoured man with a metal mask and pushed ahead. "Get moving!" the man shouted. Gasping for air, Rowen slowly walked toward the door, looking behind him every couple of steps. He noticed that the man had.. ears? He was a Faunus! That could only mean one thing. The armour, the mask, the ears - he was a member of the White Fang, a lackey from the looks of it. He stopped to get a better look at the masked Faunus, but was kicked in the back of the legs and thrown into the next room. As he rolled over, he saw what lay before him. It would haunt his nightmares for the next five years.
His entire family - his parents, his two older brothers and his younger sister - were tied to chairs, hands bound behind their backs, all in a row from youngest to oldest. They were blindfolded. Rowen felt himself get lifted from the floor and thrown in a chair as he too was tied to it, placed in front of the lineup. The armoured Faunus stood in front of him, and knelt down.
"Well look who we have here," the Faunus jested. "The gang's all here! The entire Viriatus family, lined up for the taking. Your father thought he could rebel against us and walk away a free man. Well let me tell you, kid: no one double crosses the White Fang unless they're asking for a new orifice!" With that, he pulled off the blindfold of Rowen's father and held a knife to his throat.
"Dad!" Rowen screamed, but his father didn't reply. Instead, he stared at his son with tears in his eyes as the White Fang lackey pressed the knife deeper. Rowen tried to shut his eyes, but he couldn't look away as the Faunus slid the knife across his father's throat. All he could remember from that point on was crying uncontrollably as one by one, his family members were killed in front of him, in the most brutal ways imaginable - too horrible to recount. Finally, the lackey stopped at his mother, ripping off the blindfold.
In earlier years, just the soothing sound of his mother's voice could calm him down and ease his pain. But it did nothing for Rowen now as the lackey pulled out a glowing red blade - a Dust weapon. "Be strong, Rowen," his mother said, trying to keep her composure. "You're the last Viriatus, and a born leader. I am proud to call you my son." The Faunus opened Rowen's mother's mouth and stuck the blade in, and she screamed as the Dust burned her throat and lungs. The lackey laughed as Rowen cried for his mother, now dead.
"Now it's time to finish the job," the Faunus grinned. He lowered the blade and-
"Where the hell did you go?!" he shouted, crouching and looking around. Rowen, still sitting in the chair, was confused by the lackey's sudden loss of sanity, until he looked down and realized that he couldn't see himself. Somehow, some way, he had turned invisible. All fears subsided as he quickly leaned forward, connecting his head with that of the Faunus. He hit the ground and dropped his other knife as Rowen's chair tipped over. Seizing the opportunity, Rowen grabbed the knife from behind himself and cut his hands free. As the lackey picked himself up, Rowen sliced his leg and he fell again - just enough time to get his legs free. He got up and opened the door, running toward the exit of the warehouse.
Rowen tried to hold his broken arm up as he ran as fast as he could. But it wasn't fast enough - he felt a weight press against his back as he was thrown to the ground. The White Fang lackey had tackled him and was rolling him over, pulling out the Dust weapon once more. "You ain't gettin' away so easily, you little bastard," he said as he ripped open Rowen's shirt and lowered the knife toward his throat. Rowen could feel the Dust burning his skin even though the blade was inches away; it was excruciating pain that the young boy had never experienced before. Screaming and thrashing, he managed to free one of his feet and kicked the Faunus in the groin. Rowen pulled himself out from under the lackey, who desperately swung the blade. Dust and metal joined with flesh as the knife ran across Rowen's body, from his neck all the way down to his pelvic bone. It wasn't a deep cut, but it was enough to cause him to scream and writhe on the floor as the Dust burned through to the bone.
The lackey lowered the knife again, and Rowen, laying helplessly on the cold floor, thought of his father and his brothers, and his sister and mother. He thought of the tears welling up in his father's eyes as he looked at his youngest son for the last time. He remembered his eldest brother apologizing for calling him annoying, and his poor younger sister crying uncontrollably, not knowing what was going on. And he thought of what his mother said to him in her final moments: "Be strong."
Be strong. Rage fuelled Rowen as he cried out, throwing the Faunus off of himself. He quickly dove at the Dust knife that lay inches away from the lackey's reach, and climbed on top of him. "This is for my father!" he shouted, stabbing the Faunus in the stomach. "And my brothers!" Another, this time in the chest. "And my sister!" A jab at the throat. "And my mother!" His voice cracked as he drove the knife into the Faunus' eye. "My family!" He stabbed again. "You'll never touch me!" And again. "Never!" And again. And over and over and over...
The warehouse door opened, and Rowen stepped out, covered in the blood of the White Fang lackey. He was no longer a scared little boy.
He was a hunter.
