I regret the day I let my guard down and trust others to carry on my goal. As I stood on those various podiums, preaching of love, advocating peace, the flames that erupted later on shocked me greatly. These men and women have suffered greatly at the bottom of their fellow man, but rage brings more rage and what results is a pool of unintelligible anger. Each action's justification becomes more and more ridiculous until all that can really be said is an index finger motion around one's throat. Now, my name is covered in flames, burning the roses, cutting the violets, bleeding the innocent, killing the sky. I never wanted this. I never wished for the fangs to turn red.

"Hey." I hear Vanya saying in the corner of my ear, her voice projected toward me specifically. "We're running low on canned food again." She says in a slightly irritated tone.

"It's getting dark, we should go when there's more light." Luther suggests, worry enveloping his voice.

"Damn," Vanya mutters, "I'm still not even half filled yet." She drops the can she was eating out of on the hardwood floor.

"Sorry, safety comes first."

I look over to Cadea, still patting her child within, motherly and feminine, shining beautifully. I look at the can beside Vanya. Ravioli. Cheese, beef, tomato, fats. "Cadea, did you remember to take your vitamin supplements yet?" I ask her as softly as I can in hopes to avoid irritating her for interrupting her bond with the only other family she has.

"Yes, I did already." She smiles brightly, "Thank you for caring." She looks down at her belly and puts both palms on the sides, feeling the warmth within, "I think the baby's healthy enough for today."

"We got enough vitamins to last for the week right?" Vanya asks, her eyes wider than usual.

"For the whole month actually." Luther responds immediately. "We got a lot from that pharmacy run a few days back. If she just takes three every day, she can definitely last for a month."

Her eyes fall to the floor, beginning to calm, "All right, good. Just making sure."

I look at Kiana, she looks at her phone and taps once before she puts it back down on her lap and look at the upper right corner of the room we are sitting in, most likely staring at a spider web. I look in the direction she is staring in and see that it is indeed just that. The strands are small but plentiful, crossing one another to remain together, united, connected. I feel as if a tear might appear from the corner of my eye, as the spider scurries around, trying its best to protect its home, its purpose from falling apart as another spider sits in the corner, watching. Good luck my friend. Times change, people don't, and when that happens, things begin to fall apart.

Though I think this, I can not help but to think of the lives of the spiders. They build this web of unity, for their family, children, brethren. For the web to fall apart means the destruction of themselves, but there are always those who do time's work to destroy it. These individuals tear down the pre-established foundations to start anew, preventing any changes that could occur for the better. Nothing but confusion and rage could fill my mind about the individuals who destroyed the city of Beacon. Faunus kind were so very close to obtaining equality and civil rights. Their river of freedom could be heard behind the forests of hardship and their happiness just beyond the river. However, the rage and ignorance of those enraged cut the forest down in hopes to destroy the woods that block their path, causing the trees to fall, making the journey much more difficult if not impossible now.

"Do you think spiders are pretty?" I hear a monotone voice call from my right, quiet and somewhat emotionless.

I look to see Kiana looking at with her blank eyes, probably curious as to what caught my attention in the corner, but I can not be too sure since her face never shows any of her thoughts. It might be because she is good at hiding, or it could be because she is tired of showing. "Y-yeah, a bit." I say, realizing that I have not answered her yet.

"They tend to be very misunderstood. The friendly, non poisonous ones simply live alongside humans and faunus, in fear of us. The more dangerous brethren, however, are much more fierce and bite and human or faunus that gets too close. What results is this fear of them all as a whole, because of their form we find disgusting and the potential danger their species can bring, and so everyone tends to destroy the first spider they see to prevent any death." Kiana points to the web in the corner, "That one is poisonous but it does not want to hurt us because it has lost a close friend to the previous humans and faunus that inhabited this place before. Now, she only wishes to protect the only family she has without being involved with us for she knows revenge will only bring the demise of them both."

"How do you know this?" I ask, slightly confused, surprised, and astonished.

"They have always been there since we came here last week. Even when we had much more people, some closer and more threatening to its nest, it remained there, trembling, wishing that the larger beings would leave them alone." She looks at the web once more to confirm that they are still there, together. "The smaller spiders are always misrepresented by their larger grim counterparts. It's a pity that they must cower in fear all their lives."

I hear a snicker in the corner of the room. I look over to see Vanya smirking at the ground, a palm over her forehead. "Throughout this whole week, you talked the most today and it's about goddamn spiders." she says, almost to herself. "And to him of all people." she adds almost out of spite.

Kiana says nothing, as if the negative statement itself was worth as much as her dust in the wind, a bland rock within a field of pebbles. She continues to look at the web in the corner of the room as Vanya looks out the window, somewhat disappointed of the lack of response. "Damn, I'm still hungry." she mutters.

"Well there's nothing you can do but wait." I tell her. I myself am not too sure why I said it. It must be to return the spite, to express my anger, to speak the truth. Either way, her opinion of me was simply enforced due to that statement.

She averts her gaze from outside the window to directly at me. She has the eyes of red hatred, her blood flowing through her iris with increased darkness as she looks deeper into my despicable face. I regret ever saying a word.

"How about you shut it Mr. Politics." She says, her hatred gathering around her throat as she states this, all the while glaring at me with her blood soaked eyes. "Why don't you go tell some faunuses to kill more people."

I have no idea what came into my body. I wanted it to have been a foreign entity that controlled my every movement, but I know that it is something ugly that has been building up inside me for a very long time. This being is the reason why I feel older than I really am, why I despise showing my face to others, especially the white fang, who treat me in the most despicable fashion of them all. These words that Vanya has shoved into my throat sparked this force that I have spoken and advocated against. My head becomes light, my face is on fire, my legs have no mass, my arms light enough to swing endlessly.

"I didn't do that and you know it!" I shouted as I stand up, "You all know, goddamn it! I never wanted any of this to happen"

Vanya looks at me as if she is facing a tyrant. "You caused it and that's all that matters. Your little reasons don't matter to the dead kids a few blocks away because they didn't know that faunuses were the better species."

"Don't compare me to those lawless bastards, I will never tell people to kill. I will never tell people to bow to me. I didn't kill these people. I want that masked fiend dead as much as the next person. why can't you see that?"

Vanya stands up to meet her eyes with mine. I can see the darkness in her blood and I know that I my eyes are a direct mirror of hers.

"Then why don't you do something about it? Those 'lawless bastards' love you so the minute you tell them to stop, they'll leave, but no, instead you hide away like a coward!"

"It's not that simple."

"Well it's a start you damn skinless idiot!"

"They won't listen to me so easily."

"That's not what their praises say."

"You don't understand a thing you're saying, Vanya."

"Then I guess your parents didn't either when they die-"

Hell's gates had been broken, the beast broke free. Hades name has been spoken and so rings the bells of rage that rings for all to hear.

I don't remember much of what happened. it was much too fast for me to notice.

It was a blur, a sharp pain on my fist, then my body, then my face, again, again, again, again. It stops. The colors begin to form shapes, figures, people, Vanya. She breathes heavily above me, her fist red of my blood, I assume, and her eyes as if she has just killed a man. A man who has hurt her dearly for many decades. Luther is by her side, holding her back with all of his might as she tries her best to lunge at me. Kiana is to my left, I begin to feel her arm on my numbing back, helping me up. The statement she said remains latched in my mind. I want it to leave, but the word will stay. I've wanted it to leave for a long time and it had, but oh how it has returned.

My head continues to ring as my body is lifted upright without my control. I look over to Cadea, still sitting, but her face restless and concerned and surprised of the scene Vanya and I have performed for her. Her light green eyes, shining with care yet helpless and unsure of what to do.

"Don't blame yourself, Cadea." I say, half consciously and unsure of why, without meeting her eyes. I look up at Vanya who looks down on me in return, the blood still running through her eyes. "You win." I say, putting on my best fearless face. The blood slows, it remains clotted in place for a while, unsure of where to go. Then it slowly drains from the eyes, leaving the pink iris in peace, showing the whites once more. Luther loosens his grip of her as she begins to relax herself. Her eyes begin to fade as she looks down upon me. The gaze of pity. She gestures Luther away from her and walks away. "For now." I mutter, under my breath, under my mouth, out of sight, out of mind. It was out of spite. It has no meaning behind it. I am not mad. Anger continues the cycle of misery and everyone knows that. I of all people should know that. Maybe. I don't know.

Cadea comes over to me with two tissue papers and begins wiping my face, mostly my nose. "Thank you." I say, smiling to the best of my ability, not thinking of my injured face.

As if I never smiled, her face remains concerned, but more collective now that Vanya's anger has subsided. "I never blamed myself to begin with,"

"Oh, sorry. I just thought, uh. Well, your eyes." I hesitate.

"I was just surprised that you acted so rashly at her"

My eyes fall, not having the energy to remain looking at her after remembering what I just did. I thought I was over it. I guess I'm not. I'm still obsessed. The name of Hades had been said and my humanity acted upon itself. I may have controlled it. It is too colorless to recall if the beast was tamed or wild, if I could have controlled it. "I just really respected my parents." I lie.

"Everybody does." Cadea smiles, "But no parent would want you to hurt another person like that."

My chest grows heavy. I never knew my parents, only of their accomplishments and of their activism. They inspired me, but I never really truly respected them. I felt as if I could have done a better job. I wanted to achieve the results they were not able to see before their deaths. I don't know what else I could have said but I never saw myself as a dishonest man.

"Y-yeah." I weakly whisper. Cadea smiles brightly.

I look back up to see Luther sitting next to Vanya on the other side of the room, talking to her intently, trying to calm her, maybe even to change her opinion of me. I highly doubt she will, and I do not blame her at all. I look at Kiana, whose eyes are on the other side. These three, why did they not step in to stop the argument? Did they even see us? Did they even hear us? They never would have expected me to act in such a manner, but surely any argument should be ended as soon as it begins.

"You two have despised one another since last week." Kiana begins, "I wanted to let you two argue because I thought you would have answered most of her questions as to why you never spoke to your faunus followers about your disapproval of militant action, but that happened instead. Why did you not tell them?" I remain silent. I have just answered her question for her. "They praise you too much to do any harm to you. They still reference you, but not as much anymore due to that red haired fellow being their new leader now. But either way, you must tell them what they are doing is wrong before others must suffer as well."

"It's too late. They destroyed Beacon Academy and all the hunters and huntresses are scattered about with no sense of direction. The White Fang have won. They now seize this desolate wasteland and I give them a 'hey ho' for their accomplishment."

"You can not surrender so easily otherwise Vanya will be absolutely correct about you being a coward."

"Fine then, I'm a coward for hiding, a fool for trusting, a sap for giving up. I simply don't care anymore. Anything I say is hurtful. My beautiful poems will be turned to poison. The hints of hate within a speech will be intensified tenfold and used as a chant for warfare. Let the grimm kill me for all that matters." I try catching myself from saying any of this but I could not. The words kept coming unconsciously without my control. Tears edge toward the edge of my eye. The beast has come again.

"Don't say things like that. That's dangerous territory." Cadea begins, putting her soft, velvet-like palm on my head and gently brushing it. "Grimm loves to feed off of pessimism like yours. You need to show them that you're better than that. If you can influence the white fang's beginning, you can sure as hell stop it." I look at Cadea, surprised at her use of profanity. She smiles at me to comfort me as her soft palm eases me. It works.

Kiana pats my back lightly, somewhat impatiently, "Do you feel better now?" She asks me.

"I'm still a bit sore, but yeah, I feel much better than before."

"Good, then you should go to your mattress and sleep. It is getting late and you need to rest up for our food run tomorrow."

"Yeah." I quickly mutter before struggling to stand upright. Cadea attempts to help me but I gesture her to leave. I glance at Vanya as I walk past her and she does not even look in my direction. Perhaps she does not care about me anymore. I am most likely just another cowardly politician in her eyes, scared for his life, scared for his image to be more tainted than it already has been.

I walk down the hallway, lacking of the light that was in the living room we gathered in. The walls are cold and the absence of windows only make the path darker than it already is. Second door on the left, that is my room. Beyond the door frame, I am welcomed by a bare mattress only elevated two feet above the ground and full of springs as its interior. I shuffle to the mattress and fall carefully onto the spring filled bliss. I lie there for a few seconds, smiling. I remember of my youth, when my dreams were still alive and my hopes were among the birds that soared in the skies. I believed everyone would know what I am saying, what I want, what I believed in. What a happy, ignorant fool I was.

My smile fades. The tears come again, this time falling more uncontrollably. "Hello again." it says as it resurges from my eyes now. I turn my body so my eyes face the wall. Beacon. A symbol of hope, a city of lights. I've lived here for thirty years, but I've already seen the lights extinguished before last week. The white fang could have came today and the city would still be dark. Maybe not for some, maybe not for many, but for me, the night embraces me, covering my face in its warm chest. I have not seen light for five years. I do not expect to any time soon.