Chapter IIIISarah's P.O.V

I sat down and sobbed. What else could I do? My mother just died before me, and my town and village is gone.

And Dad is nowhere to be seen. I had run away from the group in sadness. No one stopped me. And now I'm lost on what seems to be a mainstreet.

I let out another sob. Why was this happening? It made no sense: everything was fine. I was happy and had a future. Then I died and woke up here. Sure, I wasn't as happy, but I still had a future and a bit of happiness.

So why was this happening?

I wiped the tears from my eyes. Crying wouldn't help. I had to find Dad and… do something. But the question is… where do I go? A police station? They'd be able to find Dad.

"Are you okay, miss?" asked a stranger, suddenly making his presence known from the spot next to me. I realized that I was still crying and wiped the tears from my eyes.

"Sorry. I just… I need to get to the…" I let out another sob. " I need to get to the police station. My family is gone and I need to find them. Please help me, sir."

Usually I wouldn't even think about telling a stranger about this, but desperate times called for desperate measures. And… slightly incoherent and random thoughts.

"Hey, hey. I'll help, okay? Calm down, shhh. It'll be alright." he said after I bust into another round of tears. Eventually, though, he had helped me up and was now placing a steady hand on my shoulder.

"What's your name, kid?"

"S-sorry. Azure. My name is Azure."

"Okay, Azure. You can call me John. Let's go to the police, okay?"

"M-mm!"

Eventually we made it to the police. It took an hour to do so, but we made it. I was still crying. I knew it, he knew it, yet he didn't comment. He must have understood my situation more than I thought.

But here we are, now. In front of a police station. I was going to find my Dad, hopefully. Now I just need to… go inside and ask.

I looked at John for help, and he gently pushed me into the station and started talking to the guy at the front counter, gesturing to me over and over.

Eventually the police asked me something. It was easy to answer, but his soft tone was still appreciates.

"What's your name, kid?"

"Azure Mayella."

He sighed and leaned back into his chair. He ran his hands through his hair and shot me a pitying look. I think I knew it what it meant- they couldn't find him.

In reality, the situation was worse.

"A few hours ago, a man named Jacob Mayella tried to leave a gate to go back to his town, Ansel." the police said to John. "We tried to stop him, as the town had just fell. But he kept on begging and causing a fuss so… Well, we let him through.

"Chances are that he's dead, kid. He had no protection with him, so if he went back to Ansel…"

I tuned him out and leaned myself on John's legs. I tucked my face in his pants and let tears run down my face.

It started out as a few, but soon became waterfalls. I just didn't understand how this could happen. Everything was fine, damnit!

I had a life, friends, a family! I was learning about my future- I had a future, damnit! I could've been a farmer, a scholar, or anything!

But then I fucking died.

That stupid car and those fucking Grimm. I could've been happy! No…

I was happy.

I may have died, but I still enjoyed myself. I liked walking through the woods with my Mom. I liked feeding the chickens with Dad. Hell, I didn't even mind the spiteful glares of the townsfolk too much. I could deal with that.

But now it's gone.

I let out another sob, and another, and another. Until soon a half an hour had passed and I had quieted down.

I just continued to hug John's leg, but soon was forced to let go as he kneeled in front of me.

"Hey." he whispered softly, voice filled with pity. "I know you're sad- you have every right to be. But right now, you need to worry about yourself. I won't be able to take care of you- I'm just a beggar. But we might be able to find you and orphanage or something, alright…?"

I tuned him out. An orphanage? Why would I go there? In my past life, I had used to look down on orphans. Yes, it was mean, but… Well, I had money and a family while they had… nothing.

I have nothing.

"C'mon. Let's go."

I nodded in silence and started walking out of the station, feeling as if everyone was staring at me. In truth, they weren't, but right now it felt as if that sleeping Angel was staring into me, shifting through fate to make my life miserable.

If he was, it worked.

"What's your name, sweety"

The voice was fake, as if she were talking to a child.

She is.

Oh, right. I'm a child now. I've become so used to my parents treating me as someone responsible and talking to me as such.

That'll change now, I suppose. These… strangers won't understand anything about me. They'll most likely assume that I'm like them: Immature. They'd be surprised.

Yes, I was mostly happy and tried to stay positive. But right now… I think I deserve to let go of some of the hate that I hold.

"Azure Mayella, Ma'am."

It pays to be respectful. Now if only she would get this over with.

"Hello Azure, welcome to your new home." she said. "We'll have Hei tour you around the building, does that sound alright? Good. Now, tomorrow we will need to take you to the doctors for a medical check-up, so don't be surprised when you're called together. Now… Hei!"

A black, gangster looking man walked through the door and into the room we were in. He looked annoyed, but kept his anger inside. In fact, he hid it pretty well. Mrs. Maudie, the main caretaker, didn't even notice.

"Show Azure around the building, alright? Make sure to take her to dinner."

"Fine. C'mon, then." he said, gesturing to me. The moment we left the room, he snarled out "Hag."

He glanced at me, most likely considering whether or not to actually give me the tour or just hand my one of the maps.

"Call me Junior, not Hei. Hei was my Dad. Now, c'mon I need to show your around the building."

We walked around the building, pointing to different rooms and telling me what they are. He even listened to Mrs. Maudie and got me some food to eat from the dinner room.

He also snatched some chocolate, of course.

"You're pretty quiet, aren't ya?" he asked/said to me.

"Not usually. Just very tired and wanting to hurt someone." I said truthfully. By now, I didn't even care about how he reacted to the statement.

Turns out, he found it funny. He started laughing and grinning at me.

"I like you. Go to dorm room 132, me and my pal's hang out 'round there. As long as you don't cause trouble, you can stay."

I mulled it over a bit. It would get me away from the loud and irritating city-kids. Junior, at least, seemed to be at about my maturity before my death.

"Sure. How old are you?"

"15, you?"

"7."

And that's how I might Junior, self proclaimed master criminal who's shoplifted more than a hundred stores.

And that's how I found my first real friend.

"You do realize that you are turning it wrong, right?" I said to Hei, smiling only slightly.

"Hm? How would you know?"

"I just know. It is right-left-right, not right-right-right. It's probably one of the most simple locks. What are you even trying to do?"

"Psh, sorry. I'm trying to get the keys to all the rooms and vehicles. I'll do that weird tin-foil thing you showed me to make a copy of the keys and then we'll be able to do anything."

Oh, right. Teenagers feeling invincible. I felt like that, too, before my death. It was certainly… fun. It wouldn't hurt to be able to experience for just a bit longer… right?

"Get me two wrenches from the toolbox." I said to him, who quickly went and got the tools I needed. I put the ends in between the locked and pulled.

C-Crack.

Welp, didn't break all the way through.

"Here." I said, putting his hands on the wrenches. "Push them outwords and the lock will break. Make sure to make the keys quickly though- the lock will be broken. The patrons will notice."

He grinned and me and shot me a thumbs up, quickly breaking the lock, taking the keys, and making a few copies of each of them.

He put them on ring, placed the keys back, and ushered me out of the room. Soon we were back in our room.

"Hahaha! I love you, Azure! Always so knowledgeable and shit. I will never regret meeting you. You see, you and me? We can go far together. No, we will go far. With these, we can do anything!" he said, holding up the keys.

"Indeed. Mind getting me a chocolate bar?"

I stared as the police took Mrs. Maudie away. The orphanage was falling, and all the kids had to leave. Most found families- but some…

But me…

Turns out, orphanages were rare in Vale, and those that were still open? Full. So where did that leave the 13 children who weren't adopted? Where did that leave me?

On the streets.

I glared at the police car. They may have been doing their job, but now I was homeless. Junior had left when the police had arrived, so I couldn't go with him.

'Tsk' I thought, 'What do I do now? My family's dead and I'm… homeless. God dammit, this life turned out to be shitty.'

I sighed and turned away from the orphanage, I'd need to find a place to live. With the other orphanages full, where could I live?

I started walking towards the main-street. If I were to find anything, it would be there. I was, in fact, completely wrong… just not in the way I had expected.

"Excuse me, sir. Can you help me? I need somewhere to live, and…"

"Pst."

And he walked away. I didn't want to try again, as heat filed my face. It was so… humiliating begging someone for a place to live.

"Ma'am, do you know if I could live-"

"Shoo! Pitiful beggar!"

'Rude!' I thought. The least they could do was hear me out. Of course, my face heated up in embarrassment and I ran away.

They few next times were even worse, most including-

"Faunus trash." one man said, spitting on me. Literally spitting on me, for my goddamn ears.

I shrunk into myself as he walked past me. He was a pretty intimidating man. Then again, it could just be that I was small.

I could feel my pride and courage slowly seeping away from me a the total refusals slowly increased.

"Psh." said one Mother. She didn't even stop her son from calling me a 'freak'! Racism was common in Ansel, but it seems the city was even worse.

Soon it became night, and no one was willing to take me in. I had asked Faunus, too. But the majority of them didn't have enough money to feed me. The one's that did weren't willing to take in a beggar.

That was what I had become, today. A beggar.

I curled up on myself to get a bit of warmth. I was in a small alley between a bakery and business building. Two bins of trash blocked me from the passersbys that were walking through. I was trying to grasp onto the little bit of pride I had left.

This would be my new life, I realised. Racism would become even more constant, starvation a companion, and the chill of wind normal.

This would be my new life.

The scream of children woke me up. Children were playing in the road in front of my hiding hole, humans. I wasn't willing to go out in fear of being seen in my pitiful state.

My solution? Waiting. But they just kept on playing, and eventually my stomach had started growling. I needed to go out.

When I went out, the kids stared at me. Or more importantly, my dirty clothes and bunny ears. I must've looked horrible, because they actually looked creeped out.

"Freak!" one said. The others soon started shouting their agreements. Tears gathered in my eyes. I was mature… I was mature… They are just children…

I ran away quickly. I couldn't deal with this right now.

But I quickly ran into another problem. Food.

I had no money, no nothing, so what was I supposed to do? The answer was obvious, yet I was so hesitant and adamant about it. I wouldn't lower myself to begging for money and food.

Was what I thought at the time.

A few hours later, I had found myself in the street, and small plastic box in front of me. I had picked it up from the trash.

"Money, please. Money or food, please…"

A majority of the male humans spit in it. Some humans gave me a few coins, but not a lot. Most of my money came from pitying Faunus, and it hurt to say 'thank you'. By the end of the day, my pride had been demolished and scattered.

Meaning it wasn't there anymore.

But I also had a warm loaf of bread in my hand and a small bottle of water.

Sleep still didn't come easy.

"Money, please. Please spare some Lien…" I begged to the people who were passing by. It had been 3 days since the orphanage fell.

Life was hell.

I had awoken with a sore throat. My clothes had become covered in dirt and dust, and my hair was only as combed as my hand allowed it to be.

Meaning I looked like shit.

"Please, money…"

People were starting to move away from me in disgust. I wasn't getting as much money as the previous days, and I was starting to worry that I wouldn't be able to get any food.

Why didn't Vale have any lawns? I would've been able to mow them for a good amount of money.

In the midst of my dreaming, I missed a kid coming towards me… and promptly stealing the little bit of money I had saved up.

"Hey! Get back here!" I yelled and started running after him, quickly catching up to him and pushing him over. I took my money and looked back at him.

His head was bleeding due to contact with the concrete.

I stared in horror. I hurt a child! I didn't mean to do that, dammit! I had morals… I looked around and saw people staring at the me in horror and disappointment. And disgust, because I was a Faunus.

"Hey, that Faunus freak hurt Jacob!" a kid said, and man did he look angry.

"No, I didn't mean to…"

"Get 'er" one screamed, and they started charging at me. They probably wouldn't hurt me… but I was a Faunus. If I learned one thing from the past few days, it was a simple truth that I needed to get used to.

Faunus hurt humans. And right now, I was being chased by humans.

Goddamnit.

Then something happened. A good something.

After a week of getting little to no food, begging, and sleeping in an alley, someone had given me a gift.

A middle-aged man came up to me and dropped down a new set of clothes, slightly big so they would last me, a belt for the jeans, a small container for money, a blanket, and a cap.

A cap!

I could hide my ears, change my clothes, and no one would realize that I was a Faunus! And with the blanket, I would be able to stay warm at night. I could also put my clothes in the container to keep them clean, then wear my dirty clothes to bed.

It would all work out!

I said thank you once, twice, and many more times. I only stopped because people were started to stare.

"No problem, kid." He said. "Just remember to stay safe and see the good in life."

I may not be able to do that, but…

"Okay, mister!"

I watched as he left and quickly went into my alley, laid down my stuff and changed into my new clothes, before quickly running out of the valley.

A cap was hiding my, at the moment, small bunny ears.

Of course, once my ears grew, the cap wouldn't work. But I'd have saved up enough money to get a hoodie, by then

I quickly ran out of the alley, set up my container in a different spot (so people don't recognize me), and started begging.

"Money, please."

"Sure thing, kid." One human said.

Others joined him.

It was despicable, to be honest. I had to hide part of me just so I could get enough money to survive. But I could worry about that later…

I had enough money for two loaves of bread, and I was hungry.

My hate for humans had grown during this time, for sure. They were cruel and idiotic, but I also realized that some were nice. Like the one who gave me the stuff, for example.

I slept easily, and in the morning?

I had clean clothes.

Sperare: The end was a bit rushed, I admit. But I hope it's still good. Anyway, all errors will be fixed by next week.Thanks for reading!Follow, Favorite, Review!