"Where do you think Tōboe is?"
The day was turning bright with clear skies for this day. The three remaining members all sit still in the open air, doing nothing but biding their time. Daniel looked down at his shoes, covered in dirt. He didn't mind this time, they weren't his best pairs.

Naito is sitting legs crossed, looking towards his leader. "Mary, you mustn't worry for Tōboe constantly. You'll forget that is important to your own health as well as ours."

He looked down, her hair loose down her spine and ears. "It's just my nature, I worry for others. I believe in the good in all the dark. There always something to look for, something to have watching over you, and something to be protecting."

Daniel sighed. "And yet while I believe he's an alright person, I still don't trust him at all."

"Daniel, you and I aren't the same you realize."

"That's obvious isn't it?"

She sighed also, then smiled. "But that's something that we all like about you." He stared back seriously. "It's been a day since we started this, he hasn't show up yet. We all agreed to meet here right? He should've found us by now."

Daniel whipped out his weapon, looking through his scope, searching again for Grimm. "Tōboe may have gotten injured if anything. That's what you're worrying about. We all know what he is, but is he strong enough to survive on his own?" He fired a shot into the distance. Nevermores flew out of the trees from afar.

Naito stood up and stretched. "There isn't much we can do except wait or search for him. It's him that may be wanting to be alone. If he hadn't meet up with us for months before, he may be doing the same again." He looked around his surroundings, hearing the sounds of weapons and Grimm cries. Surviving a week in this forest, where they as entering students came to this very spot to decide their teams. "If we don't hunt Grimm, it may be wasting our time here as well. I'm sure our assignment is to survive and kill Grimm here as well, or why else would be here if all we do is hide?"

"We'll stay here one more day. I want to give Tōboe one more chance." Mary took her weapon and thrusts it into the ground. "I want to believe he'll come. If he doesn't….." She looked down towards the ground, a bit mellowed by her words. "...we'll have to continue without him."

"I understand." Naito replied. He turned his eyes towards Daniel. "Hey, while we're here, you want to spar for a while?"

Daniel turned his eye off his scope and turned to his teammate. "Sparring eh? I haven't lost a match in several years. I'm sure that I can compete with you. I'm in." He lowered his blade, morphing away it's scope and handle straightens out. He holds his rapier out and is in a battle stance.

Naito too takes his blade out from it's sheath from behind. He too holds it out, in both his hands. "Don't be too sure of yourself. Being overconfident leads to your loss."

"Don't count on it."

Gunshots, yells and cries, creatures howling and moaning, people dying. Is this what we as Hunters will become? Are we guardians to our kind, or destroyers of creatures unknown? I am alone in this world, right? I am one of a kind. No others are like me. I wish I wasn't alone. I wish I wasn't born like this. I wish I could shed my fur, hide my ears, and look like my people. The same people who hurt me. Who hurt me...who hurt me…

Who hurts me?

Hurt.

What is hurt?

Hurt….

A strange word for an emotion you can feel, you can sense, and you can convey.

Hurt.

Something that I've known for most of my life.

Pain.

A feeling that I gave to myself when others don't.

Agony.

The emotion that others inflict on my physical being. Through the scars and tears of flesh, of my skin, of my hide, of my fur.

Denial.

Something I don't want to see, something I don't want to accept. Something I want to prove wrong, that they can't change. But they can.

If I can't change how I look, then can I change how they act?

No.

No, I can't.

"Faunus..." I can't change how they act to them, or how they all act to me. "I don't want to be who I am anymore." They can't understand my pain. That I am something else entirely. "I don't want to be a Faunus anymore." I am...one of a kind? I am… "I am...I am...an abomination…" Why am I crying? There is a tear running down my face. There is a tear running down my fur. My ears have gone deaf. I can only hear myself, but at that same time I can't. Why am I crying? "Why….why am I crying...why am I alone."

"Humans….they…" What are they? "I'm not the monster…." No...I am not. "Fauna….they….they are monsters. They are all monsters…." Yes...that's right...they are the monsters...not me. "They…"

Why am I crying?

Two blades collide and retract. One flies over head, one fighter ducks beneath. He kicks the other fighter, and he dodges it by jumping back. Naito and Daniel both deep into sparring with each other. Both their styles differ much from each other, but each is well adapting to one another's ways. Naito is panting, becoming exhausted from fighting his teammate. Daniel stands upright, breathing as well, but not as tired. "Had enough?" He chokes, taking in air.

"No, not yet," replied Naito. He lunges forward, swinging his blade from below hitting his rival's blade upward. Being caught off guard, Daniel was then kicked back and he fell flat. He quickly recovered himself, rolling into a stance on the ground, he in a defensive position.

Daniel leaps into the air, high above his rival and then hitting against his blade. Landing on his feet, he went forth to a fast, flurry of attacks. Naito is resisting all he can, countering his blade's slashes. He blow to his stance, weakening his arms and legs becoming weary to stand. Daniel landed a hit from his right, Naito countered to his left. His blade tossed his rival's rapier aside and Naito kicked his rival down. Daniel landed flat on the ground. He was breathing hard, then his felt a strong pound on his chest. Naito stamped his foot on him. He pointed his blade at Daniel. "I win." Sweat was gleaming off his forehead as he was breathing heavy. He returned his blade back to its place, stepping off his then rival.

Daniel stood up, dusting off his attire. "Alright, I admit. I lost this time, but next time, don't be so sure." He walked over to his blade and retrieved it.

Naito sat down and opened his canteen. He poured water over his head, then into his mouth. He was tired from sparring now. He was a well-rounded fighter, for a person of his skill level anyhow.

"You did alright Naito." Daniel too drank water from his canteen. "You know, I don't think I fought someone with your fighting style before."
"I learned from my village. It's one of the only ways we are able to survive Grimm attacks. Those buggers keep coming back every so often."

"Yeah, I bet." He chuckled to himself, still thinking himself a bit superior to him. "Maybe I should learn to fight better against your people then huh? You know, so I can beat you next time."

"Maybe." He took a deep breath and held it in. He felt his heart beat pounding inside. The rhythmic thumping inside of him still beating quickly. He let go of his breath. "Hey Daniel, where are you from anyhow?"

"Well I'm from around here. I'm from Vale." He took in water, swallowed and sighed. "Not from a far away land like your guys, just a local boy who lives here."

"You know that you dress in those fancy clothes most of the time." Naito pointed at what Daniel was wearing. His outfit consisted of white dress attire, a three piece suit, the overcoat being the longest of what he's wearing on his torso. His pants too were dress attire, but his shoes weren't so much as they were more like boots than fine leather. "Any reason why?"

"Not really. I like dressing sharp, ever in battle. I like my appearance a bit more than you ya know." He loosened his neck tie, black fabric choking him from the quick sparring match. "I don't have money, or rich parents, but I got to look good somehow right?"

"Looks can be deceiving right? I personally thought you were rich, or really wealthy, but I guess not." He sat down onto the ground, a bit of dirt flying from below. "So be honest."

"Honest about what?"

"Tōboe."

"What about him?"

"You said before you didn't trust him right?" Naito closed his eyes. "Can you tell us why?"

He looks down at the ground, a bit soured by the question. He chuckled suddenly, smiling. He laughed, raising his head up and looking at Naito. "There's no point in hiding it any longer than huh?"

"You weren't hiding anything, just keeping it as bay."

"Whatever you say really. Look, I don't trust him yet. I don't know what the hell he is. I don't know if he's a Faunus, a Human, or whatever third world species he is. He may even be a Grimm for all I know, I mean look at him! He's a walking, talking animal."

"And yet he acts no different than us."

"That's just not all of it. I don't like being betrayed, by anyone or anything. I already had a hard time trusting your two, I'll have a harder time just trusting that...that...Faunus-thing...whatever he is!"

"He's a Faunus, a wolf Faunus."

"That he may be, but what he isn't is an ally. I've had my troubles in the past with trusting people, and it's not as dramatic as you, having your girlfriend take your eye. I've lost my trust in people with normal things. My father, my mother, my friends, people who asked for favors, or even just ways of trying to get ahead in life."

"How your mom and dad?"

"Well it's just stupid little things when I was younger, like being promised something and not getting it. It was because we were poor then. I was too young to get it, but now I do. Still, it affected me pretty young, so it's stuck with me now. A few friends of mine have 'betrayed' me in another sense, just like when I needed them most, they didn't come. I had a one lonely birthday and when I was in the hospital once before, none of them even noticed. I just felt ignored by them."

"It's seems pretty normal to me, but why all that has to affect you?"

"Well nothing really, but it's hard to explain. You see, I'm just a normal person. I don't have these dramatic backstories like everyone else. I'm a bit of a jerk to people and I don't care that much. Plus I was raised to dislike Fauna."

"You're not like your parents. You don't have to dislike Fauna."

"Well I kinda have to since there was a Faunus that cheated me out of my money. I was investing a few years ago in a product, and this Faunus was my connection to get a share of the profits. It was a scam that I found out later. Took people's Lien and just skipped to another kingdom. The product was something that could store Dust more effectively than what the Schnee Company could make, which I thought could no doubt make more money. I can't remember what the Faunus looked like, or even their name, but having one Faunus trick me, I don't want another to do the same."

"Your life seems to be very...normal I would say. Not average, but still. It's still no real reason to hate Tōboe for all that. He's just a misunderstood child from what I can tell."

"Remember what he said before? Tōboe said that he was raised by Beowolves. I don't believe that part at all right now. He may be a depressed person, sure. He may have tried to suicide, that I can understand, but going to extremes and saying he was raised by Grimm, that he spent his childhood just with those things. I'm starting to believe he wants attention now, that he wants to be liked."

"That may be true, but we have yet seen him act as one of them yet. Here in the Emerald Forest, there are Grimm near every corner, some being in a crowd and some just wandering solo. It's been what….three days now? Where do you think he is? Being alone, he can go so far with the amount of Grimm present."

"He must be strong then."

"The wolves…" Both males turned to Mary. "The Beowolves here….that first night they were howling, almost in unison. You remember that?"

"Yeah, I do," replied Daniel. "

"I felt that...that one of those howls, the very first howl of that night was Tōboe. That he was calling them."

"Mary, he's a Faunus. Do you really think he would risk being with the Grimm?"

"But he did. I know you don't believe him, but I do. People have their own stories in life, and he told us his. Sure, it may seem...unreal, something that is far from our own reality, but I believe in his word." She smiled, looking down at the ground. "Tomorrow...we'll find him, either by himself or with his family. The ones he said will protect him. I don't want to hurt him or his family, so please Daniel, don't be so rash when we find him."

"If we find them..."