So, It's been more than three weeks since I haven't uploaded a new chapter, however, I thanked my Beta reader, 5th Dimension, to improve the storyline in a better way.
Chapter 6: Cries of the Faunus - On the way to Equality.
Year 2002, New York Harbor.
When the large ocean liner passed under the Brooklyn Bridge, the passengers from Atlas were awestruck by its gigantic architecture.
Within half an hour of sightseeing, the ship stopped at the docks of the city and hundreds of Faunus stepped out from the ship, carrying luggage and their belongings with their family.
"Alright, everyone line up!" yelled the Security. "No shoving through the waiting line or other violent acts, make sure you don't leave your belongings or important papers behind."
They stood in line in front of the registration booth, each passenger, one by one and family by each family, both humans and Faunus passengers asked whether they wanted to live in or were just visiting the country. However, once they got out from the booth, most Faunus entering for their first time were scared or nervous for one particular reason.
In this place, there were no Faunus at all. They expected the humans to be scared or disgusted for them being a different species, but...
"WELCOME TO AMERICA!"
Instead, they were met by a large group of people, hundreds of them, cheering and greeting them happily, white, red and blue confetti's popped in the air, waving American flags and signs that read "Welcome to America!" while the police kept the cheerful crowd behind interlocking barricades to make a free way for the newcomers.
After they got out from the cheerful crowd, news reporters came by, asking the Faunus which Kingdom they hailed from and who they really were. The Faunus were surprised by their questions. Although the Americans had heard about Faunus, they were still clueless about the new species of humanoids.
"So Ms. Eileen, from which Kingdom do you hail from?" the reporter asked in a cheery tone.
"From the Kingdom of Atlas." replied the rabbit Faunus.
"Can you tell me what your purpose is here in America?"
"I came here to make a new life."
"Oh, that's great." She smiled. "Now one last question, are those real rabbit ears on your head?"
The rabbit Faunus was taken aback by this question, yet she regained her calm composure as she realized how clueless these people were about Faunus.
"Y-Yes they are real."
"May I touch them?"
"Of course but p-please don't hurt them."
"My god, they're real!" the reporter said out loud while patting the ears. "Could these people around us be like you?"
"Yes, do you ever hear about the Faunus?"
"I once heard about them from some tourists, but never met one in person until now. Alright, I've finished my report and it was nice meeting you, Ms. Eileen. Oh, by the way, Welcome to America."
"Thank you," Eileen smiled back.
In her past, she was discriminated, mainly by humans back in Atlas, but now, for the first time she received a warm welcome… from other foreign humans.
France, Le Havre.
In the streets of the port city of Le Havre, Mistralian/Atlesian human and Faunus immigrants were met by people who cheered upon their arrival.
"Bienvenue aux nouveaux arrivants!" cheered a French citizen. "Welcome to France, new people!"
They'd never thought they would be met by such friendliness from the citizens of France. People waved cheerful greetings and confetti was blown up in the air. Behind the crowd, a CNN newscaster stood in front of a cameraman with the cheering crowd and newcomers in the background.
"As we can see here, the crowd of Le Havre are cheering for newcomers from Atlas and Mistral in France-"
Kingdom of Vale.
"-due to this, the people that came here want to learn the language, culture, history and how the system works here."
Inside one of the local bars in Vale city, customers and the Barkeep himself watched the foreign news channel, an American news channel called CNN. There had been scenes and photographs on the holo-screens, depicting mostly humans interacting peacefully with the Faunus.
But this... this had some glaring angrily at the news, though most had a face of disbelief and some never even bother.
"Heh, those people look like idiots out there," spat one of the customers.
"Interacting peacefully with those animals, what a joke."
"Those damn Faunus can't get that kind of treatment!" another costumer cursed with venom in his voice. "Why the hell can't those people recognize who those bloody Faunus really are?!"
"Guys, don't you realize? They are clueless about Faunus," a third costumer replied to the other two.
"They have no idea, most of them haven't even met one in person."
Others around the bar agree, yet the Bartender felt nervous as a menacing feeling filled the air. Most of his customers, he noticed, didn't like the Faunus running around in their society.
'I don't like the sound of that…' he thought, a single sweat bead rolling down his forehead while he wiped a glass cup with a towel. 'When this keeps going, I don't know how those people outside the Kingdoms will react on how the Faunus are treated, this isn't going to be good.'
Meanwhile in the streets of Vale, an American male tourist in his mid-30s wandered around the peaceful-looking city, which didn't seem crowded compared to where he was from.
After taking some pictures of the beautiful scenery and historical sites, he took another alleyway to the right for more sightseeing. This path had few people walking around and he saw homeless Faunus sitting on the street's sidewalk. While walking past them, he received several angry glares. He curiously raised his brow and shrugged it off, continuing on. Perhaps it was economic problems that did this to them.
When he took another path to the left, he saw a man with dog ears getting thrown out from a cafe.
"I don't care if you have money, we won't serve you! Now scram!" An angry manager yelled.
The Faunus didn't say anything and ran off while clutching his injured arm while the tourist stood stunned in disbelief, not saying a word. The disrespect and extreme prejudice had thrown him off.
"The hell is wrong with that guy," the tourist muttered.
When he walked to the entrance he saw the same guy hanging a sign on the glass door window.
No Faunus allowed.
"...Faunus..."
He had heard that word from one of those Vale tourists in San Francisco and had even met one before the Grimm War.
They were people who had animal traits attached on their bodies, and he'd also heard that the Faunus and Humans within the Four Kingdoms had a "rough" relationship, which apparently meant discrimination similar to the USA in the 1960s.
"Eek! Get away from me you filth!" a woman screamed at the same Faunus who was thrown out.
"Get lost!" yelled another Vale citizen. "Animals like you should die in the forest and let the Grimm eat your remains!"
The American was stunned as he heard the racial slurs which is too radical to hear it in the public, and then watched as they began to throw small obstacles at the defenseless thrown out Faunus. The police officers didn't even intend to help him, watching the act as if it were entertainment. Why didn't anyone help him out? It didn't make any sense at all.
He gripped his camera tightly, now learning how cruel these people were and how the dark side of the Four Kingdoms revolves between the humans and Faunus.
After the incident, he saw two more victims to the discrimination, a large group of human Vale citizens harassing them by taunting and spitting at them. They even hit them with wooden planks and iron pipes, and threw anything from rotten food to small hard pebbles at them. It shocked the foreign tourists nearby, mostly Canadians, Americans, and Mexicans.
He raised his camera and took pictures and videos of the acts of violence, he and his fellow tourists needed to be witness everything. He would let the entire world know about the cruel, unfair Faunus treatment.
Meanwhile, in America.
Taiyang arrived home to his current apartment in the town of Muir Beach, just in the outskirts from San Francisco. He went into the balcony to get fresh air, feeling the winds of the oceans, the warm rays of the sun… it was perfect.
"Although, I still miss Vale," he muttered with a small piece of pride.
"Hey Tai..." spoke a voice behind him.
He turned around, only to see his teammate, Qrow with a very pissed off look in his face. Taiyang rose an eyebrow. "Hey Qrow, what's wrong?"
"Do you know why I'm like this, Tai?"
"No?...I don't know what you're talking about."
"So you don't know eh?" Qrow scoffed and then crossed his arms. "It's about Raven."
"Raven?" Taiyang began to get nervous. "What happened to her?"
"It's...uh...do you remember that last party we had last month in your apartment?"
"Yeah, I remember," the blonde replied. "But I don't know much about that night."
"What do you remember about that night?" Qrow narrowed his eyes.
"All I can remember is that we were celebrating, I was drunk and then blacked out, and later on I was alone while waking up in bed and... found myself overall naked."
"Tai, Raven told to me that she's... pregnant," Qrow said.
"Wait... what?!" Taiyang almost yelled in disbelief. "Since when?"
"Not too long ago," Qrow answered. "She knew it immediately after that night and hid it from us."
"Oh, maybe...maybe she met some guy before the party." Taiyang looked a bit down at the idea that it was someone else's kid.
"Wow, you're dense, it's your kid," Qrow said roughly.
Taiyang was silenced.
"...Tai?" Qrow curiously raised an eyebrow.
"WHAT?!" The blonde screamed even more in frustration as Qrow immediately plugged his right ear to keep from going deaf. "MY KID AND I'M THE FATHER?!"
"If you didn't want that to happen then you shouldn't have given her so much booze, idiot!" Qrow spat back. "I remember it since you went into your room together with my sis after sharing bottles of Heinekens! And you got her knocked up… Dammit, I shouldn't have passed out."
"Look, Qrow I-"
Taiyang tried to talk back, but couldn't even speak as memories flashed in his mind, erotic memories from the last month about him and Qrow's sister. There was no doubt... they had done the thing on top of his bed.
"Do you remember it now, Tai?"
"Oh Oum..." Tai groaned as he put his hand against his forehead. "Great, now what am I gonna do..."
"Seriously, get your shit together," Qrow said as he began to calm down, giving out an explanation.
"All you got to do is go and talk to her, it's your responsibility as a father and you should know it, there's no going back."
"Dammit..." Taiyang sighed in defeat and placed his hands on his hips. "I need to talk to her right away."
California, San Francisco, a month later...
A female deer Faunus casually walked down the sidewalk as if it were a normal day. It'd been a few weeks since her first arrival in the city as an immigrant. Most people in the city were friendly, and the most brightening thing in her life was that she earned a job as a cashier in a fashion store, and the manager just normally accepted her after an interview like a normal person.
Everything was going great for her, until something caught on her eye at a local newsagent's shop, a headline in the New York Times.
Faunus Discrimination in the Four Kingdoms!
"What?" She widened her eyes in surprise, and purchased a newspaper in a slight hurry.
"That'll be 99 cents," said the newsagent.
Moments after purchasing a newspaper, she walked by a nearby TV store. Inside the store was an employee, arranging electronic devices on the shelves while the television hanging behind the counter was broadcasting the current news, showing a female news presenter sitting on the left and a screen title to her right saying:
'Faunus Discrimination!'
"Everything has gone dark within the past few weeks as the humanoid people known as the Faunus have been treated with extreme prejudice within the Four Kingdoms."
The sign was exchanged for a photo of people harassing a bull Faunus with baseball bats and thrown obstacles.
"Tourists from all around the world reported to witness these acts of violence."
The news panned to showing live video reports.
"This video is about a German tourist, Mr. Hans, who went to Atlas for vacation. This is a week before the discrimination was revealed to the world," said the news narrator.
"I don't know why are they so serious about seeing a Faunus," said a tourist in German, luckily with English subtitles. "Once I met them personally, it was fine and normal to me, but yet those people, mainly humans in this Kingdom of Atlas, began to harass them for no reason."
Then another location was shown, featuring a woman from France. A CNN Newscaster held up a microphone to her.
"Here in Mistral, a French tourist, Ms. Annabelle tried to get the attention of the Mistralian Police, yet they never helped out," added the narrator.
"I feel... sad for them, it is cruel that they are living in a life like this," she spoke in grief. "They were mocked endlessly and being thrown out from stores and restaurants so suddenly. I called the Mistral police to help them out, but they never intended to help the Faunus people and refused to serve."
The next video featured the Kingdom of Vale. A couple of American tourists stood in front of a camera man and a CNN newscaster.
"Here in Vale, discrimination also exists. Two American tourists who are brothers have also reported mistreatment," continued the narrator.
"What are your opinions about how the people here treat Faunus?" asked the newscaster.
"Well, they were friendly to us just because we're humans," he answered then turned to his twin brother. "Right?"
"Yeah," his twin replied with a nod. "It's sick and unforgivable what they are doing. We were at one of the town's historical sights when we saw a group holding a girl, no older than nine years, could be dog Faunus, they're shouting at her to scram off and refused to give her anything when she tried to buy things from stores and they said "scram, you can't shop here"."
Then the video panned over to the tropical towns in Vacuo, where humans and Faunus were walking around normally while the narrator continued his speech.
"Meanwhile in the Kingdom of Vacuo, racism happens occasionally, but unlike the other three kingdoms, people live with the Faunus in relative peace."
"We do not want to discourage the Faunus race," said a Vacuan Council member in front of the cameraman. "This discrimination existed before the Faunus Rights Revolution; our Kingdom's law doesn't tolerate this sort of violence and we tried to get this in order as soon as possible."
"But people still don't follow, is that right?" asked the reporter.
"Yes, some of them think it's difficult to coexist in their daily lives, many of whom hail from Vale, Mistral and Atlas," answered the Council member.
Back in the CNN Headquarters.
"As the topic continues about Faunus Discrimination, the UN Watch has reported that the occurrence of racial crimes within these Kingdoms are extremely high," the newscaster informed about the statistics. "The United Nations Commission on Human Rights was aware of the Discrimination, they had planned to set up a Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and to have a meeting with the Faunus Civil Rights Organization known as the White Fang."
Meanwhile in Menagerie.
"We are not here for a conflict, we are here for peace," said an Australian Royal Marine with both of his hands raised, holding a white flag in his right, a universal sign for surrender. "If you understand us, we have not come to harm you."
A single Humvee parked in front of the gates of a large town, the Faunus town watchers stood on the wooden palisades, watching over the humans who came out from their armored vehicle. A single Faunus had also come out with them.
"Please, don't attack them!" she shouted while waving her right arm. "I beg you, they're friendly!"
On the wooden palisades, one of the Faunus town watchers widened his eyes in surprise.
"Open the gates," he ordered. "And bring the Mayor here and tell him that his daughter's here."
"What?"
"You heard me, they have the Mayor's daughter."
2 Weeks ago...
"Oi mate, did it work?" spoke a Marine.
"I hope so, these special sedative darts would stun anyone," replied the other with a tranquilizer gun in his arms.
Two Australians slowly stuck their heads out of the bushes while examining a Faunus on the ground with a red dart sticking out of the back of her neck.
"It worked," he said with a quick nod. "Come on, we got to bring her to the HQ right away."
It'd been months since the Kingdoms and its regions arrived on Earth. They'd been surveying almost the entire region and discovering empty towns. A small skirmish accidentally occurred in the deep green forests of Menagerie a week ago.
Though there had been injuries, no one had died, and they had captured a lone female Faunus. In their first encounter with her they noticed she had acted xenophobic towards Humans.
"Stand back everyone!" yelled a Scientist in a hazmat suit.
The other scientist started to back away from the cage after the enraged tiger Faunus woke up from her slumber and tried to attack the humans. The steel bars of the large cage stopped her, and though she tried to pry them off it was to no avail.
"Hey...uh...sorry for the rudeness," said one scientist while slowly walking towards her with his arms raised up.
"Look, we-"
"Humans..." she interrupted him, giving him a dark glare with an angry snarl. "What are you doing here in this region? First off, you confine my race and my family inside this place because you don't want us, yet you've come here to drive us away once more!?"
The group widened their eyes in disbelief, they expected to hear a foreign language, yet she spoke fluent English with a familiar Australian accent.
Later on, the Australian military dispatched one of their expert psychiatrists to calm her down, which took days. Then she became quiet for the next couple of days, and she began to learn something new from the humans that called themselves "Australians."
Their lifestyle and culture interested her, yet they'd been friendly to her despite her heritage.
She had heard about the four Kingdoms, but never heard of a place called Australia. As time passed by, she soon realized to her surprise that Menagerie had appeared in the south-eastern Indian Ocean out of the blue in a world called Earth, along with the Four Kingdoms.
"So... you are saying that the Four Kingdoms have merged with a world called... Earth, right?"
"Yes," the psychiatrist reply with a nod. "This is why we led an expedition, we just came here for peace."
"But why?" Her eyebrow rose into confusion. "I thought you, a human, like the rest of the humans didn't like Faunus at all, but… you are interested in us?"
"It's because we never had Faunus in our everyday lives. This world was dominated by humans from the start of our history, until this place emerged." He sighed with a smile for a few seconds, then frowned. "Nowadays, the United Nations are still in a debate for the elimination of Faunus discrimination."
Her eyes widened in surprise. United Nations? The elimination of Faunus Discrimination? This made her mind spin in confusion.
"What is this...United Nations?" she asked.
"It's an organization which was formed after the Second World War by the western Allies. Nowadays, it has over 195 countries as members."
Her jaw felt like it nearly hit the floor in disbelief.
Present day.
A small band of Australians and a single tiger Faunus walked into the Main Street of the town, humans feeling very uncomfortable as the town's inhabitants glared at them menacingly. They felt as if spears and bows were aimed at them.
"Father!"
"Lilith!" Her father rushed at her and gave her a tight hug. "I am so glad! I thought that I'd lost you."
"Dad..."
Then their hug broke off and they turned to the Australians.
"You've brought humans into our town?"
"Yes." She nodded. "But they're not the humans we've always known, they're different."
"Different?" The Mayor stared dumbfounded to his daughter. "How?"
"These humans called themselves Australians," she answered. "They are still clueless about us and wanted to negotiate for peace."
"Peace!?" the Mayor shouted out loud in disbelief, it caused his words to echoed across the silent town, the Faunus muttered silently to themselves.
"Peace?"
"Humans? They came for peace?"
"How come?"
"I don't know what kind of truce they want with us."
Then one Australian marine stepped forward from his group.
"I bet we'll discuss everything to whoever's in charge here."
Kingdom of Vale, City of Vale.
2 weeks later…
"Today's news is the debate about Faunus Discrimination, it has been a week since the incident that caused the interruption of peaceful protesters of the White Fang through the brutality of an anti-Faunus movement."
The video panned to a large group of White Fang protesters being hit by obstacles by human Vale Citizens, then to the VPD blocking their way with riot shields and batons. One scene showed a Faunus holding a sign and begging the police that there's no need for violence, before the police hit them.
"This video was caught by the CNN Crew, and within a few days the video was shown worldwide. This act shocked the Earthen population who considered it extremely disturbing and brutal. Since then, the people of Earth began their support for Faunus equality."
It switched to another video showing high ranking UN members, some councilors from the Four Kingdoms and the members of the White Fang meeting in the UN Assembly Hall.
"We declare that the toleration of discrimination of the Faunus race must be eradicated," said the spokesman of the UN. "The acts of gruesome violence need to be stopped. They will worsen the balance between the two races. We welcome anyone who is human or Faunus, and we will grant you everything in the name of freedom and the rights that you deserve, yet you cannot commit the crimes of hate due to the laws we created."
Then VNN news narrator, Cyril took over.
"In the UN Headquarters in New York, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights met with the Kingdom Councilors and the leaders of the White Fang for almost forty-five minutes of discussion, they've approved a ban on racial discrimination of the Faunus race in the Four Kingdoms in order to better the relationship between the two races-"
*CRACK!*
Suddenly, the hologram television was interrupted by a thrown beer bottle. In a local bar in Vale, most of the customers yelled in outrage.
"Don't tell me that they support those animals?!"
"Why the hell would they?!"
"I can't believe that they've gone this far!"
"Down with the UN!"
After the United Nations declaration to ban racial discrimination of the Faunus race, the authorities in the Four Kingdoms set up laws that most citizens believed would drown everything in misery, yet ironically, the only miseries they encountered were ones they made for themselves.
"You're fired," said a manager of a local Valean restaurant.
"What?!" the employee stood up in frustration. "How can you fire me?! I'm doing fine!"
The manager cocked a brow with a disappointing look. "Fine? I was informed by some customers an hour ago that you chased off some of our Faunus customers away. Are you an idiot?!"
"Huh?" The employee was taken aback by this. "Why would I have to serve those freaks?"
The manager groaned as he massaged his forehead and then placed the palm of his hand on his face.
"My restaurant is important to me and I can't let the authorities close it. I will always choose to support my family and serve our customers, rather than chase them out and get arrested," he explained sternly. "So you know what? Grab your things and get out of here. I'm not joking, you're permanently fired."
Kingdom of Atlas, Main Headquarters of the Schnee Dust Company.
Mr. Schnee stood in his office and looked outside with the window with a look of disapproval plastered on his face. A large group of people were walking away from the company through the gates, looking down in shame and humiliation while the workers, who were mainly Faunus, cheered, free from mistreatment.
All of these people who walked away were former Schnee CEOs.
After the Atlesian authority set up laws to ban Faunus discrimination, the Director himself met up with the CEOs, went through long lists of records of the harsh mistreatment upon the Faunus workers by humans, and fired them in order to save the reputation of his Company.
"I think you made the right choice, Mr. Schnee," spoke his assistant.
"Indeed…" Mr. Schnee closed his eyes in a deep thought. "Everything has changed so much... my company was in a brink of the edge to be permanently closed. I fear for the future of my family." Then he pulled out a pendant with a picture of himself, his pregnant wife and his first beloved daughter, Winter.
"The Authorities are no joke, Mr. Schnee..." The assistant explained. "But we have to be careful, I fear that the former CEOs will be... going dark."
"You're telling me that they might assassinate me?" Mr. Schnee turned to his assistant with an eyebrow raised curiously.
"I'm afraid so," he said with a worried expression. "Excuse me, I must take my leave to check our new employees."
"You're excused."
Kingdom of Atlas, 5 Months later.
Inside in an abandoned warehouse, a large group of people gathered themselves in front of a stage.
Three people wearing black trench coats stood in front of them, one to the right, the other to the left and the last one in the middle. Standing on the rostrum, a muscular bearded man in his mid-30s, with a large scar on his left eye and messy black hair, he smiled deviously at the new members for his organization.
"Do you know why we are here? It's because we need to solve our problems of course!" he started. "Have any of you had your lives become a miserable hellhole? And you know who made them that way."
People exchanged looks and turned to the man on the rostrum, most of them nodding until one of them shouted.
"It's the Faunus!"
"Yeah! They're the ones that made our lives miserable!"
"We agree!"
Then the crowd gave off a cheer when the speaker chuckled himself and continued.
"You know that all you wanted was for them to be thrown out from our homes!"
They yelled in agreement.
"Our jobs, our lives were taken away, it's because of them!"
They yelled in agreement again, this time with their fists raised.
"Then we will show those savages that they should not mess with us!"
"Yeah!"
"The United Nations thinks themselves as high and mighty? No, we are the ones who are mighty, just look at them, people quarreling with each other and crimes still skyrocketing!" he furiously yelled in anger while he slammed the palm of his hand on the rostrum. "We've read their history was far more brutal. Their primitive technology will have no chance against us! We, the humans from the former world of Remnant must be united to overthrow the UN and those filthy Faunus savages, do you agree?"
They cheered once more unison.
"We must gain more support from our brothers and sisters from Vale and Mistral and rally against the Council! Down with those damn people from Earth and their UN!"
After the wild cheering, people in black overalls with red hoods comes forth and rallied the crowd, forming a recruitment line. Their new leader turned to the black banner with a red fist pointing upwards and then looked back to the new members, smirking. His plans were going well.
"Welcome to the Red Hand."
Meanwhile, inside the Atlesian Military HQ.
A man sat in his office with a calm expression, sitting there and waiting for the answer.
*Brrrt!* *Brrrt!*
His eyes jumped to his scroll. He picked it up and activated the inbox message. His smile grew deviously.
"So they made their move...perfect." He lightly chuckled. "I wonder if that fool Ironwood was aware of this, but oh well. I've been planning this for months and it's enough to throw out that stupid Council of ours."
It was all part of his first goal, a coup d'etat.
Chapter ends.
Next Chapter: The Atlesian Crisis - The Rogue Commander.
