A/N: Just a good 50words under 6k. Sorry for the shortness, but all honesty, considering this chapter is based on a 4 min episode, I think that's pretty fair XP.
Hooftah, been a good long while since my last update guys, so writing might be a little stale as I ease back into it. I have several reasons for my long hiatus, most of which include writing like several different chapters at once (none of which are done save for this one), and only getting a third of them all the way through, been having a bit of a writers block for awhile. But have no fear, I'm back and going to do everything in my power to keep up with the writing. What's more, with school coming along, that means I'll be at school more often which = less distractions and more writing :D!
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~This will be the day we waited for~
Cinder and salem are seen standing on a balcony on the side of the latter's home looking out in the distance to where Vale would be. As they look up to a Nevermore flying overhead, the camera pans up as well, showing an orange sky that slowly turns blue.
~This will be the day we open up the door~
Returning back down from its view of the sky, we see Ruby opening the door to Beacon's main hall, Wolfie peaking out behind her, Blake standing next to her, oblivious to the Grimm's presence.
~I don't wanna hear your absolution~
The Camera 'flies' through the hallways until it settles on Ozpin going through illegible notes on his scroll next to a photo of young miss Fall.
~Hope your ready for a revolution~
Outside his window, WYJR can be seen standing together. As the screen is overtaken by a storm of white petals, Weiss pushes Jaune a bit away.
~Welcome to a world of new solutions~
One of the petals remain before a black background and is revealed to be Ruby as she pulls out [insert weapon name] and starts twirling her Scythe around, leaving a burning crimson Halo above herself.
~Welcome to a world of blood evolution~
The red halo turns into Wolfie's red Iris as the camera zooms out revealing the pool of blood beneath the Grimm. before he dissolves into a shadow and to the side.
~In time your heart will open minds~
The shadow flows beneath Ruby cloak who is standing with her team, a conflicted expression on her face. Soon though it is replaced with a look of determination as the Camera pans once more.
~A Story will be told~
When the camera settles on Ruby's viewpoint we see Amber kneeling before Cinder, before the camera zooms back and her surroundings turn into the vault beneath Beacon.
~And Victory is in a Simple Soul~
We see a final shot of a young Ruby hugging her family, which reveals itself to be an old picture in Salem's Hand who is enjoying tea served by Neo.
Fighting.
One of the primary roles of every Hunter and Huntress in existence. Whether it's against one another for the sake of a festival or Tournament, fighting against bandits, thugs, criminals, or to slay the notorious Grimm that inhabit this world alongside each and every human, a Hunter's job is never finished until one side is defeated, creating a never ending spiral of violence, each side creating their own additional factor of Hope and Despair. And it was the very thing every Hunter trained for at this prestigious academy known as Beacon.
At the present, two well known students were currently undergoing a rigorous training exercise, supervised by the teacher Glynda Goodwitch herself. Jaune, the average all-around student who did his best to fit in and prove he was strong enough to be called a hunter, was up against an equally well-known student known as Cardin Winchester, the leader of team CRDL and school bully of this place. He didn't care who he picked on or his reasons for it, all that mattered was showing his dominance and superiority to those around him.
And Jaune was no exception.
No matter how hard he tried, how many strikes he landed with his blade, he had yet to land so much as a scratch on his opponent. He might have had the advantage over Cardin thanks to having two items in hand, his sword and shield respectively, but Cardin's grand mace was overpowering both of those key details, He easily bashed away any defense Jaune could muster, he managed to swipe Jaune's blade to the side, and all it took was a simple kick to push him away, thankfully in the direction of his blade for him to swipe.
"Ahhhh!" Jaune yelled in fury as he charged forward once more. Cardin could grin with pride as casually blocked Jaune's attack with his own weapon. No amount of force or confidence could shake Cardin's own determination, the blonde already being out of breath by this point in time. To Jaune's credit, he wasn't backing down from his present attack, but Cardin wasn't giving any leeway in the slightest.
Meanwhile, all Jaune's friends could do was watch from the seats at the current demonstration. Among them Team RBPN and Team WYJR were naturally sitting close together, seeing how many of them were friends with people from the opposing teams, several of them sitting side by side or in rows of three.
"Shouldn't you tell Jaune what to do, Weiss?" Ruby whispered to her right.
"I can't do that during a demonstration, Ruby. Besides, I can't just tell Jaune how to do everything when it comes to fighting or he'll never be able to figure it out for himself when he needs to." The Schnee remarked.
She wasn't lying about her reasoning, and it's not like she liked watching getting his butt kicked either. Every word of it was true, and Jaune did need to learn how to settle his own fights. If Weiss had to instruct him on every little detail he would never become a true reliable hunter like he always wanted to be. On top of that, if a day ever came where he needed to fight his own battle, and no one was around to help him, his death was only assured.
It was a sad reality that she knew, and one Pyrrha was too painfully aware of. Jaune was a dear friend to her most out of the many people she came to know of, and it agonized her to see someone like Jaune getting his butt whooped so easily. He never backed down, nor did he ever show any signs of surrendering, yet that mattered very little to a tournament style duel, even more in times of great danger.
And it only troubled Ruby more when she realized there really was no counterargument to that.
"This is the part where you lose." Cardin informed, slowly pushing back against the weaker student.
"Over my dead-!"
*Bam!*
"Oof-!" Jaune yelped as he slowly dropped to his knees.
Every creature has it's weakness. For some, it's their achilles heel. Others, it's the sight of their own reflection. For every man like Jaune, it was that very sensitive part between their legs, and while it was a good couple inches away from the region, the very same Cardin cheaply kneed him when the opportunity presented itself. Again, it was a cheap tactic, and unfair in most cases, but like any other situation, in a real life or death battle, no one would hesitate to do whatever it took to win, just like Ruby remembered her mother always telling her about.
Hunters never played fair. Hunters never cared about those around them other than for facial value and personal support. And hunters didn't care who got hurt in the way of their victory, so long as they could turn out as the heroes of the day. Cardin was no exception.
None of her friends and allies were... except maybe Blake.
Still reeling in from the pain, Jaune groaned as he looked above himself, seeing Cardin grinning with excitement as he readied his weapon. Jaune was already down, unable to defend himself from any blow Cardin could deliver, just the way the bully preferred it. Jaune had the gall to disobey him when instructed to back down and surrender like the weakling Cardin knew him to be, so it only seemed fair to break his kneecaps to teach him a lesson. After all, Negative Reinforcement went a long way in any child's and teen's life, and as he raised his mace to deliver the next blow, he knew Jaune would never forget; never disobey Cardin.
*bzzzzz*
"Huh? Ugggh..." Cardin groaned in annoyance.
"Cardin, that's enough." Glynda instructed calm yet firmly.
The familiar sound of a buzzer went off as the lights flashed back on. It was more than a good indicator that the fight was officially over and Cardin was supposed to stop. He had no problems picking on the students when able, whether or not the teachers where present in the area, but if they told him specifically to, he wouldn't go against orders. With little more than a smug look to Jaune, he holstered his weapon as he walked off stage, following the direction of his profile picture projecting his Aura level.
Cardin's was perfectly in the green, and Jaune's had dropped to the mere fourth by the time this test was over.
"Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's aura has now dropped into the red." She explained as typed into her scroll. Jaune shook his head with a groan as he clutched his stomach, slowly rising from the ground where he lied in pain. "In a tournament style duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match. Mister Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your scroll during combat. Gauging your aura will help you decide when it is appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move move to a more... defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowulf, now would we?"
"Heh, speak for yourself." Cardin teased with a smug grin as he walked off the stage. Jaune shook his head at this as he pushed himself off the stage, not giving his friends any notice as they tried to encourage him for his effort.
Effort was the only thing he could see himself giving anymore.
"Remember students, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away." Glynda reminded, murmurs of excitement filling the crowd as they cheered silently. "It won't be long before new students start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale."
As excited as it got the white-hooded girl, she didn't feel it was of any import. For the last month now, she had been dedicated and searching for any sign as to where the Maiden might've gone. She did some snooping around, asked rumors to different faces about some "strange girl", which probably didn't help since there were people and Faunus of all varieties in this place, and so forth, and had yet to find any trace of the Maiden at all.
Narrowing down her options, there were a few things she could officially note: 1, the maiden was definitely within Beacon itself somewhere, there was no arguing with that. After all, her great family was on top of the situation and was well aware of all possibilities as to where she could be, especially after her skirmish with her mother and title-given stepsiblings weeks beforehand. There was no way they could've gotten their information wrong, people like Watts were too proud of their intellect to allow themselves to be wrong about any one thing.
2, wherever the maiden was, it was definitely somewhere unmarked. She wasn't going to be behind your typical closed off area, or your "Staff Only" doorway, she was going to be somewhere out of reach or somewhere Ozpin's enemies would't think of. Given all the exploring and advice she was given before their plan was set into motion, she narrowed down the Maiden's whereabouts to somewhere within the academy of Beacon itself. That might've sound obvious on a normal basis, but Ruby checked every outdoor environment and building just to be sure, she literally couldn't leave a single stone unturned or a branch unchecked.
And 3rd, wherever the Maiden was, it wasn't well guarded. There might've been security measures for sure, which would explain why she had yet to find a clue of the maiden within the last month, but she definitely didn't have to worry about numerous guards roaming about. Since coming to this place, the only shuttle activity they ever got outside of trips to Vale and field trips were simple food deliveries and such. Bedding, possible clothing, and food were the only sources of transportation ever coming in and out of this place on a weekly notice. And while there was the possibility it was simply security disguised as nothing more than food transportation, she knew Ozpin wouldn't risk repeatedly using such a tactic unless he wanted to draw attention to the Maiden's whereabouts should anyone ever find out or snoop around.
Whether or not these recent results were useful or proved to be a waste of effort on her part wasn't in her place to say- only her dear Granny knew whether or not her time was wasted. And, given the lack of yelling or issues she's received on her mother's end about her grandmother's disapproval, she took that as a positive sign... except for the near-panic attack her mother called her about when her grandmother announced how the rest of her teammates discovered Wolfie's existence. That took a little bit of an explanation to get over...
Still, she had to admit, for a bunch of devious coldhearted Hunters and Huntresses she knew them all to be, they seemed pretty normal. As her family constantly reminded her, it was nothing more than a charade, and one Ruby was entirely aware of. Even if they actually were as innocent and kind as Ruby saw them to be, this was all before they would officially become official Hunters. Once that happened, they all would've been nothing more than coldhearted monsters that Ruby came to know them as.
Heck, she already knew of dozens of people already like that, like Cardin and his crew. Not once since meeting them had she seen any sort of kinder side from their person, always strutting about like they owned the entirety of Beacon, and not caring for who they picked on. They were a prime example of everything Ruby knew them to be, making it only more important that she find a way to complete her mission and see her mother's and grandmother's dreams come true.
Which probably would'e been easier to help with if she knew specifically what their biggest dream was.
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"So there we were... in the middle of the Night!"
"It was day." Res corrected Nora.
"We were surrounded by Ursai..."
"They were Beowolves."
"Dozens of them!"
"Two of them."
"But they were no match! And in the end, Ren and I took them down, and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!"
This is pretty much how every morning in the Lunchroom started, with one of the students going off about a story, whether real or fake, and then going on to talk about their classes and the rest of their day. Like everything else they did, the members of team RBPN and WYJR were all seated together at one of the many long rows of tables, talking about what they've been through and reminiscing about some of the exams and tests they've had up to this point. Many of them were easy, some of them hard, and all around boring, except for the ones involving battles against the Grimm themselves.
"Ah... She's been having this reoccurring dream for nearly a month now." Ren sighed. It didn't matter if they were on different teams, Nora never passed any and all free time she had to hang out with Ren. As long as it didn't interfere with any team-related tasks or homework, Weiss was completely fine with this.
"Still sounds like fun to me." Ruby commented. "I was dreamed I was riding a giant Nevermore when I was seven. It was fun until I ended up falling out of bed."
"Yeah, Grimm pretty sum up most of my dreams." Yang said with a cheeky grin. "No matter how many Grimm keep coming at me, I always bash them away with one fist after the other! I even toppled a giant Grimm the size of a skyscraper in one of them."
"How about you Weiss?" Ruby wondered. "Had any dreams related to the Grimm?"
"Aside from a nightmare or two from when I was little? No. Most of my dreams usually involve nothing more than studying for my future." She stated as she continued to file her nails.
"Eesh, even in your dreams you can't catch a break..." Yang commented, feeling a little sorry for the workaholic Schnee.
"Well that's boring..." Ruby muttered before turning her attention to the other blonde member. "How about you Jaune? You ever beat up any Grimm in your dreams?"
"..."
"...Jaune?"
Jaune barely paid attention as he went over his scroll, observing the aura levels between him and Cardin like the teacher instructed. If there was one thing that annoyed him more than losing to Cardin, it was how much he failed to prove himself on a daily basis. Time after time, out of the many fighters within Beacon, he was the only one, to himself at least, that had yet to improve in combat. Compared to the many students he saw each and every day, he was little more than a trainee at this current level compared to the initiate level many of the students now found themselves at. And he still wasn't as strong as everyone when they started the Initiations for that matter!
What's worse, how was he supposed to prove himself to Weiss of all people!? He knew it, they knew it, and he didn't care if they were being quiet about it out of manners or politeness. He was the weakest member of their team and the one constantly dragging them down. While he might've had a B- average on most of his studies, anything related to his physical prowess proved flawed. Even though Yang was physically stronger than the Team's leader, Weiss, the Schnee still proved herself far above in almost every field of study, and her runes gave her a great edge over battle.
And don't get him started on Ren, the silent guy of the group. He still socialized when able, especially when Nora joined in on any conversation, and he still proved himself more invaluable ten times over to Jaune himself! He was agile, able to react in a split second to any sense of danger, knew the best way to exploit an opponents weakness, He had years of work and talent ahead of him despite the fact his weapons were only a bit more than impressive, and he was still a valuable asset to the team.
"Jaune?" Pyrrha spoke from his left, catching his attention.
"Huh? Yeah?" He blinked in confusion at the numerous eyes looking for an answer from him, only now realizing they asked him something.
"Are you okay?"
"What? Oh, yeah! I'm fine, I'm good..." The expression on his face told the others differently.
"Are you sure? You just seem a little..." Ruby trailed off as she waved her hands a little. ""Not okay"."
"Eh, guys I'm fine... Seriously, look! Hahaha...haaaaa..." No about of forced laughter would convince them. They all knew of his troubles, they all knew of his issues with fighting, and they definitely knew how much bullying he suffered on a daily basis.
Before any of them could question further on his troubles, they were all caught by the sound of laughter at the next table over. To none of their surprise, there was the infamous Cardin, once again picking on another fellow student, and one of the first people Ruby met since coming here, Velvet Scarlatina. If he was picking on her for another reason, that would've been nothing short of a miracle. Like he did for the numerous other people he picked on, he wasn't picking on her for the usual reasons like when he picks on Jaune, he only did it because she was a simple Faunus.
Racism and bullying at it's core, just like every other Hunter.
"Jaune, Cardin's has been picking on you since the first week of school." Pyrrha was among the many to know about it.
"W-Who, Cardin Winchester? Naaah, he just likes to mess around, you know? Practical jokes!" Jaune chuckled again with less enthusiasm than before.
"He's a bully." Ruby stated firmly, looking over to the table once more.
"Oh please... Name one time he's ever "bullied" me?" That was a challenge he shouldn't have given.
"Well, there's the numerous times he keeps knocking stuff out of your hands in the hallways."
"Then the times he got you jammed in the doorway with your shield." Blake added as she continued eating her Tuna.
"That time I caught you doing one of his homework assignments." Weiss chipped in.
"W-What? No, that wasn't anything, he was just...busy... and all." Jaune tried to convince.
"And there was that time he shoved you into a locker and blasted you off to the sky." Nora had a fond memory of what she assumed was a shooting star that day, which sadly resulted in nothing more than a bullied student stuffed inside his locker. In all fairness, it probably didn't help it was still daytime too.
"At least twice so far he's tried to push down the stairs, too." Ren said finishing his meal. "You could die easily from that you know."
"O-Oh c'mon guys, he's just goofing, honest..." It was hard to tell if Jaune was coming to terms and realizing the truth of the matter. He could say it as many times as he wanted to but it wouldn't be long till he had to admit it himself. Cardin was bullying him, end of story. "Besides, my aura protects me."
"Jaune, if you ever need help, you can tell us." Pyrrha reminded, trying to comfort him. "We're all friends here."
"Ooh! We'll break his legs!" Nora pumped with excitement. "Let's see him bully people around when he's stuck in a wheelchair!"
"Nora, that's terrible." Ruby shook her head. Any sort of respect or agreement towards her was quickly dashed as she continued, "If we broke his legs, he could still throw things at people and move around too easily. I say we break his arms!" Blake nearly choked on her drink as she coughed, surprised by the statement. While she was more surprised on a slightly disturbed level, Yang was more on a rather impressed level, admitting how Ruby had a point while she probably wouldn't have gone that far herself.
"Ooh! Even better!"
"Guys, guys, guys!" Jaune shook his hands quickly with worry. "Seriously, you don't have to do that, I'm fine."
Many of his friends looked to one another, Weiss included while she tried not to show it. This was one of those tragic case scenarios where the person being bullied was under the impression the person bullying them wasn't really bullying them, all while the bully continued to take advantage of their weakness and did whatever they saw fit for however long they wanted to. It was worse in this case because in these types of cases, the bullied wouldn't report anything they did to them no matter how bad or troubling it got.
In the worst case scenario, the bully would get the victim to do something for them. Sometimes illegal, most of the time dangerous, just as long as they had a little "assistant" at their side, they would command them to do whatever they saw fit. Maybe it was to help them rob someone? Maybe it was together them to injure or harass someone else the bully had a grudge against? In those times, the victim would always play their part forward, doing whatever it took in the hopes of either getting the person to stop bullying them, or thinking they were actually becoming friends, at least to a degree where they wouldn't bully them any longer.
"Besides," he continued, "it's not like he's just a jerk to me, he bullies everyone."
"Ahh! Cut it out, that hurts!" A voice cried out, catching the groups attention once again. As if to prove his point, there was Cardin and the rest of his team again, this time actually pulling on the ears of the bunny girl like Ruby saw them doing before. Only difference now was, aside from the lack of staff, they were doing it in a public area like this and no one was doing anything about it. "Please stop..."
"Hahaha!" Cardin and his goons continued to chuckle, two of them pulling an ear each at different angles."I told you they were real!"
"What a freak!" Russel chuckled.
"Mmmh..." Ruby moaned quietly to herself in anger. It wasn't enough for him to be picking on one of her friends, it was how they were doing it somewhere in the open and nobody bothered to do anything about it! This is why Hunters were scum of the earth, they only helped when someone didn't know them to earn respect, they didn't care if someone they knew was in trouble unless it resulted in praise, glory, and rewards. That was when Ruby looked over to the salad Weiss had in front of her, the girl herself still preoccupied with her nails. "Hey Weiss, is that a tomato?"
"Huh? Yeah why- Wait Ruby no-!" Before Weiss could respond, it was already too late.
*SPLAT!*
"Agh-!" Cardin yelped as he released his grip from Velvet's ear, rubbing his slightly stinging eyes from the fresh tomato suddenly thrown at the left side of his face. Juices of any kind stung and this was no exception. Only a small splatter of it got over his eye compared to the rest of face, but that was hardly his concern as he glared over to the table the tomato came from, seeing a familiar looking hooded girl who quickly went from a cheeky grin to a nervous look as she quickly turned towards her tray, hoping he didn't notice.
Needless to say, it didn't.
"Hey!" He grumbled, marching over to the table with his thugs trailing along. The others did their best to feign ignorance too as they turned to their dishes, wondering what Ruby had planned for this.
"Great, now what?" Weiss whispered over to Ruby as she poked at her salad.
"Don't worry, just follow my lead." Ruby whispered back.
"Helloooooooooo!" Cardin grumbled again from behind, drawing all eyes at the table. "Do you have something to say to me?" With a mental sigh to herself and a look of determination, Ruby turned her attention back to him.
"Indeed I do... Weiss, how could you!"
"What?!" Weiss was aghast at the accusation. "What are you blaming me for?! You're the one that did it!"
"Weiiiiiiiss, you're supposed to play along!" Ruby muttered. Weiss was completely destroying the plan! It didn't help that Ruby nearly yelped as Cardin suddenly lifted her from the neck of her hood, lifting her off her seat as glaring angrily into her eyes.
"I know it was you you little squirt!"
"Hey, back off!" Yang growled, jumping to her feet. While they weren't among those trying to stand up for Velvet earlier, Ruby did have to admit it was a rather nice sight seeing her friends literally standing up for her, specifically Yang, Blake, Pyrrha, and Ren from the table.
Honestly, only one of them concerned Cardin at that moment, and it wasn't the kid whose throat he currently had his hands around. It was the furious-looking blonde girl with the shotgun gauntlets. He's already heard numerous stories of the blonde kid with awful puns who's beat down nearly every opponent she's come across so far during any of the physical exams. She was definitely among the more elite Hunters of the school when it came to physical prowess, easily knocking down several Hunters at once with her strength, leaving them in bruises, and she was the last one he wanted to cross out of the eight students at the table. It would be one thing to back down just because some blonde, a girl at that, threatened him, but it would've been worse for his pride and title if he did it in front of the rest of his crew.
"Stay out of this ya blond bimbo!" Cardin threatened, never taking his eyes off of the shorter girl who continued to glare back.
"Blond Bimbo?!" Yang's eyes burned red as she repeated the insult. If there were three things she hated being called it was Tomboy, Bimbo, and Blondie. This man was just one word away from spending the rest of his life in an iron lung. The other goons of Cardin's entourage could hear the girl's knuckles cracking under her own squeezing fist.
"Uhh Card'?" Russel spoke up, trying to get his attention. "Maybe you should let this one go."
"Fat chance," he grumbled back without losing focus, "this little snot's been getting in the way every time I've tried to have fun around here."
"Your idea of fun is picking on anyone weaker than you!" Ruby retorted.
"And anyone slightly different than you, like the Faunus." Blake added crossing her arms.
"Ghhhh..."This was getting out of hand. He could easily handle any one of them by himself, but the more people that started getting into it, the more trouble it was going to cause. On top of that, if it got too big, the staff were sure to come along at a moment's notice. With nothing more than a groan to himself, he dropped Ruby back to her seat before cracking his knuckles. "This ain't over, squirt." He warned as he and the rest of his team walked off.
All throughout watching his exit, Ruby glared. "I really hate that guy..."
"Hmph, just let it go Rubes." Yang mumbled as she calmed down again, eyes returning to their violet color. "Punks like that aren't worth it."
"Well It's not like we can just let jerks like him picking on anyone he wants." She poked at her food irritated. "We should be sticking up more to jerks like that."
"Ruby, it's not that simple." Blake tried to explain. "You can't just go picking a fight with a student, even if it's to stick up for someone else."
"Well why not?! If someone's picking on another person, you help them out! Plain and simple."
"It's far from simple, Ruby." Weiss stated, pitching into the conversation. "There's an order to things. One, you need to prove the person is bullying someone or doing some sort of improper conduct. Two, you need another witness to admit, confess, or agree with whatever statements you're saying. Only then can you actually get them in trouble, hopefully along the lines of detention if not suspension."
"But what sense does that make?! All you're doing is wasting time while people are bullying others and letting them get away with it." Ruby paused as she turned her attention to Jaune. "And you know it as well as I do, right?"
"Mmh..." Jaune mumbled looking away.
Ruby mumbled to herself as she stared back at her food. Why were there so many rules and laws to a simple process of getting someone to stop bullying? You see someone getting picked on, you should help them, end of story! There wasn't any guarantee the wrong would get punished even if Ruby did go along with everything they just said, no one else having anything different to say, all of them just in their own little agreement with the idea.
"If it means anything, you're not the only one appalled by it, Ruby." Pyrrha commented, giving her some sense of relief. "I can't stand people like him."
"You're not the only one." Blake agreed.
Yang nodded in turn, looking back to the poor Faunus he was harassing minutes ago. Luckily she seemed fine for the most part, just moaning to herself a little as she rubbed her sore ears, sitting at the table by herself as she waited for the rest of her teammates to eventually show up for lunch. "It must be hard being a Faunus, having to deal with so many judgmental people like that."
Only for a split second did Ruby and Blake look each other in the eye at that. There was no end to the countless tales Blake told Ruby about the protests she's been a part of, all the marches all the picket signs, everything you would need at a rally. Sometimes, rallies ended in success. They managed to earn respected rights for whatever company or business they protested at for their fellow Faunus, and, usually after a bit of negotiating and agreements, both sides were happier for it.
Then there were the more usual outcomes at these rallies. The usual outcomes consisted of one side benefiting from everything while the other side, namely the Faunus, got nothing. There would be some riot breaking out during a rally which resulted in the Faunus not only getting hurt, but blamed for the violence to begin with! Because of that, they were easy to disperse because then the other side had the law enforcement in their hands, and nothing said listen to our side like the team that had the gun-weilding cops among them.
And this was all before the White Fang ever got involved with what they did today!
Every rally before then was peaceful, considerate. Sometimes it wasn't a matter of prejudice, it was just a misunderstanding or two between two people. Those were the days Blake cherished the most, when the White Fang proved to be a symbol of peace and honesty. Now any time a White Fang member appeared, it was at the center of a major conflict or war. Fights would break out, people would run around panicked, and nobody but the Faunus benefitted from instilling war and mayhem before all others.
As of this day, the White Fang were the worst outcome for a bullied victim: They turned into the very bullies they rallied against. Hopefully, it would never be someone Jaune would turn into, the teen shaking his head with a sigh as he walked away with his finished tray of food. He was another victim among many, and he wouldn't be the last.
Looking back from the new table they sat at, Cardin promised himself that. Looking over to the one in the white hood, he was all but sure. She was going to pay for humiliating him like that, still wiping some of the tomato juices out of his hair as he grumbled. No one gets away with trying to embarrass him like that, and the next practice exam he had would make sure of that.
After all, it was all too convenient that he found himself next up against a certain Miss Fall in a couple days.
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A/N: Annnnd I think a good stopping point right there ^^. Like I said folks, sorry for the lack of updates and short episode, but again, been awhile, and not bad for a four minute runtime. I still think it's fair given the time limit and everything. I also think i'm getting back to my writing (albeit slowly) after my lengthy hiatus, so hopefully we'll get more chapters soon ^^!
Anyway, leave a like, fav, and rev if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!