Sorry its been so long. I've had a real slump trying to figure out where to go from here. Also, this chapter ended up being insanely long.

I've been rereading back through what I have so far, and I think a fair share of edits are in order. Tbh, I'll probably need to rewrite entire chapters at some point. Kind of figuring it out as I go, just like the show haha. But in the words of Salem, "and so we press on."

Back in the dorm room, it was silent for a few minutes, other than the sound of a page flipping or a slight rustle of bedsheets. Then,

"You knew I wasn't sleeping."

"Yeah," Dirk said simply.

Aurelia paused again, thinking. "Why didn't you tell Owaissa that?"

"Because you needed to know."

"Know what?'

Dirk set his book down and sighed. "She was just trying to help you, you know."

"I don't need help!"

"What do you need then?"

"What?" The question took Aurelia by surprise. What did she need? Why was he asking that? Was this some sort of ploy to try to blackmail her?

"I don't need anything."

"That's not true."

"Stop pretending that you know anything about me! Because you don't!"

"You're right. I don't. And neither does she." Dirk shifted on his bed. "Has it ever occurred to you that sometimes people want to help you and don't expect anything in return?"

"But you always get something in return. That's what help means."

Dirk sighed again. "Maybe for you that's how its been. But that's not how I see it. Or how Owaissa sees it."

Aurelia remained quiet as she digested the information Dirk had given her. "That doesn't make any sense," she protested quietly. "Nobody in their right mind would do that."

"Well, some people do. I'd like to think many people do."

"Then those people are just stupid. Or they can afford to 'help' as you put it." Aurelia sat up. "Maybe a whitefoot like her can afford it. But she's not going to last. Gone as quick as a copper to the coin purse, if she keeps that crap up."

Dirk cringed inwardly as Aurelia cited the w- word again. He hadn't felt comfortable telling Owaissa what it meant, but he'd heard a similar word before by some punks at Sanctum and had a far better understanding than Owaissa did. "Even if she's had it good in life, you should give her a chance."

"Just because she had a soft comfy life doesn't mean she has to rub it in my face!"

"You don't even know anything about her."

"I know enough."

"Do you?"

"Yes!"

Dirk sighed, realizing that arguing over this was pointless. "Suit yourself. If you want my advice—"

"I don't need your advice!"

Dirk shrugged and flipped his book back open. "You'll have to talk to her eventually."

Aurelia sighed, deflating. "I know."

"Especially cause you're team leader—"

"I know! Just shut up already!" Aurelia snapped. She lay back down feigning sleep. Dirk cracked a small smile. At least they'll both be open to talking again.

Chapter 12: Fox and Feathers

Aurelia couldn't sleep. Again. After tossing and turning for hours, Aurelia finally opened her eyes and glanced at the clocked. One am. Great. Just great. She peeked over at the others. Ember was curled up on his side like a cat, while Owaissa slept sprawled out on the bed, her hair in her face. Dirk was on his back, his hands folded across his abdomen, his breathing even and deep. A light snore escaped him occasionally.

Her back started to itch. At first, Aurelia tried to ignore it, but the more she tried, the more the itch came in full force until finally she sat up. Fine! It's not like I'm anywhere close to sleeping anyway. A small part of her warned that she was being reckless, but she pushed it down. It's one in the morning. Nobody's awake. I'll be fine.

Lightly, so as not to wake her teammates, she slipped out from underneath the blankets and used her semblance to make herself weightless. Giving herself a little push off the bunk bed railing, she floated down to the floor and stopped on one toe in a perfect arabesque. Keeping her semblance on, she moved into a chassé jeté, landing just before the door. Turning the handle gently, she eased herself into the hallway, then turned back around to glance at the rest of her teammates. All three remained still, and Dirk let out a little snore. Still asleep. Good.

The door closed behind her with a soft click.

Back in the room, the snoring stopped.

It was a beautiful night, not too cold, with just a sliver of moon and a hint of a breeze. Aurelia stood at the edge of Beacon Cliff, admiring the view for a moment, before she slowly undid the buckles at her neck and waist that held her cloak in place. She let it fall to the ground.

On her back was a pair of beautiful golden wings, folded flat against her back. She now stretched them out letting the gentle breeze ruffle through her feathers, sighing in relief. She couldn't remember the last time she had been able to stretch them so freely like this. After all, a seven foot wingspan wasn't easy to hide.

The part of her that was always worrying started tugging at her brain again, but she shoved it down. She hated this part of her, the part that clouded her vision and filled her heart with irrational fear. Yes, it had saved her life more than once. But at what cost? She had constant bags under her eyes from lack of sleep. She would sit in a room and suddenly feel like she couldn't breathe. I haven't felt this free in months. Just this once, let me fly freely. Just this once.

Aurelia closed her eyes and leaned forward until she was freefalling through the sky, relishing the wind rushing over her whole body. Just before she hit the canopy, she opened her eyes and spread her wings wide, gliding across the treetops. A particularly tall tree loomed in front of her, but she simply grinned and swooped to a side, dodging the obstacle effortlessly. Arms spread wide, she zoomed past another tree and arched over a rock formation before levelling out. Sensing that she was far enough out from the cliff, she beat her wings hard climbing up and up, a gleam in her eye. She reached out her right hand, as if to touch the clouds, before twirling in midair and backflipping into a dive, wings tucked in. The wind rushed past her face as the tops of the trees rapidly approached, but with a slight bend she harnessed the downward momentum to curve up into the air again in a slow backwards loop-de-loop, followed by two curving arcs through the sky.

She loved flying. She loved the feeling of leaving the world and all her problems behind. And she'd almost forgotten how much she'd loved it.

Dirk lay in bed wrestling with his thoughts. He already knew from last night that Aurelia didn't sleep easily, but something nagged him. What was she doing up at one in the morning? Could she be in trouble? What was she trying to hide?

She probably just went to the bathroom, the reasonable part of him thought.

Right. That was a thing. Girls with small bladders and all.

But when Aurelia didn't return after a few minutes, he finally got up. Between her weird behavior this afternoon to the unexplained animosity she had for Ember (and Owaissa by extension), there was a non-zero chance that something could happen to her. And I'm not going to let that happen. She's my partner…and our team leader.

Unlike his graceful counterpart, the floor creaked loudly under Dirk's footsteps. Thankfully, both Owaissa and Ember were deeply asleep, having exhausted large quantities of aura during their training this afternoon. Dirk managed to slip out unnoticed, his dual swords strapped to his back. Just in case.

Where on earth could she be? He decided to check the bathroom first, listening out the door and projecting his Semblance. Nope, empty.

He checked the common room. Nobody.

Kitchen? Nope, no one either.

There was no one else awake it seemed, besides himself, in the whole building. Where could she have gone? Dirk headed down the stairs and out the door, stepping into the cool night air. Closing his eyes, he projected his aura outward, trying to sense anything that might lead to his partner's whereabouts.

There! A line of slight ridges in the dirt. Dirk opened his eyes and bent down to look at one. It was faint, but unmistakably the footprint of his query. They moved with even regularity, and Dirk traced the path across the courtyard. There were times when his sharp eyes couldn't make out any patterns, and he had to use his Semblance to identify where the path picked up. Rather than be frustrated though, Dirk only had increasing respect for his new partner's ability to move about with hardly a trace. Though this is starting to get long for just a midnight walk. I wonder what she's really up to.

As the footprint trail left campus proper, Dirk realized they were heading toward a familiar spot. Beacon Cliff? What would she be doing here? The footprints disappeared into the grass and he could no longer sense any imprints in the ground because of the grass cushioning it. Spreading his Semblance out, Dirk tried to sense his partner's whereabouts, but found nothing. Not a heartbeat, breath, or footfall anywhere nearby. Where did she go? Maybe she's at a different point on the cliff? Before he could pursue her further though, something in the air caught his eye. He made his way through the last of the trees until he stood concealed behind the most forward one with nothing else blocking his view of the full moon and the forest below. And as he got a closer look at what had caught his eye, his jaw dropped.

Dirk watched in awe as he saw what he assumed to be a midnight bird arcing gracefully through the air far out over the forest. It looked so beautiful and so carefree, he couldn't help but be entranced as he watched the bird swoop and dive. I wonder what kind of bird that is? I wish it would come closer so I could see.

Almost as if the bird could read his mind, it abandoned its aerial acrobatics and began heading straight for him, beating its wings forcefully through the air. Like Nevermore wings. But Nevermores don't fly like that. Maybe an eagle? As the figure drew closer though, he thought he saw a glint of something silver on its body. Then, he realized it wasn't actually a bird or an eagle, but a person, with wings like a fairy out of some ancient myth. As the figure landed gracefully on the cliffside, Dirk noticed that the figure's wings were gold-colored, which he noted as an unusual color. His eyes traveled to the figure's hair, and that's when he stopped short. Wait, could it be…

The figure looked up, and Dirk barely contained a gasp of shock as Aurelia looked up, a carefree smile on her face. She flexed and extended her wings a few times, stretching them out, before folding them back flat against her back and breathing a sigh of contentedness.

She's a faunus! Suddenly, so much about Aurelia's behavior started to make sense. Her distrust of others, her insistence on independence… Dirk grinned. If she was a faunus, he was about to make things much better for them and their partnership.

Aurelia stretched her wings out and sighed contentedly. She couldn't remember the last time she had flown like that. It had felt so good, so freeing, so indescribably—

"I knew you'd look better without the cloak."

Aurelia whirled around, Aerafet's spear form pointed at the intruder hidden in the shadows of the tree's trunk. "Who's there?!"

Dirk emerged from the shadows, hands held up with palms out in a sign of surrender.

"What are you doing here?!"

"I could be asking you the same thing."

"It's one in the morning! You were asleep!"

"Hey, I'm not the one who was flying everywhere. Out in the open, I might add. And I suppose you've forgotten all about my Semblance." Dirk smirked.

"Your Semblance isn't supposed to work when you're asleep!"

"And I wasn't asleep."

Aurelia had nothing to say to that, and Dirk took the opportunity to speak up. "I umm…the flying was beautiful. You were beautiful out there."

Dirk could see that his words had had the opposite effect of what he'd intended when Aurelia curled in on herself and took on a defensive stance. He immediately put his hands up again, "No—no! That's not what I meant. I just—you looked so…free. And…I get it."

"Get what?" Aurelia asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Why you hide your wings from the world."

"You get it?" Aurelia spat out. "You? You wouldn't know anything about being a Faunus!"

"Are you so sure of that?"

What? Aurelia stared at him, confused. No, it can't be. "It can't be."

Dirk reached up and took his hat off and Aurelia couldn't help herself. She gasped.

A pair of brown-orange fox ears stuck up noticeably amidst the flop of brown hair atop Dirk's head.

"You're…a fox."

"Fox Faunus," Dirk corrected.

"Well yeah, but—"

"But what?" Dirk's voice had a strange edge to it, but Aurelia was too caught up in her own thoughts to notice.

"There's that saying, never trust a fox."

"And that's supposed to mean something?"

"I mean, it wouldn't be a saying if it didn't mean something, right?"

"And that means…?"

"I should have known. I should have known. There was something different about you."

"Known what?"

"You actually think I'm going to tell you anything now?"

"You can trust me, Aurelia."

"Can I?"

Aurelia thought little of the two words she had spoken until she looked up and saw Dirk's face. He looked like some combination of being punched in the face, betrayed by a close friend, and whipped like a puppy. It crossed her mind for a split second that the face Dirk had on did not look right on him, nor should it ever be there. Ever. Before she even knew what she was doing, she tried to backtrack. "No, I didn't—it's not—that's not what I meant—"

"You said exactly what you meant." Dirk wasn't looking at her anymore, and there was nothing apparent on the outside that indicated anything was wrong, but Aurelia couldn't shake the feeling of blood draining from her face. "Never trust a fox. Should have known better. I thought maybe you'd understand as a Faunus, but well, guess I was wrong. I hope you have a better night." Dirk turned to walk away.

"Wait!" Aurelia called out. Dirk paused.

Aurelia scuffed her foot on the ground. She had her reasons for distrusting a fox, but Dirk wasn't one of them. It would be unfair to ascribe that to someone who had only been trying to be nice. Even if those sort of advances weren't quite welcomed. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Dirk said simply. He glanced up at her with a small smile on his face, but there was still hurt in his eyes.

Aurelia crossed her arms and shook her head. "No, it's not okay. You've been nothing but kind, and I've been…well, a jerk isn't a strong enough word." Aurelia paused to take a breath. "I should've—"

"It's alright, you don't need to spell everything out. I've gotten plenty of that treatment before." Dirk sat down on the edge of the cliff and started to sharpen Terrafang. Aurelia walked over and sat next to him, keeping about a foot away and dangling her legs off the edge.

"That's…terrible."

Dirk shrugged. "It doesn't bother me much." He looked up and cracked a small smile. "Except when people like you do it apparently." Aurelia looked away, embarrassed. They continued to sit for a few minutes, Dirk sharpening Terrafang, Aurelia lost in thought.

Finally, she spoke up. "You make it sound like you're used to people not trusting you because you're a fox…Faunus." Aurelia berated herself mentally for almost slipping up again. She wasn't exactly sure when gaining Dirk's favor had suddenly become so important. But she'd just come to realize (in the last two minutes) that there were just some rare people in this world you could never shoot down with a clear conscience, and Dirk was apparently one of them.

Dirk shrugged again. "It was a long time ago. Started wearing hats when I was seven. Made things pretty smooth ever since."

"So that's why you wear that ridiculous thing."

"Hey, its not ridiculous!"

"Wearing a hat 24/7 is definitely ridiculous."

"As ridiculous as wearing a cloak all the time?" Aurelia had no response to that, and Dirk smirked at the look on Aurelia's face, knowing he'd gotten her. She did little more to acknowledge it than a "Hmph!" while crossing her arms. Another minute passed in relative silence. She really doesn't like to talk does she. So different from most women I know. If conversation was going to go anywhere, Dirk realized it had to start with him. Thankfully, growing up with a younger sister (and brother, but it was the sister experience he appreciated at the moment) had prepared him well for the task at hand.

"So, do you want to actually talk now?" Dirk asked.

"No not really."

"Because I'm a fox?"

Aurelia sighed. "Because I don't like to remember. I came here so I could forget."

"What are you trying to forget?"

"You're really pushy, aren't you."

"Someone has to be."

"You could just leave people alone, you know."

"But there's no fun in being alone."

Aurelia sighed and looked off across the cliff. "Maybe for you. I have no choice, not after the Lake—" Aurelia's stopped and put a hand over her mouth.

"You…?" Dirk prompted.

"I've said too much."

"Come on, you haven't even said anything!"

Aurelia stayed silent, internally nibbling her thumb. Dirk really seemed like an alright guy. She'd met many not-so-alright guys before, and they had sent shivers up her spine the moment she'd looked at them.

"Look, I promise that anything you say will stay with me. Huntsman's honor." He held up a hand.

Aurelia smiled a little before frowning at the expanse before them, thinking about everything on her mind. The lovely Lake family that had shown her so much kindness, only to be repaid with death. The unease and dark words Ember had brought and her fears that he was a spy for the Datura Dancers. Doubts about being team leader, not that she couldn't do it, but that she would place her team in harm's way, just like the family whose names she could no longer say because it hurt too much to think about.

"I'm…scared."

"Scared of what?"

Scared was an understatement. She lived in a constant state of fear and terror that was barely held at bay by the meager shields of her rationale. But how in all of Remnant could she tell anyone? Did she even want to? And there was so much to tell, it was overwhelming…

"Everything," she whispered.

The same feeling Dirk had had last night came back to him in full force. Some mix of pity, compassion, and a strong desire to protect who he saw as a frightened little girl. He wondered what had happened to her to make her like this, so afraid that every open hand would be met with anger and a sharp bite if the owner wasn't careful.

"Tell me."

Tell him? I can't do that. They'll find him. The few people she had ever turned to she could count on her fingers. And every single one of them could not be counted anymore. The Datura Dancers had made sure of it. But this is different, another voice argued, though a small one. Dirk's trained in combat. He's a Huntsman. Or will be.

Uncertain, Aurelia hedged an excuse. "I…don't know where to start."

"That's okay. Just start with something, anything."

Dammit why won't he just shut up? "I…can't."

"Why not?"

"I can't bring you into this. It's not your fight. You shouldn't have to pay for the consequences of my life."

"We're teammates, Aurelia. Partners. I'm involved in your fight whether you want it or not." Dirk ignored the sudden paleness of Aurelia's face. "But even if we weren't on the same team, I want to help."

"You don't know what you're saying, the risks involved—"

"I understand that I swore I would be a Huntsman. That means saving others, no matter the risks. And if it means giving up my life, then I'm prepared for that too."

Aurelia just stared at her partner. How can he say such things so easily? He has no idea who I am, who I've been involved with, what I've done—

"H—how can you say that?"

Dirk just smiled gently and shrugged a little. "That's what Huntsmen are. Who we are. We save the good from evil."

"How do you know I'm good and not evil?"

"Just a feeling."

A feeling? He was willing to place his trust, even lay down his life, for a feeling? Who the heck was this guy? "I don't understand you."

At that, Dirk laughed. "You don't need to understand me to trust me."

Aurelia sighed. "I suppose not." She looked up at him. "Are you absolutely sure about this?"

"Yes." Dirk spoke without hesitation, before Aurelia could finish.

"You have to understand," Aurelia entreated, trying to make him understand. "There's no going back. The moment you know even the slightest bit of information, you'll have a target painted across your back for the rest of your life. You'll be hunted, pursued, and there is no escape. Death will haunt your steps, steal those you care about, and when it finally reaches you, it will not be quick and easy, but slow, and tortuous. It's only a matter of time." Dirk saw the tortured look in Aurelia's eyes, and his heart went out to her. She's been through that much, huh? No wonder she acts the way she does. Impulsively, he laid a hand on her forearm. She froze at the contact, but didn't pull away. "I'm ready," he said simply.

Aurelia searched his eyes, looking for any trace of doubt or hesitation, and finding only conviction, determination, and some other emotion she couldn't quite figure out. Dirk let go and she let out the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding in. She'd failed to notice when her heart rate had accelerated in fear, but Dirk noticed the rise and now steady fall of her rhythm, and didn't touch her again. They sat there for a few minutes as Aurelia forced herself to relax and gather the courage to speak.

"There's this…group, that I used to be a part of."

"What kind of group? Some sort of super epic elite fighting club?" Aurelia almost laughed at Dirk's enthusiasm but the subject was too serious for her to do more than crack a small smile. Still, it eased her manner, and helped her relax.

"A dance troupe, actually."

"Wait, you were a dancer?!" Dirk's incredulous expression was so comical that Aurelia almost laughed again, but stopped herself with an eye roll instead.

"Yeah. I guess you could say I was the star of the show." Aurelia found that now that she had started, it was easier to continue. "'The Golden Angel' they used to call me. We performed every night at The Oasis. Twice on the weekends. It was twelve of us, the twelve Datura Dancers. I was the youngest, but that didn't matter."

"You seem like you enjoyed it."

Aurelia had a small nostalgic smile on her face. "I enjoyed the dancing. We were good. Really good." The smile faded. "Or maybe that's just my memory and it wasn't as good as I remember."

"What happened?"

"I…left." When Aurelia didn't elaborate, Dirk asked, "What made you leave?"

"The people…weren't the best. The other dancers didn't like me, for some reason. I wonder now if maybe they were jealous of my abilities. I don't know." Aurelia played with her hands, clenching and unclenching them in rapid succession. "What I do know is that as I got older, they didn't just want dancing. They wanted...more. And I couldn't given them what they were looking for. So I ran away. They didn't like that at all."

It occurred to Dirk in that moment just how much Aurelia looked like a little child in need of a reassuring hug. But some small instinct warned him that Aurelia wouldn't receive that touch well right now, so he stifled that urge and sat as still as a stone.

"I hid as best I could, while they hunted for me. I…don't remember so well." That was a lie. Aurelia remembered those years bitterly, and they weighed upon her heavily. But she wasn't about to tell a near-stranger that. "Eventually, someone managed to sneak me into Oscuro Academy. At the time, I thought it was fitting. Named after shadow, a place of darkness to hide in, away from prying eyes."

"Did it work?"

"For a time. Then they found me. Stole me away."

"But…surely the headmaster—"

Aurelia looked straight at Dirk. "They managed to infiltrate the school right under his nose. I hadn't even finished my first year." She looked down at her hands. "Do you get it now? The Datura Dancers are smart and cunning. And they are ruthless and relentless in their pursuit."

"But there's the police, they could help—"

Aurelia made a clicking noise. "Psh! This is Vacuo, Dirk. The only law and order that exists is Shade Academy. And even then they have a fine line to walk."

"What do you mean?"

"How do you think Shade Academy manages to stay afloat?"

"Well, they've got Huntsmen. Isn't that enough?"

Aurelia almost laughed at Dirk's naivete. "And who are those rich enough to afford the tuition and training that Shade offers?" When Dirk didn't respond, Aurelia continued. "There's precious few whitefoots, and those who belong to that class rarely pursue Huntsmen work. After all, why do so when you can hire Huntsmen for cheaper? Then you have the majority of the population out in the desert just struggling to survive, running from place to place to escape the Grimm. Or if they're not out there, they're working the underbelly of Vacuo. If they're lucky, they own a small business that the gangs like well enough to leave alone. If they're unlucky…well let's just say it's not a pretty sight." Dirk shuddered at the implication. "Most shop owners are forced to be a part of one of the main gangs, or at least pay tribute, otherwise the others will come in and steal and have their way. And the fee for that protection, coupled with revenues in other areas of 'business', gives the gangs enough lien to make them rich. Rich enough to send some of their own to Shade, where they receive the best combat training Vacuo has to offer."

"So in short, Shade has to make deals with the gangs so that they don't just destroy everything. And lets them become trained Huntsmen in order to pacify them."

"That's a pretty decent summary."

"It's not right."

"Who's to say what's right and what isn't?"

Dirk looked at her with a seriously-you-actually-believe-that kind of look. "You're equipping the bad guys with everything so they can keep being bad and ruin the lives of all the good guys!"

Aurelia sighed. "Look, its not exactly like that. Its…complicated."

"It's wrong. It goes against everything the Huntsman code stands for." His tone was firm, and Aurelia knew he wouldn't be persuaded otherwise. She didn't agree with the gangs being the bad guys though. Yes, maybe they did some questionable things, but they also maintained a sense of law and order. Everyone understood their corner, and there was even mutual respect between each group, helped along by Shade's team formation, which brought members of different gangs together. She'd seen it once where a small group of outsider thugs from Mistral had tried to take on a store across the street. Within the hour, they had been "settled with", even before the bluecaps got wind that anything had even happened. And no one had died either, the stolen goods returned back to the owner. No, the gangs were a necessity. Without the gangs, everything would fall into chaos.

Still, Dirk wouldn't understand any of this, so she decided to redirect the issue. "Maybe, but it is what it is."

"And the Datura Dancers are one of these gangs." Dirk guessed shrewdly.

"Essentially yes." Aurelia shifted. "Officially, the Datura Dancers are just a dance group that don't have any affiliation. But behind the scenes, the money all goes to them. Oh, they spare a decent amount of the lien for the cast. Gotta keep them happy, especially those who are Huntsmen trained."

"And the police?"

"Those bluecaps?" Aurelia scoffed. "They're pretty much good for nothing. Police are no match for Huntsmen. They're mostly there for the formalities. Some prominent bluecaps line their pockets with lien and turn a blind eye. They'll sometimes catch the occasional copper or two, especially if they were after something big. But often they're just extensions of the gangs, patrolling for one of them."

"So basically, the police and Shade Academy are in the pocket of the gangs. What about Oscuro though? They're not?"

Aurelia sighed again. She hadn't realized how much she'd need to explain, and it was getting late. "They are. Its primarily owned by one of the other groups, and though the Datura Dancers had connections to the courts and prisons, they didn't have anyone at the Academy. Or so I thought. Loyalty is everything in the gangs, and leaving is the equivalent of being a traitor. I found out the hard way that even other gangs see it that way too."

"I see. What happened after they took you back?"

Aurelia paused for a time before responding. "I was—well eventually, I managed to get away again." The whole ordeal was too terrible to mention, especially now. It was a rule that you never run from the Datura Dancers ever, much less twice. The second time had cost her dearly too, and it hurt too much to think about. She shifted gears, "After some time I ended up here."

Dirk wanted to know more but Aurelia seemed to be done with questions for the night. "So ultimately, the Datura Dancers are hunting you down, and because I know they're hunting you down, they'll try to kill me too?"

"That's the way they are. They'll—" Aurelia stopped as she sat up straight and her face turned pale. "Oh brothers, I messed up!"

"What's wrong?" Dirk asked, concerned.

"I was—you were gonna be—" Aurelia cut herself short as she shot up and started pacing.

"Aurelia, please, calm down." Dirk tried to placate her.

"I was going to ask Ozpin if you could replace me as leader, but now I've ruined it! Absolutely ruined it!" She accentuated her last statement with a punch into a nearby tree. It did nothing more than make a slight dent, but Dirk still winced.

"Whoa, Aurelia, slow down." Dirk stood up and walked over to her. "What's all this about being a team leader?"

"I—I can't be team leader. I just can't. Not with…all this," she waved her hands vaguely in the air.

"What do you mean?" Dirk asked, a puzzled look on his face.

Seriously, how can he be so stupid? "Did you not just hear anything I've said? They will kill me. And not just me, but anyone associated with me."

"So?"

"So?! If there's any hope of avoiding them, I can't be a team leader!"

"Who says you have to avoid them?"

What?

"Look, I don't know you all that well," Dirk continued. "But you're training to be a Huntsman, and at the best academy in Remnant. We all are. Nothing will stop us from beating up all the bad guys once we graduate."

"That's not true! You don't know them like I do!"

"But I do know one thing: you've managed to avoid them for this long. That means you must be strategic, quick-thinking, strong, and a capable fighter. Even if I hadn't already seen you in action during initiation, which just proves my point."

"It doesn't prove anything!"

"It proves you have the potential to be a great leader." Dirk pressed, then grinned. "You are my leader, in any case." He put a hand on her shoulder. "And I choose to follow your lead."

A second later, Dirk found himself on his back in the grass, looking up at the stars. Wait, what just happened? Why does my wrist hurt? And my back feels terrible.

"I'm sorry." Aurelia whispered, then whisked away. Dirk tried to sit up but found he couldn't due to the pain in his back.

Guess I'm stuck here until my aura recharges.

And that's a wrap on this chapter. Longest one I've written. I realize that my characters need a lot more development. But I hope this provided more backstory for you all. And we have the official reveal that Aurelia is an eagle faunus and Dirk is a fox faunus! So as of now, Ember and Owaissa know that they're faunus, and Aurelia and Dirk. But they have yet to be discovered by the others, and that's where the fun is.