Before anything else, I own nothing but the original characters, and content therein related to them. RWBY is owned by RT, and any mentioned creator's work belongs to them, and them alone. Rest in peace Monty, your vision lives on in us all.
CHAPTER 12
"After the Faunus Rights Revolution, better known as the Faunus War, human kind was quite adamant about concentrating the faunus populations of Remnant to the continent of Menagerie." Dr. Oobleck's presentation of the FRR nearly a month and a half into the year, was one that, for most, was uncomfortable to say the least.
"Menagerie, a collection of wild animals kept in captivity for exhibition. Containment on an island called nothing more than a zoo, and we called that freedom." Siniy said to himself, though still loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Not that I particularly agree with the nomenclature of the island Mr. Garnet, but compared to the conditions faunus were subjected to for the era, it was a marked step in the right direction of civil rights." Dr. Oobleck said, continuing with his lecture
Siniy muttered to himself. "They called it freedom."
"I know these events may seem like ancient history but 75 years ago is well within one human lifetime, enough to qualify these as relatively recent events in our world's largely undiscovered history. It's imperative for you to know this, as the repercussions of the uprising can still be felt to this day. Has anyone among you ever been persecuted or discriminated against as a result of your faunus heritage?" Dr. Oobleck asked. One by one, Velvet, Clayton, and Siniy raised their hands. "And that is precisely why these lessons are so important. If we can learn from the mistakes of our forefathers we can change the future for the better to avoid those exact occurrences."
Pale dipped his hat over his steely blue eyes. History or not, people never took those lessons to heart. The war going south for humanity led to suing for peace, led to them gaining power again, led to pseudo laws that did nothing for the animals, led to the White Fang, led to violence… Led to death… One too many deaths. And death led to vengeance. Siniy balled his fist as he lowered his hand. The war changed nothing. It was a pointless endeavor that gave the kingdoms a chance to look good in the eyes of the little guy, to gain a new voter base, meanwhile the elites threw humans and faunus in camps if they disagreed with the status quo. How pathetic…
Halcyone refrained from raising her hand… And yes, it was weird even having a partial temptation to out of group think. Lucky her, what trait she had was easy enough to hide without looking suspicious… Well, so long as she kept her pants on. People believed she was human, she believed she was human, everyone she'd ever met never questioned if she was hiding something, and naturally, no one had hurt her for what they didn't know about… There was a word within the faunus community for people like her, "Pets." Faunus that either were willing submissive to humans, or hid and acted like humans, got treated like humans, reaped the benefits of human society without suffering any of the pitfalls of being a faunus, but that wasn't true in the slightest. The slum that Halcyone grew up in was just as bad for humans as it was for faunus. There was no preferential treatment, just those who had power, and those that lorded it over the weak.
"Now can any of you tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year of the war?" Dr. Oobleck asked. Weiss raised her hand. "Yes Miss. Schnee." Dr. Oobleck said.
"The Battle of Fort Castle." She responded. Siniy and Clayton rolled their eyes at that tired old answer.
"Precisely, and can anyone tell me the advantage the faunus had over general Lagoon's forces?" Dr. Oobleck continued with the question.
"Well I know it's a lot easier to train animals than people." Cardin said with a chuckle, high fiving Sky Lark, after his joke. Blake held her tounge not wanting to draw the eye of the bully.
Pale scoffed. "Well that's just factually incorrect. You ever try breaking in a horse or hearding cats? Apply the same logic to training a bunch of faunus. And Doc, I ain't one to argue facts, but the battle of Fort Castle was not the turning point for the faunus during the war… And the actual answer to your question about what gave the faunus the advantage in that instance was extra-perception. Most faunus have an enhanced set of senses as a secondary animalistic trait in addition to the primary visible addition to their physiology. In the case of Fort Castle, General Lagoon made the mistake of night raiding the faunus encampment outside the fort, which was a bad enough idea in it's own right, but neglecting to gain intelligence on the fact the opposing force was composed exclusively of Cat and Dog faunus, ultimately led to his army walking into a fight in the dark where every enemy had night vision." Pale said, earning an open mouth "Ah." From Dr. Oobleck.
"Well seeing as we have one student that believes the battle of Fort Castle wasn't the turning point of the war, can anyone tell me what secondary theories exist?" Dr. Oobleck asked, getting a raised hand from Siniy. "Yes, Mr. Garnet."
Siniy put his hand down before speaking. "The day Atlas was formed, and made Mantle a defunct kingdom… Before the amphibious invasion of Northern Anima, the faunus forces centered in eastern Sanus were severely under equipped, and ill trained as a fighting force. Then they started hiring human veterans from the Great War, all of them from Mantle. A disgruntled force of forgotten soldiers was not something that General Beach was going to simply pass by. They gave the faunus military training during the winter of the first year of the war, and provided them with equipment and armament smuggled out of Mantle, as well assisted in notable conflicts like the Battle of Vineyard Plains. I can imagine that General Lagoon was shocked to see antiquated tanks on a battlefield 6 years after the Great War ended." Siniy said, earning a few nods of acknowledgment from his team.
"You believe it was human intervention that led to the war being stalemated in favor of the faunus, Mr. Garnet?" Dr. Oobleck asked stirnly.
"I believed my late great grandfather, who crewed a machine gun with a human during the Solitas uprising. I believe what gave them the advantage over the existing governments of the time, was the fact that the predominantly faunus forces were not so stubborn as to forgo seizing what opportunities they had, unlike the faunus of the White Fang." Siniy said, practically growling the name of the terror group. Pale sneered at the thought of the White Fang, both fists clenched on his desk.
"Excellent answer Mr. Garnet. Now, moving on." Dr. Oobleck said, continuing his lecture.
"Boy knows his history… Probably don't like the Fang neither." Pale though… Maybe he wouldn't have such a hard time outing Blake. Blake meanwhile, was nearly having a crisis. Siniy and Pale, opposite as they might have been, both clearly had a dislike for the White Fang. One spoke of cooperation with humans as if it was a dead way of thinking he cherished, and the other looked like they wanted to spit on the name White Fang itself. The people like Pale, the ones who had nothing but hate in their hearts for the White Fang, usually they hated the Faunus too. Blake had to think back to every word and action she'd seen him make… And came up with nothing.
A few days passed by, and Siniy was lumbering through the halls, when he stumbled upon Cardin Winchester and Weiss Schnee. Siniy gave the two a single disdainful look, and Cardin decided to walk away from the situation. Weiss sighed, and looked up at Siniy, biting her tongue before speaking. Siniy hadn't said anything to her face about her family, perhaps on this one small ocassion she could give a faunus praise, afterall he'd helped her fight the White Fang before, he might be one of the good ones. "Thank you." She said, nearly inaudible.
"For what?" Siniy asked. Weiss looked at the nearest door, then back up at the bear faunus, having not expected to be heard.
"For… For scaring him off." Weiss said.
"I was trying to scare both of you off." Siniy said with a huff.
"Please, you're big, but you aren't mean for a faunus." Weiss said, crossing her arms. Siniy huffed again.
"So he was making fun of a human for a change. What, did he say something about your attitude?" Siniy asked. Weiss sighed. The giant was neutral in seemingly every respect, and prefered silence to gossip. She could talk to him like any normal human and he'd more than likelly keep quiet... Or maybe he was just a pet.
"He called me damaged goods." Weiss said quietly.
"The scar?" Siniy asked, pointing to his own eye. "How does one as sheltered as a Schnee get something like that?"
Weiss looked away for a second before nodding. "I got it a year ago… Father… He had me fight a geist possessing a giant suit of armor, as proof I was huntress material." Weiss said.
"And you are ashamed of this scar you gained in battle?" Siniy asked.
"No… But… I'm Weiss Schnee, there's expectations for how I'm to act and what I'm supposed to look like. I might have gotten over this scar, but by no means does that mean I am proud of it." Weiss said, as Siniy started unzipping his kit vest and field coat.
"You should wear your scars with pride. If they are earned in battle, they are marks of strength." Siniy said, pulling up his black undershirt to show Weiss the front of his torso. Aside form the obvious muscle hidden under a bit of stomach fat, the most eye catching landmark was a giant burn scar covered the right side of his abdomen, where no hair grew, and the tissue was agitated and rough. Multiple small bullet hole scars tracked across his chest, and what looked like an eight pellet buckshot spread sat left of his navel. Weiss was speechless for a moment… And she hadn't seen his back.
She wasn't one to sympathies with a faunus, but the amount of pain that Siniy must have gone through to acquire all of those, she'd never wish that on another person. "When did you get these?" Weiss asked as Siniy started zipping his coat back up.
"4 years ago… When I got out of Hell…" Siniy said, before walking away, stopping to look over his shoulder and speak to Weiss one last time before leaving. "I was born big and ugly Weiss. If it is beauty you are worried about, take it from me, no amount of scars will ever change how you were born. For as much as I hate your name, you were born beautiful, and not a single man or faunus can argue that because you have a mark of strength."
As Siniy walked away, Weiss ran her hand over the scar under her eye. "Beautiful." Weiss muttered to herself.