WARNING: this chapter has like uh ok imagine a party popper filled with bloody organs exploding? Yeah. Only for like a paragraph or two tho. Probably won't happen again.

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*Authors note:(for those who haven't seen rwby. I know there's at least one of y'all out there): Faunus=a human person with an animal characteristic. Including but not limited too, cat ears, a monkey tail, the ability to change the color of your skin because chameleon, cat feet, fox ears, fox tail, antlers or horns, a mermaid tail instead of legs, Satar legs, bunny ears, scales in random places and sharp teeth, ect... As far as I am aware, no cases of having both animal ears and a tail at the same time exist in Rwby as of volume 6. Its either one or the other. But don't me on that honestly idfk.

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A *faunus? Now it made sense why Blake had hated her so much on their first meeting.. Her, Weiss, the daughter of the kingdom that had more underground faunus slavery then even mistral! Of course a faunus girl would immediately hate Weiss on sight if she knew who Weiss was. And if Yang knew Blake was a faunus, it would make sense why she suddenly went into attack mode. The Schnee family was famous for their unorthodox treatment of their 'workers' in the underground, Weiss knew.

"You saw." Blake said. Not as a question, more just a tense observation.

Weiss had seen. And was now, very conflicted. Her mind started to wander. Weiss hadn't always been so 'accepting' of the faunus race. In fact, she could say she'd been like her father at one point. Having been raised in such a way that portrayed the faunus to her as no more then dirty criminals, it was to be expected she thought like that once, but something that happened had changed her view on the subject, years ago.

When she was around 14, Weiss didn't have much she liked doing besides training with her sword. She was useless at summoning, and was even beginning to dislike singing since her father only allowed her to preform what he thought was suitable at their castles parties. Weiss found that from a certain point on the inner castle wall, if she used a pair of opera viewing binoculars Winter had given her, she could see into the town marketplace. Such a dirty and commoner riddled place didn't interst her in the slightest..! But, with nothing else to do, she observed them. One girl in particular, she became fond of.

The girl would go to the market and sing for money. Weiss could never hear her voice, but depending on where the girl stood, Weiss could try to read her lips. A few times she read the girl singing some of Weiss's original songs. That made her so happy. Thinking back on it, Weiss realized that that time in her life may have been the start of her beginning to think she might like girls. But sadly, Weiss never got to speak to that girl.

After months of watching and looking for the singing girl in particular to watch every day, something awful happened. The girl was tripped by someone walking by. Not such a bad thing, but when she tripped, her hat fell off. The hat that Weiss had never seen her without. And under that hat, were a pair of horns. She was a faunus.

Some places were fine with faunus. Even in atlas, a faunus could go to the school that trained knights, and graduate top of the class if they worked hard. But that didn't mean that there weren't still many places in the world, and atlas, that despised the faunus very existence. This market was one such place, it seemed. Weiss watched in horror as the girl she'd begun growing fond of was kicked around and had rotten food thrown at her. Why? Why were they doing that, Weiss wondered? This girl had come every day and sung so sweetly for the townspeople, why did her being a faunus change that? A faunus. Faunus were bad. Were they? This girl didn't seem so bad? She wasn't even fighting back..

Weiss felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. The girl couldn't fight back. If she did, the nearbye guards Weiss could see watching would arrest her, and have her work in the mines until she died. Weren't they supposed to protect the people?! They were just.. Watching. Smiling. Smiling, like Weiss could recall her father smiling sometimes. It made her sick.

Weiss tried to find her again for the next few weeks, but she never saw that girl in the market again. And suddenly, watching the townspeople just wasn't as fun as it had once been. She stopped doing it. Maybe, it wasn't the faunus that were bad.. Maybe it was her. And her father. People that hated them just because they were, there. The emotional stress of the thought weighed Weiss down heavily.

At one point, Weiss had the idea to go down to the dungeons and see the faunus prisoners for herself. Surely, they were all mean looking ragged beasts. Those were the only kind her family enslaved, right? Weiss opened a door, and was greeted with the sight of a boy no older then she was, screaming, as he was given an iron branding across his eye. Weiss couldn't remember what happened after that, but the next thing she knew, she was in her bed, winded and shivering. What had she done to deserve the life she had? Other then be born lucky? If that girl in the market and her, had switched places and species at birth, nothing would be amis in the world. The though scared her.

Weiss made a conscious effort from that point on, not to be discriminatory. Remember their circumstances, they have a reason for what they do. But even so, just because SHE was now trying to be better, didn't mean that others knew that. Others, like Blake for instance. What could she say? Nothing that came out of Weiss's mouth could fix whatever Blake had gone through to have to hide her ears like that. She needed to leave. Now. It must have been torture to Blake to try and talk kindly to someone from the Schnee family. Weiss wanted to crawl onto a hole and DIE. God, she was already emotionaly broken enough just trying to leave Ruby, she didn't need her past rasicm reminded to her at the moment. Weiss started coming back to her senses. Just be firm. Be firm and go.

"I'm sorry." Weiss bowed, but held her ground. "I still need to leave. I can understand why you hate me now, and you're right to. Goodbye." Weiss turned and left again, half expecting Blake to follow her and try to stop her some more. But Blake stayed standing, watching Weiss go. Weiss was almost sad, perhaps she'd wanted Blake to convince her to stay. Perhaps. But, this was for the best.

Weiss made it Out of the city with ease. She felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, but she couldn't get rid of the lump in her throat. She avoided the dark forest, and stuck to the path merchants and travelers used to travel. It would be safer, she was in no condition to have to a fight with a shadow wolf. Perhaps she could hitch a ride on some merchants cart if one passed her going the same way.

As she walked, It got dark. Night had come, and Ruby hadn't gone after her. Obviously! Obviously she wouldn't! Weiss wasn't expecting her to! Yang, like any good big sister, would keep her younger sister safe, and not let her go after faunus enslaving racist rich peoples daughters! When it got to dark to continue traveling, Weiss curled up on the side of the road hidden in a bush to sleep, using the red cloak she'd bought earlier as an extra blanket. Huh, it had come in handy, hadn't it? She wished Ruby was there. Ruby was so much warmer then an extra cloak. Within minuets, Weiss slept.

She had a weird dream that night. Weiss was a silver fox, and Ruby was 5 inches tall. Ruby rode on her back, and fed her berries. They gallivanted about a beautiful forest in the dawn, the crisp morning air making Weiss feel as if she could fly. They stopped at a clearing with a lake shrouded by mist in the middle, and little Ruby hopped off Weiss to go for a swim. Weiss, still a fox, stayed on the shore and watched her. She saw a shadow in the water. It started advancing on Ruby's position, but Ruby didn't notice. Weiss tried to warn her, but what could she do? She yipped and barked, but no human words came out of her mouth. Ruby turned and waved at her with a smile, just before a huge white fish jumped out of the water and swallowed her whole.

A golden eagle flew above the water, cawing for the fish to come back. It couldn't dive deep enough into the water to get to the fish. And the fish just swam ever deeper. A black cat watched silently from the forests edge. Weiss gathered her courage, and dove into the water. Sound was muffled, but she could see the fish clearly. It saw her as well, and tried to gobble her up, but she took a swipe at its eye. The fish glared at Weiss. The white fish, with a scar on its eye. It looked so much like Weiss in that instant.

Weiss needed to breath, but if she swam back up to the surface, she'd never get Ruby back. Her heart was thumping so loudly she could hear it. Weiss scratched at the fish again, and it spit Ruby out. Ruby sank. Weiss tried to swim deeper, to save her, but it seemed that the more Weiss struggled, the faster Ruby sank into the darkness. Weiss wasn't a fox any more, she was herself again, but still in the water reaching out to Ruby. Did Ruby return to normal size as well? Or was she really that far away? Ruby sank ever deeper, and Weiss's heart beat so loud it was deafening. Thump thump thump, thump thump thump, thump thump thump. Why was it so loud?

Weiss's eyes shot open, and the sounds didn't stop. That wasn't a heartbeat. That was something running. Something running, straight for her! A second later, some huge animal came crashing through the brush straight towards her. Weiss sprung up, and darted back at least 10 feet. She couldn't believe her eyes. A shadow bear? Why would a shadow bear come this far away from the forest?! The large lumbering shape was most definitely a shadow bear, its red eyes gleamed and they marked Weiss as their prey. Wolves she could do, but Weiss had never taken down a bear! She didn't even know where to stab to GET the bears heart! Well, she knew the general area, but with a creature this big she'd get one shot at best. She didn't even have time to mull over her weird cryptic dream, Weiss had to get out of the area immediately.

Weiss tried to run away, but quickly realized that wouldn't work, as she had to dodge a tackle almost ten seconds after starting to run. The sun was starting to rise. The shadow bear roared, swiping at Weiss frantically. Why was it after her? Why did ...wait. Oh. OH. YESTERDAY. Yesterday when fighting the wolves, Weiss had almost run into a shadow bear! If one caught your sent, it would track you for life! Weiss thought she'd avoided it, but, it must have smelled her before she'd gotten away. Oh nooo! She had to kill this thing NOW, or she'd be hunted forever!

"Bears, kidnappers, whats next huh?! Pigs going to start falling from the sky?!" Weiss yelled in frustration as she dodged some more swipes.

And right after she yelled that, a pig did indeed fall out of the sky at the bear. After smacking the bear, the terrified wild pig squealed loudly and ran off. The bear was knocked back, but both Weiss and the bear were equally confused. A pig. Had fallen from the sky? Weiss looked up, but nothing was above them. Now that she thought about it, it was more like the pig was thrown...

"...eiss..!" Weiss heard a voice in the distance. Could it be.. "Weiss!" Ruby?

Ruby shot herself in speed form like a bullet at the bear, going straight through its chest and spraying a splatter of blood, organs, and viscera out of it like someone had pulled a party popper. The bear was dead, and Weiss covered her mouth so she wouldn't puke. The scene was horrific. A blood soaked Ruby popped up from a pile of something squishy and red, and tackled Weiss.

"Weiss! Don't leave me! I'm sorry I won't do anything bad again!" Ruby squeezed Weiss tightly while she tried not to gag.

"What the HELL are you doing?!" Weiss screamed, trying to push Ruby off her. Ewwww now it was getting on Weiss too! "Get off!"

Ruby gazed at Weiss with puppy dog eyes. "I, I'm helping! The bear! I got it!" Ruby frantically tried to explain as Weiss tried to wriggle out of her grasp.

Weiss felt her stomach gurgling, and covered her mouth again to hold it down. "You are FILTHY." She said Angrily. Ruby's eyes were beginning to loose their sparkle as Weiss spoke. "Where's a river?! I can't stand this smell!" Weiss gaged and then glared at Ruby. "I know you love the color red but PLEASE never do anything like that again!" Ruby's eyes lit up with excitement.

"So I can stay? You won't leave? You promise?" Ruby bombarded Weiss with questions, but then let her go and looked away guiltily. "If, you really want me to go away that's fine.. But, tell me first. Please don't just disappear." Ruby whined softly.

Weiss felt a thousand knives jabbing her heart. She hugged Ruby despite the squishy sound it made from her blood soaked clothes, and looked into her eyes.

"You didn't do anything bad.. And I don't want you to leave." Weiss mumbled. She looked away. "I just don't think your sister would want you around someone like me."

Ruby shook her head frantically "What? No! We talked about it while you were sleeping! She said its fi–"

"WOAH!" a voice yelled. It appeared that Yang and Blake had also been following Weiss with Ruby, and had just come across the shadow bears untimely demise. Oh god Blake was here too? Whyyyyy

"I think I'm gonna be sick.." Yang put a hand over her mouth and looked away, while Blake just didn't look at all. Blake was pretending that the scene before her didn't exist. A fair tactic.

"Yeah just thank the HUMAN CANON BALL!" Weiss yelled. A similar reaction to the bear scene was made when Blake and Yang saw Weiss and Ruby. Ruby was red, head to toe. And Weiss had splotchy stains all over from Ruby's hugs. "Do you know if there's a river nearby..?" Yang and Blake ran over to Ruby. Yang punched Weiss in the shoulder. "Ow!"

"I'd punch you harder if you weren't covered in bear guts!" Yang barked.

"Why'd you punch me in the fist place?!" Weiss screeched back.

"You left!"

"Yeah because you wanted me to?" Weiss made an angry exaggerated shrug. "I got that pretty clearly from you in the cave!"

"What?! That was, just spur of the moment!"

"Spur of the moment hatred that strong?!"

"Yes!"

"Its because I'm a princess of Atlas right?! And a 'Faunus enslaver'! That's fine! I don't care if you hate me just go away! Leave me alone!" Weiss turned away from them all and folded her arms. Why was she telling them to go away? Ahgg.. And she'd jut gotten back together with Ruby again.

Yang was silent a moment. "So. You left because you think I don't like you?"

"Not think, know. And because if people are going to come after me, its better I don't have anyone I care about around me." Weiss grumbled, glancing at Ruby.

Yang saw Weiss look at Ruby. Her expression softened, and she hugged Weiss from behind. Weiss tensed up, expecting a body throw or something. But all she received was a warm hug from an older sister figure. She really did miss Winter... "You called Ruby a dolt, but you're FAR more dolty, Weiss." Yang sighed. "Even if I didn't like you, you shouldn't let that stop you from hanging around Ruby if both you and her want to be together." She bonked Weiss's head. "Sorry, about last night."

"Why are you both apologizing..?" Weiss grumbled, feigning discomfort despite how much she was liking Yang's hug. She felt so guilty for just existing around Blake right now. Ruby nidged over, and jumped in and hugged both Weiss and Yang, earning gags from both of them from the wetness of blood.

"Told you she wasn't like that." Blake raised an eyebrow at Weiss.

"Huh? Like what?" Yang turned her head to Blake.

"She thought that you'd ban Ruby from seeing her." Blake sighed, remembering something that made her want to punch her past self. "It was like looking into a mirror."

"Any big sister would want to keep their little sister safe from bad people.. Mine would." Weiss said into Rubys shoulder.

"So you're a bad person?" Blake flicked Weiss's forehead. "A bad person would have killed me on the spot yesterday, no?" What did she mean? When her bow had come off?

Yang squeezed tighter. "I'm not your sister Weiss, I'm a different person. Everyone has different ways of protecting the people they love." Yang paused. "And a bad person wouldn't have given Ruby a bath after first seeing her turn into a human." Yang shook her head. "She must have been filthy." Oh. Ruby had told them about that? ...how long did they talk while she was unconscious..?

"Hey!" Ruby whined, her cheeks tinting red a little. Hm? Was that a blush? Weiss had, never seen Ruby blush before. It was.. cute~.

"I'll admit we jumped the gun a little. You've got so many bad rumors about you, Weiss Schnee. Or should I say, White Sneeze?" Yang choked on her own laughter. "God that is the WORST fake name I have ever heard in my entire life..!" Ah that's right, Yang had rummaged though Weiss's stuff earlier.

Blake nodded "All those rumors aren't you. They're your father, or the kingdom. And from what Ruby told us and the way you've acted so far, it seems we were mistaken in judging you so quick.."

Ruby hugged Weiss tighter, and saw Blake standing awkwardly off to the side. Yang smiled and motioned for Blake to come over. Blake also begrudgingly partook In the bear blood soaked hug. Weiss was able to keep herself from breaking down into tears, but just barely. Was this what it felt like to have friends? Weiss relaxed her muscles, relishing in the human (or 'dragon and faunus') warmth surrounding her.

It was a nice feeling.

"We'll try to get to know you at least a little before deciding weather or not we hate you." Blake said in an amused voice.

"We?" Weiss asked.

"We~" Yang chirped. "Me and Blake'll walk with you to the next town. And even when we separate, we'll periodically show up to check on you both! I'll wanna know if I get any nieces or nephews!"

Weiss just about fainted at the implication Yang had made, she was barely able to get her next sentence out. "We're? Girls?"

Yang leaned in close and whispered into Weiss's ear "You don't know how dragon biology works~" Yang ended the group hug, and told them she'd lead them to a river.

Hah. Hahahah. Yang was just teasing her. Surly, there was no way.. Uh.. Weiss glanced at Ruby, and slapped her cheeks to rid herself of any impure thoughts for the moment. It had to be a joke. ...Right?

Weiss went to collect her pack, as it was still in the bush. Ah. The red cloak. She stuffed it down to the bottom of her pack once again. She was definitely going to give it to Ruby, at some point.. Not now! It was to soon, but, maybe tomorrow! Ruby walked next to her as they started off towards the nearest river. Yeah. Weiss smiled to herself. Tomorrow. Blood soaked and tired as she was, Weiss thought it was nice that the three girls had come for her. She felt a surge of pride. She'd made friends. And not one of them was human. Heh, take THAT father!

Weiss walked next to Ruby, but Ruby wouldn't look at her. Ruby? Weiss tried to get a good look at her face. Ruby smiled and tried to brush any concerns Weiss had away. No, somthing was wrong.. Ruby looked scared. Scared? Of what? She'd just K.O.'d a shadow bear! "Are you alright?" Weiss asked softly. Ruby nodded, smiling. There was somthing dark under her smile. Dark and scared. Weiss wasn't sure, but she swore that when Ruby turned her head, Weiss could see her mouth the words 'please dont leave again'.

The suden realization that she was the cause of Rubys fragile state stabbed Weiss in the heart, harder then any Sword ever could have.