'Lotus held the man underwater, ignoring his pleading eyes as his struggles began to dull, began to lose the energy they had before. The last of the air in his lungs, used in a futile attempt to scream. Bubbles rose to the surface, and when they popped, they released the man's dying breath, demanding an answer to his final thoughts. 'Why!?' Lotus was frozen in place at the sound, standing stock still as the front gate opened. A young boy with spiky blue hair stepped into sight, eyes accusing. He spared one glance down at his father's cold dead body, gently swaying in the ripples of the pool. The boy's deep blue eyes burned into Lotus, rippling with tears to match the pool behind him. A pain exploded through her chest that sent a shockwave down through the rest of her body. She looked down at the hole that had appeared there, created by a familiar spidery appendage. This one was not hers, though. This one belonged to the boy in front of her. A shift to her side, movement as someone she should have noticed stepped into view. Eyes just as accusing as the boys, Jace stared at her sadly. 'You could have been so much more, Olivia.' As he said it, Crim stepped into view, then July, Copper, her parents...'

'You killed us all, Olivia.'

Lotus snapped awake, hands clutching the edge of her bed sheets with white knuckles. Her entire body shook in the dark that surrounded her, like a smothering presence that reminded her of the guilt that still squeezed her heart. Lotus's breath came out in short pants. She started to roll back over for a moment, but the terrible images still fresh in her mind demanded that she stay awake. She swung her legs out of the bed and stood up, moving over to her dresser. Even through the closed blinds, she could tell the sun hadn't yet risen.

In only a few short minutes, Lotus was dressed and already stepping out into the brisk pre-morning air. A light wind whipped down the silent streets of the slums. She let her feet carry her forward, no specific destination in mind. Lotus walked to try and take her mind off the guilt that weighed so heavily down on her.

'What have I done?' Lotus was confused. Memories had begun to pile up on top of each other, one after the other to combat the words her friend and mentor had told her. Was Widow wrong? 'Do humans feel compassion?' The scars that crossed every inch of Widow's body were irrefutable proof, except… 'Ren clearly cared for Nora… That boy loved his father…" Was it something else? Did humans feel possessive of others close to them, and that's why they could react in a way so similarly to the faunus? 'I don't know what to think anymore…'

A presence in a nearby alley caught her attention. A man stepped out into the muddy street to block Lotus's path. Her eyes lifted from where she had been staring at the ground in front of her, trusting her other sense to guide her around anything that might have been in her way. The man had a grimace on his face, and a knife in his hands.

"Alright kid, give me any lien you've got on ya," the man demanded, flashing his knife through the air as if Lotus hadn't already seen it. He took a threatening step forward, to add to the show.

Lotus frowned. He was clearly a faunus. Did he not know who he was trying to steal from? She realized with a start that the cloak she had worn very easily hid her black veins and huffed in annoyance. 'Of course he would stop a human.' Lotus lifted a free hand and pulled back on her sleeve, showing him that she was a faunus as well.

To her surprise, the man didn't seem fazed in the slightest, "What's that supposed to mean? Gimme your lien, kid!"

Lotus took a hesitant step back, reeling at the situation she had found herself in. 'Does he… does he not care that I'm a faunus like him?' The man's face flashed with anger, believing the girl was about to run instead of giving him what he wanted. He stepped closer, empty hand raising to try and grab on to the hand that Lotus was still holding up in confusion.

An appendage snapped between them, Lotus hadn't even realized she'd summoned them. It collided with the man's outstretched hand, followed by a clearly audible and sickening 'snap' as his bones were shattered by the strike. The faunus screamed in pain, falling back and dropping the knife from his other hand to cradle his wrist instead. Eyes wide in fear, he shuffled backwards through the muck, finally turning away once he felt he was far enough out of Lotus's reach, and bolted.

Lotus watched him go. Once he had vanished from sight completely, she bent down and picked up the knife he had been carrying, idly flipping it in her hands. He had threatened her, a fellow faunus. 'Are these the people we were so desperate to save? Faunus that would fall so low as to try and stab a little girl?' Lotus could take care of herself, of course, but… 'He didn't know that...He was counting on me being defenseless...'

Her gut wrenched as she realized that without her semblance, Lotus would have been defenseless. Was she lucky, fortunate, to have essentially won the soul lottery? If she hadn't unlocked her semblance, would she have ended up just like that faunus? 'I was already stealing even with my semblance.' Was there… some responsibility she needed to uphold. To take care of those weaker than her, because she had gotten lucky where they hadn't?

'I would rather have my family back…'

No, she wasn't lucky. 'None of the faunus are…' To be born into a world that hates you, put under the thumb of humans that despise your very existence, among those that showed no remorse for the lives you were forced into just to survive.

Lotus had already stepped into the old decrepit house that she used to call home before she even realized her feet had been carrying her away again. Mind unconsciously set on finding its way here. Her eyes lingered on the holes in the walls, the broken door still lying on the floor, the blood stain next to it. If Ren and Nora showed up again, this is how they would find it. 'They'll be afraid for me…'

'Would they? Would a pair of humans care about you?' A small voice of doubt whispered through Lotus's mind, breaking her train of thought. 'Even if they don't… what's the harm in making sure?...' Lotus raised an appendage to the wall across from the door, where she had pinned the man the second time he showed up. It was thankfully clear of blood. Lotus began to scratch a message into the wall.

'Hey guys! I know the place looks bad, but don't worry about me! I'm fine. I-'

Lotus hesitated, thinking about the words she was about to write. Her eyes glazed over, looking towards the moldy couch where the three had shared a meal. The laughs, the smiles. It was the most time she had shared with humans in a long time... The words her heart wanted her to write… it was the truth.

'I miss you.'

Lotus then gouged out three deep gashes through the wall, right beneath the words she had written. The symbol of the White Fang would hopefully warn away any curious faunus in the area. 'Don't touch,' the gouges demanded. She nodded at her handiwork. Writing words with her appendages was an imperfect art, one that she had never tried before, but the two should be able to read it well enough. 'If they ever come back here…'

With that somber thought, Lotus relinquished control over her semblance, allowing it to retract back into whatever place the appendages appeared from. Her feet continued to carry her back through the slums as the question that had been burning through her mind returned.

'Was it the same man I protected the two from that day that sold us out? I should have ended him the second time he showed up…'

Guilt once again overrode all other emotions. Lotus clutched a fist again her chest, pressing her nails into her hands hard enough to draw blood while she tried to still her beating heart. The young faunus's shoulders quivered, the feelings she had been holding back so long threatening to overwhelm her. 'I have to know.' Lotus set her mind on Malachite's hideout, eyes focusing on her surroundings to make her way there. It wasn't too far.

The sun was just starting to peek its way above the horizon when Lotus stepped in front of the guard outside the woman's abode. The man looked down on her, taking in her diminutive form, but rolled his eyes and shuffled out of the way. There were very few inside at this hour, but Lotus was glad to see that Malachite was an early riser. The woman was already there, behind her table, eyes blank as she started to take her first sips of her steaming morning coffee.

Malachite noticed Lotus heading her way, and the cup paused for a moment. The motion slowly resumed as Malachite eyed her appearance, taking a long drink as Lotus sat down across from her. The older woman broke the silence between them.

"Forgive me, but from one spider to another, it's a little too early in the morning to be dealing with a temper tantrum. I have no new names for you yet, child. It has only been a day. Patience is a virtue that you will learn in time," Malachite said it all without any of her usual charm. Just a quiet, no nonsense attitude said lightly. The woman clearly wanted to avoid a confrontation with the small girl in front of her.

Lotus visibly cringed. 'Have I been letting my strength get to me?' She shook herself and looked up to meet Malachite's gaze, "I'm not here about them. I… wanted you to search for someone else, actually."

Malachite's lips quirked at the young faunus's subdued attitude, "And who might the unlucky victim be?" Her eyes had a newfound focus, keeping a close eye on the flicker of emotions crossing the girl's face.

"There is a faunus. He lives in the slums somewhere. I… 'fought'," Lotus couldn't help but make air quotes to show how much of a fight it had actually been, "with him twice. I stabbed him through the shoulder both times." Lotus gave a brief description on his features. His height, size.. The essentials, "I want to find him."

Malachite smirked, "Trying to finish the job?"

Lotus started to shake her head, but stopped after a moment, "That depends on what he tells me. There was a faunus that went to the SDC as an informant and gave away our hideout. I guess… try and find out who that was, if you can? I think it might have been the same person, but if it wasn't... then there is a name I need to add to the list."

Malachite's eyes slowly scanned the room, "Am I to take it that you don't want your friend to know about this?"

"I already told her about him," Lotus thought it over, "but there's really no reason to get her involved."

Malachite took another long sip of her coffee. She kept it in front of her mouth as she spoke next, "And, as payment for this little search?"

Lotus's shoulders sagged, determination colliding with her own self doubt. She wasn't in the mood to be killing anyone right now. Malachite seemed to sense the girl's reluctance and fatigue. The cup descended back to the table as Malachite set it down.

"You know, not every job that needs to be done has to end in murder," Malachite said with a light laugh, "I have other tasks that need to be addressed. Although with your particular skills, I do have a job in mind."

Lotus tensed but nodded all the same. 'As long as it isn't murder… I could break a few legs right now.'

"There's a group that started moving in on our turf. I doubt they've really settled in much yet, but they've started peddling some very dangerous drugs to the faunus in the area," Malachite raised one eyebrow, features questioning Lotus along with her next words, "It seems like it might be right up your alley. Interested?"

'Drug traffickers?' "Why does a human care if they're selling to the faunus?" Lotus frowned. She wasn't totally opposed to the mission, but considering who it was giving it to her…

"I work with both humans and faunus, child. I recruit anyone with promise. Drugs strip away a person's potential to achieve more," Malachite's mouth twinged with distaste, "I'm all for a little recreational use now and then, but the ones this gang are selling are hardly safe. Its a drug made to create addicts. Once someone starts down that road, there's very little hope of returning."

Lotus grimaced, "I guess I wouldn't be opposed to the idea. Do you have an address?"

Malachite pulled out a pen and paper and jotted down an address across the top, pushing it over to Lotus when she had finished, "Make it very clear that they are not welcome."

Lotus nodded and took the paper, reading the address as she stepped back out into the budding sunrise. The trip would take her halfway across the slums, but as Malachite said, they didn't have any new names at the moment, and Widow would be the one to choose which mark they went after as payment for the huntsman. Lotus folded up the paper and stuffed it into her pocket. She knew the slums well enough to figure out just about where she needed to go to find the gang's hideout.

Activity was starting to pick up in the slums as the sun rose. Lotus picked her way past blurry eyed humans and faunus alike, all going about their mornings with varying amounts of gusto. The gang's hideout was close now, only a few blocks away. A familiar symbol drew her attention, and she turned her eyes to look more closely at it. 'A White Fang mark?' Lotus headed into the alleyway to get a closer look. It was… an attempt at the same symbol. As if someone had been trying to create it for the first time. Three chalk scratches against the outside edge of the red brick building. They were too short, too wide. Lotus frowned.

A presence appeared at the end of the alley, walking her direction. Lotus spared a glance and took a step back as she saw the crudely crafted White Fang mask on the faunus's face, discolored robes thrown on in a failed mimicry of the organization's style. The man grinned from beneath the mask as he cockily strode towards her. Lotus let her demeanor shift back to her usual, more casual stance. She placed one hand on her hip and tilted her head as he approached.

The man's arms swung wide, "I see you've spotted our marking. We're looking for more faunus to bolster our ranks. Interested in joining the resistance?" He stopped a few feet away, looking her up and down.

'Are they trying to rebuild the White Fang? I might as well see where this goes. If they have potential… maybe I'll bring Widow in on it, too.' Lotus took a moment to gauge the man's aura levels. 'At least it's unlocked. Even if it is pitiful…' She realized a few seconds had passed already with her standing in silence.

Lotus sighed, "You might be able to talk me into it. How many of you are there?"

"Enough to strike fear into the hearts of the humans!" the man said it dramatically, clenching his hand into a fist as he raised it triumphantly. 'He's either far too naive, or its a sales pitch.'

She adopted a fake, tentative smile, "Well, I've always wanted to get back at the humans…"

"That's the spirit!" the faunus turned around then looked over his shoulder at her, pointing his thumb back at himself, "Names Maho, by the way. What's yours?"

"L-..." Lotus hesitated. The charade would quickly end if he connected the dots between her name and one of the spider faunus that had been on Mistral's Most Wanted list for the past month, "O-Olivia. My name is Olivia."

Maho smiled back at her again as he led them out of the alleyway from his side, keeping up his conversation as they went, "Well Olivia, it's nice to meet ya. You look a little young for some of the work we're planning on doing, so if you end up joining we'll probably use you as a runner, or maybe a scout! Wouldn't want a little thing like you getting in danger now, would we?"

Lotus was glad that Maho had his back turned to her while they walked. It helped hide the mirth struggling to bubble its way up out of her throat. When Maho's ears swiveled back at the sound she was making, Lotus brought a hand up and covered her barely suppressed laughs with a cough, "Y-Yeah. I don't think I'd last too long in a fight." 'Before I ended it, that is.'

Maho chuckled and lifted his hands to cross them behind his head, "We can't all be good in a scrape. I'm sure I can teach you a few things, though. I'm the best fighter in the White Fang!"

'They're doomed…'

Lotus recovered from the grimace on her face before Maho could see it. He stopped outside a medium sized two story house, twice the size of the decrepit one she had been staying in when she met Ren and Nora. The door was marked with the White Fang symbol, three white chalk lines scratched diagonally across the front. 'Are they trying to give themselves away? Honestly…' Lotus looked up and down the streets, and her eyes narrowed in realization.

'This is the place Malachite was sending me…'

With a closer look around, Lotus could now see the area was much more densely populated by faunus, and a few of those she saw were deep in the throws of euphoria. One of them that had been sitting nearby noticed her eyes fall on him and stood groggily.

The giddy faunus smiled dumbly at her and lifted a hand to place on her shoulder, missing by an entire foot, "Aye, wushu doin'..? Yoush wan' some?" He lifted a small baggie from his pocket that was mostly empty, but Lotus could see the small purple mushrooms it held.

"Back off, junkie," Maho stepped up next to Lotus and placed a foot against the man's chest, firmly pushing him back to the ground where the man laid in a slump, incapable of standing but completely unaware that he had been shoved aside so callously. Instead the man suddenly found the grass and mud to be extremely appealing, and started up a mumbling conversation with it. Lotus whipped on Maho with barely masked annoyance.

"What did you do that for?" Lotus managed to keep her teeth from grinding together. The four-eared faunus would definitely hear that from this close.

Maho spared her a glance, still glaring down at the 'junkie' before smoothing his features somewhat, "Give him a few minutes and he'll be pawing at your clothes for any lien you might be hiding. He'll do anything to afford another trip."

'Aren't you the ones selling the drugs in the first place?' Lotus was getting more and more agitated by the second. 'You peddle the stuff and then have the gall to treat them like that?'

Lotus voiced none of it though, not yet. Instead she firmly turned away from the man on the ground who had started asking a rock if its family was nearby, "Were we going inside?"

Maho fell back into a more relaxed pose and nodded his head towards the door behind him, "Yeah. Come take a peek. I think you'll be impressed!" Lotus rolled her eyes when he turned away.

Maho pushed the door open and walked into the dimly lit interior, gesturing for her to follow. Lotus could feel a dozen faunus inside through her sixth sense. 'Well he's right about being the strongest in the group…' Only half of the ones she could feel had their aura unlocked, and among those, Maho's was a hair more pronounced. Lotus let her senses keep track of the faunus in the room while her eyes roamed across the floor and furniture. Stacks of plastic containers and baggies met her eyes, all packed with the same purple mushroom that had turned the man outside into a blundering mess.

Eight sets of eyes turned towards the pair as they stepped into the center of the room. The other four that she could feel were all grouped near each other in a room on the second floor. Lotus returned their looks in kind, getting a better feel for the new 'White Fang' trying to fill in where hers had fallen. They were all relatively young, most appearing to be only half a dozen years older than Lotus herself. They all wore a similar mismatch of the White Fang outfit, bits and pieces cobbled together to form some pretense of unity. Their weapons were no better. Lotus could see a smattering of swords and pistols, poorly maintained and left out to gather dust while the members in the room sifted instead through the copious amounts of drugs and lien littering the space.

It was all rather sickening. Lotus could tell these people were spending much more of their efforts on drug trafficking than on helping the faunus, all while trying to pass themselves off as the 'new' White Fang. 'In fact, they're doing the exact opposite. How in the world would providing dangerous and addictive substances to their fellow faunus improve their lives in any way?'

A young woman smirked and hopped down from a crate she had been sitting on, arms crossing. She stared Lotus up and down, examining her like a piece of meat, "What have we here?"

"Another recruit!" Maho said happily.

"Your inquisition," Lotus replied flatly. She let her eyes roam over the drugs once again, "So, you're the drug dealers. What's with the White Fang outfits? Pretending to be righteous?"

A few people in the room tensed, reaching for weapons, but most either scoffed or outright laughed at Lotus's words. How threatening could a child be to a room full of 'adults'? The smile on the woman in front of her faded, eyes narrowing as she regarded Lotus more seriously.

"N-now now, Olivia! Don't be like that! This is just a temporary gig. Once we have enough lien to buy more weapons and gear, the White Fang will take the fight to the humans with renewed vigor!"

Lotus looked meaningfully at the stacks of lien on the various tables in the room, letting some of her anger seep through, "Is that your regular sales pitch? Does that normally work on all the new recruits until you can bring them into the fold and corrupt them?" Lotus glared at Maho and the woman that stood in front of her, "You have enough lien in here to fully outfit twice this many people."

"I don't know who you think you are, kid, but we're doing what we need to!" the woman in front of her shouted. There was a hint of doubt as her voice shook. 'Does she not know how much that stuff costs either?' Those that had weapons were now all gripping them more tightly, though none had drawn them out yet. Their gazes flicked nervously between each other.

Lotus kept her voice flat and unrelenting, "What you need to do is pack up and leave. I won't tolerate someone reducing their fellow faunus to addicts for money!" Lotus let her glare catch everyone's eyes in the room before she finished, "You're no better than the Schnees."

A few weapons were drawn at the insult, the woman in front of her clenched her fists, shaking in fury. Maho took a hesitant step back, raising his hands as if to distance himself from the intensity of Lotus's words.

"That's enough!" an older man stepped out on to the second floor balcony, flanked by the other three that had been in it with him. His voice was deep and booming, his eyes turned coldly towards Lotus as he stared down at her.

A familiar voice spoke from behind him, the man that had tried to mug Lotus slumped past, wrist now bandaged, "Th-that's her! She's a feisty one!" He giggled as he raised his bandaged wrist with his other hand. His eyes were unfocused and hazy, clearly drugged to a point where he couldn't feel the pain anymore. 'So he was another one of their victims…' All eyes returned to her with renewed ire.

Lotus's patience snapped, "So, not only are you making your fellow faunus addicts, but you're turning them into faunus that try to outright steal from little girls!?" Her semblance activated, poised to strike at those nearest her, "You're all a disgrace to the name of the White Fang!" Lotus shouted the last bit out, arms now shaking with barely suppressed fury. 'How dare they drag our name through the mud!?'

"Olivia! Sh-Show some respect for our fearless leader!" Maho's eyes darted back and forth between the girl and the man on the balcony above. His voice quivered in desperation. Lotus stopped him before he could put an arm around her, an invisible force sending him flying back to crash into a couch across the room.

"Respect?" there was little humor in Lotus's laugh. She took a moment to gauge the shocked expressions on those around her, several had turned to stare at where Maho lay sprawled upside down against the furniture. He was very loudly disentangling himself from the cushions.

The man above scowled and pointed a finger at the girl, "I will not be spoken to that way. The White Fang protects the faunus! We do what we must to get ahead in this world!"

Lotus gave him a smile that didn't reach her eyes, her decision made, "Yes. Yes they do." Her appendages dug three furrows into the floor in front of her, the perfect shape for the message she wanted to pass wordlessly to the older man. His eyes widened, recognizing the message used exclusively by the White Fang.

'This place will be attacked soon.'

The man opened his mouth to shout a warning.

He was far too slow.

Lotus sprung into action in a blistering flurry of invisible appendages, striking out at those closest to her first. The girl in front of her and three others were knocked across the room instantly, clearing a path between Lotus and the man up top. Her appendages pierced down into the wooden floor beneath her, flexed, then snapped her forward through the air like a bullet. The others she would not kill. They had been led astray by the older man, but him?…

The man's eyes widened as his words were cut off in a panicked gasp. He propelled himself backwards in an attempt to keep his distance from Lotus, but stumbled into the drugged man behind him, both falling in a heap of tangled limbs. Lotus landed on the balcony railing, using her appendages to stabilize herself as she looked down on the pitiful excuse for a leader.

"Any last words?" Lotus sneered at the shriveling mess of a man.

"W-We could work together! Spare me and you'll make more lien than you could ever-"

He was cut off with a strangled choke as Lotus wrapped an appendage around his throat and lifted him off the ground. She turned back around to face the majority of the room, still standing on top of the railing. Her eyes glossed over them slowly as she drifted the older man out past the railing, feet dangling in midair above the fifteen foot drop. Several of them that were still standing tensed, raising their guns up to point at where she stood.

Lotus held up her hand in a warning, "I could very easily kill every single one of you. Anyone that shoots, dies," she looked over them again to make sure her words had been taken seriously. Several trembled in place, but only a few lowered their weapons.

"The true White Fang has deemed your operation unworthy. Immoral. Unbefitting of our name. You are to cease all drug trafficking and leave. If any of you get the bright idea to try and start this operation again…" Lotus punctuated her words by sawing the point of her appendage across the man's throat that she held. A river of blood gushed out of the gaping wound, running down the front of his chest and splattering on the floor below. His hands struggled at the limb that was becoming more and more visible by the second, his blood staining its sides as his hands slipped along it futilely.

"Then I will leave no survivors," Lotus dropped him to the floor in a heap, into the pool of his own blood. His legs kicked out, the last vestiges of his conscience trying to stand, to run, only for his feet to slip repeatedly. His eyes grew dim, his motions stilled. Until with one final gurgle, his head fell back against the wood floor. The room was silent, motionless in the aftermath as the faces of the faunus in the room stared in horror at what they had just witnessed.

Lotus quirked an eyebrow at them, but decided to show at least a little mercy, "Each of you may take a stack of lien off one of the tables. Leave the drugs."

It took a handful of seconds, but once a few of them dropped their weapons and shuffled forward to accept the lien they were being allowed to leave with, the rest soon followed. The two behind her gave her a wide berth as they stepped past down the stairs to the floor below. They looked like they were going to be violently sick, but managed to contain themselves as they also grabbed a stack of lien and shuffled out of the building. Soon enough, only Lotus and the drugged man remained.

"I'll get to you in a moment," she sighed with a glance back at him, then scanned the room. Several duffel bags in a corner caught her attention, and she hopped back down to go give them a look. They were packed to the brim with more drugs. Lotus frowned with disdain and upended the bags, dumping out their contents on the floor. She turned back to the tables and began filling them with the remaining lien and hefted both the duffel bags onto her shoulders, using an appendage each to lift the majority of their weight.

With that done, she walked back up the stairs to find the drugged man picking at the bandages on his wrist, eyes wide as if he was wondering where they had come from. Lotus slapped his uninjured hand away then used her appendages to pull him to his feet. "Let's go," she muttered, knowing there was only a small likelihood that he would even understand. He followed where she pulled though. Lotus took it slow down the stairs, using an extra limb to give the man more stability as he stumbled down after her. His eyes were wide, full attention drawn to the invisible force compelling him to walk behind her.

They reached the door and Lotus shoved him outside, closing it to block him out. Her eyes turned back to the problem that still remained. 'What to do with all these drugs?' Lotus spotted the answer sitting on one of the counters and snatched it up. A small flame flickered to life as she sparked the lighter. She lit a few papers on fire near the middle of the room, the drapes along the windows, part of the carpet, and several other pieces in the room that she hoped were flammable enough. Black smoke began to curl its way through the air from various sources, and Lotus took that as her sign to leave.

The building's walls were flaming after a few minutes, smoke now billowing thickly out into the sky. 'That'll just have to do.' Lotus turned on her heel, satisfied with the day's events. The man she had killed... 'He deserved it,' she realized with a small smile. The huntsman, the police… those she was still confused about. That man, though? Lotus hummed lightly as she made her way back to the safe house to share her news, and to deposit both of the thick duffel bags brimming with lien.

'Maybe I'll just be more… limited… in who I choose to kill from now on.'

Lotus skipped by the emergency vehicles that screamed past, in the direction of the thick black cloud that drifted into the sky above the otherwise quiet slums.