Bit of a long one today, hope you enjoy!

\~/

With a howl that could rival the largest of beowolves, the figure exploded in a mass of spiked tendrils shooting outwards in every direction. They tore into the ground, ripped through trees and smashed into stone, destroying everything around it in an explosively violent display.

Then, as quickly as it had started, it was over.

Blake took a shaky breath, unable to move or stop herself from clinging to Adam as he did the same to her. The ringing in her ears refused to cease, even as she poked her head out from the ditch her semblance had thrown her into.

"I don't think your limited perspective is capable of understanding just how lucky you all are." The monster's gaze locked onto her, freezing her heart solid.

It was going to kill her. She had escaped death, only to succeed in infuriating it further.

"Well, maybe you're just unlucky?" The obviously suicidal Huntsman drew the creature's attention. The moment the monster's eyes turned, she felt relief pour into her like a flood.

Neither her nor Adam stuck around to hear any more. Both of them turned and ran the first chance they got, only slowing to a stop once the sounds of combat faded in the distance.

"I think we got away…" Blake spoke slowly, hoping the assassin monster wouldn't prove her wrong that second and jump into view. Was it weird she felt relieved when it didn't suddenly magically appear in front of them and prove her wrong?

"For now anyway." Adam muttered while looking warily back in the direction they had come from. Would that Huntsman be able to win? Blake couldn't see Adam and her coming out on top, would the black haired man really stand a chance?

"We need to get moving," Adam stopped her thoughts, "We don't know how long that thing will be busy for." He looked around the sky, quickly orienting himself before beginning to move.

"The town shouldn't be far. Once there, even if it catches up, escape will be as easy as slipping through the chaos and stealing a-" He stopped moving and speaking at the same time, turning back to face her.

"Blake?" He asked, seemingly confused why she hadn't moved an inch.

"They're people, Adam." She fixed him with an unflinching glare.

Did she hate the humans who had abused and tormented her friends and family? That wasn't even a real question: of course she hated them. Those "people", if they could be called that, would hate, harass and even torture others. Not for anything they had done, but for how they looked.

It was disgusting. But could she punish the entirety of the human race for the actions of the bigots among them? No. She wouldn't stoop to their level. She refused to become the very thing she fought to destroy.

"They're innocent, they have nothing to do with our fight. We can't expose them to that monster." It wasn't right. How many would die for them to escape? How many would lose their life so they could run away with theirs?

"How could you possibly think any human to be innocent?!" His voice raised defensively. "At best, they're bystanders, complicit in the crimes of their brethren!"

"They haven't done or hurt anything. They're just trying to live their lives!" She retorted, her own voice raising to match his. How could he believe it was alright to use them as decoys? Like they were nothing but meat puppets made to be used and thrown aside.

"That isn't what the White Fang fight for! We want equality, not genocide." She fixed the young man opposite her with a glare. A glare that sharpened when she saw the edge of his lips curl into a smirk.

"You have no idea what you're talking about, Blake." He scoffed. "For every Faunus like you, shouting for peace. There are ten like me, shouting for blood."

"No," She shook her head, he had to be lying. "You're wrong. We just want to live as equals." She didn't want all the humans to die. All she wanted was to walk to the store without someone harassing her. To see a faunus worker and not wonder if they were being paid half the wage of their human counterparts. To know crimes against the faunus weren't being swept under the rug and blatantly ignored.

"Equals?! Have you forgotten how many of our brother's and sister's have been killed by them?!" His smirk was quickly replaced with a snarl. The death of one of her own, it was something she had only witnessed during combat.

Was that why she couldn't throw human life away like Adam suggested? Because none of her loved ones have been specifically killed by the Schnee's or some other human?

"Have you forgotten how they worked my mother to death? Or how they've tortured your parents?!" That's right. Before being forced to Menagerie, her parents had been victims of police brutality on multiple occasions. How could she have forgotten?

No, it wasn't that she had forgotten. She could never forget that story.

She just didn't think of it constantly. It didn't haunt her thoughts or dreams. Was that because her parents, even when telling her what they'd had been through, never once expressed a need for vengeance or blood? Not in their words, nor their actions.

"They need to suffer for what they've done." He spat the word with such conviction, such vitriol hatred. Did he really want to feel like that? Or was he just incapable of stopping?

She had felt anger towards the humans, that was no lie. When she had learned what had once happened to her parents, she was livid. It had helped encourage her to join the White Fang in the first place, quickly signing up for protests all over remnant.

Once she had started traveling and actually seeing what her people were going through, that anger had grown. The humans who were harming her people worst of all, the Schnee's and their mine's. They had to be stopped. Of that, she had been, and still was, adamantly sure of.

But the people here, they weren't involved in any of that… There were no Mines on this island, no Ghetto's or huge complexes dedicated to the Schnee's. They didn't care about supporting the Schnee's or crushing the Faunus.

They only wanted to live peacefully, and free.

"Now, hurry up! That thing could be right behind us!" He reached to grab her. He intended to drag her into the town, that much was obvious. He wanted to drag her to the place they had the highest chance of escaping, where a number of men, women and children could act as a barrier of flesh for the monster coming.

The monster that was only there because of their presence on the island.

"No…" She pulled back from Adam's outstretched hand. How could she explain why going to the town was a bad idea? Why did she have to explain it?!

"What do you mean, no?! We don't have time for this!" He wasn't going to understand, she realized. He was convinced his plan had nothing wrong with it. How was that possible? How could he not see anything wrong with using innocent civilians as literal meat shields?!

He reached for her again, this time faster.

She wasn't sure when she had activated her semblance, having done so more out of instinct than any real plan to escape. But the next thing she knew she was staring at Adam's confused expression from much further away than she was a moment ago.

"I-I can't." She had joined the White Fang to save her friends and family, not rob people of theirs. How could the man she had grown up with ask such a thing of her?!

"I won't." She wasn't sure if he had heard her, as she took off running in the opposite direction. She thought she heard him yell after her but couldn't tell. She could barely hear her own breathing over the raging thoughts in her mind.

"How could you?!" She cursed him. How dare he ask that of her?! He knew she had wanted equality from the very beginning! He had been the one to get in between and stop a number of the heated arguments she would get in with the more extreme members of the Fang.

She only slowed her pace when she realized Adam wasn't following her. Probably decided she wasn't worth the risk and headed straight for town.

"Bastard!" How many innocent lives would he destroy before the day was over? How many people would end up disappearing?! Killed without a trace, just like her brothers and sisters back at the facility. Just how much more death would happen before the sun even reached its peak?

And you just ran away. The thought stopped her in her tracks.

She had run, hadn't she? Just like all those years ago. In the burning train station, when she had a chance to save someone's life.

And instead, she ran.

Years of training, both spars and live combat, and she still was the same coward she had always been…

"No." She wasn't about to run, not when she had a chance to save someone.

"Never again."

\-/

Whitback stood at the center of a mass of tendrils that webbed outwards into the surrounding forest. Whatever wasn't completely destroyed was now covered with its "body".

The attack had been designed to cover as wide of an area as possible, disregarding how much material would be wasted in its hope to kill its prey.

Which hopefully helped explain its confusion upon seeing its prey staring at him, somehow unharmed by the attack.

"I don't think your limited perspective is capable of understanding just how lucky you all are." It felt the need to point out, doing its best to smother the frustration that bubbled within. The look of fear on the faunus' face suggested it wasn't doing a particularly good job.

"Well," The newcomer foolishly drew its attention. "Maybe you're just unlucky?"

Was he…? He was mocking it wasn't he? Even after seeing the most destructive display it was capable of, he still just stood there with a cocky grin on his face.

"You. You're different." The way he could stand there, seemingly relaxed and yet exuding danger. It almost reminded Whitback of Ironwood, if Ironwood was even capable of looking "relaxed".

"I mean, I do have a big scythe" He replied without missing a beat, giving a careless shrug while spinning his weapon as if to prove his point.

"Hm, I suppose you do." Whitback stopped paying attention to the man's words, choosing to focus on its next move. It had already wasted a large amount of biomass in an unsuccessful attack, it couldn't afford to be so careless again.

The man flew forward suddenly, forcing Whitback to act quickly.

The dull end of the scythe hit its shield like a mace, sending powerful vibrations throughout both Jaune's and its own body.

He's stronger than expected. Whitback noted absentmindedly. Was it the man's semblance or Aura that made him so strong? It didn't matter, the end result was the same.

It pushed the scythe aside and retaliated with a jab of its own, only for the curved blade of the scythe to spin back and easily parry the blow.

Whitback quickly became familiar with the haft of the scythe as the man forced his weapon forward to smash against its helm.

Whitback jumped back to try and gain some distance while doing its best to prepare for a followup attack. It turned out to be useless, not because the man had overwhelmed its defenses, but because the man hadn't moved to follow at all.

It looked back at the man, confused why he hadn't pressed his advantage.

"What are you?" The man's entire demeanor seemed to change in an instant. Any hint of the relaxed attitude was suddenly choked out but a flood of bloodlust.

"I've only ever seen those eyes once before, on a monster straight out of every Hunter's nightmares." He leveled his gaze threateningly.

"So I'll ask you again. What. Are. You?"

How did he…? Ah, I see. It was the last attack to its helm, Whitback realized. The blow had cracked some of the armor, revealing their rather recognizable eye color.

Should it try speaking to the man? Fighting him had proven to be far more difficult than it had anticipated, perhaps a different plan was needed?

"I think you know exactly what I am." It chose to respond, hoping to buy a bit of time for it to come up with a plan of attack.

Fighting like a human had failed, the man was far more skilled with such a combat style. That meant the only offensive option it had left was to attack with its more Grimm abilities. The man had already seen so much, the only reason to hide its abilities now was to hold the element of surprise.

The man lunged forward once more, cutting off its train of thought with a furious combination of attacks. The assault was relentless, bringing Whitback to the disturbing realization that the man had actually been holding back during their initial exchange.

Each blow struck with deadly precision, sending ugly cracks throughout the once pristine white armor.

When it realized it wasn't able to defend against the onslaught, Whitback simply stopped trying to defend. As the blows rained down, it instead moved inward and focused all its attention on strengthening Jaune's bones and shielding his organs as best it could.

No one could keep up such an assault for long, it had to take obscene amounts of energy to move so fast and strike so hard, even with Aura's assistance. All it had to do was wait for that opening.

It was just grateful the man continued to use the blunt side of his weapon. While the blade might have had trouble piercing its armor, blunt force could only really do superficial damage. It was easy enough to heal, as opposed to a blade that could cut entire chunks off.

Whitback was surprised when one of the man's next attack to its stomach was actually able to take it off its feet. The blow was strong, it couldn't be denied. But it was nothing compared to the follow up that came crashing down, shattering the remainder of Whitback's armor and sending it to the ground meters away.

"A kid?" The man sounded confused but Whitback wasn't listening. Jaune's body was vulnerable, it needed to act quickly, before the man took advantage of the opening.

"You awake kid? Cause I'm gonna need some answers." Whitback remained silent, partly out of confusion. Why wasn't the man continuing the attack? Did Jaune being a child really matter?

Ah, that's right. Whitback remembered. Human's have a soft spot for the young, don't they? It had nearly forgotten what Jaune's young appearance must look like to an outsider. If their armor hadn't broken or Jaune was a full grown adult, would the assault have ended so suddenly?

The man took another step towards Jaune and Whitback had to clamp down on the urge to attack immediately. An all out attack had already failed against this enemy, a change in tactics was needed.

Instead of attacking, it chose to prepare material hidden underneath Jaune.

When the man dared to try and lay a hand on him, Whitback lunged forward from below with its newly formed hand.

"The fu-!" The man tried to leap back but Whitback already had a grip on him, there would be no escape. It sent more material up its arm, thickening the limb before the man could cut it off while simultaneously sending forth multiple tendrils to restrain and constrict its victim.

All it needed was his Aura to shatter and he would easily be-

"Jaune That's enough!" Ironwood's voice bellowed forth, causing Whitback to freeze while its victim let out a confused "Huh…?".

"Put him down" Whitback hesitated for a second before relenting.

the man was lucky he hadn't tried to kill Jaune. Even Ironwood wouldn't have been able to save him then.

"The White Fang had a powerful semblance on their side, they fought us back and injured Jaune." Whitback explained while pulling the material it expelled back inward. Jaune's body twitched slightly before standing up a bit unsteadily, still recovering from all the damage done in the past nine hours.

"Ironwood!? You can't be serious!" The man yelled while reverting his scythe into its sword form. "What the hell is this?!" Whitback would have listened further, but the distinct lack of faunus in the surrounding area drew its attention.

"James!" It interrupted the arguing men. "A pair of faunus escaped the compound. I'm going after them." It turned to give chase.

"Whitback stop! The mission has already failed, it's time to retreat." Ironwood's voice left little room for argument.

"You don't say? You sure you don't want to let your pet Grimm directly into the city?!" The man interjected furiously, not that Whitback really noticed.

"They were the ones…" It muttered to itself, ignoring the bickering men. Jaune still suffered from that fateful day he lost his family, and it couldn't very well allow a possible source of such pain to escape.

Jaune? I know you're still a bit sore, but it's time to wake up.

\-/

"W-what…?"Jaune had trouble thinking straight at first, like waking up suddenly from an unexpected nap. I found them. The voices that left you to burn. He went rigid, the smell of smoke already filling his nostrils as an image of hell flashed through him.

"Y-you what?" His voice was barely above a whisper, he must have misheard Whitback. For a second there it almost sounded like it said it had found-

The ones that were there the day your family was taken. He could see them, scattered around the burning building. A blank look in his mother's remaining eye, charred flesh covering the rest of her face. I found them.

"Where…" The word was strained, not a question but a demand. I can follow their scent. They've fled but I've exhausted them, they can't be far.

Jaune took a shaky breath and a host of new smells invaded his senses. He wasn't sure when their minds came together, or which of them had done it. All he knew was that two of the new smells stood out among all the others.

"They won't escape again!" Whitback hastily wrapped a thin layer of material around them while sharpening the fingertips for better traction. With little wind up, Jaune bolted forward. He left dodging the trees to Whitback while he focused solely on going as fast as possible, leaving Ironwood and the other man far behind.

The ones that had left him and his family to die were running from him, was that the only thing they were capable of? Running away? Of course it was, they were nothing but cowards who left his family to burn. They deserved to die.

"There were people here, Adam!" The young voice all but screamed in horror.

"People were here…" The young voice whimpered helplessly.

If you knew, why the hell did you run?! They were involved in the attack, Jaune was sure of it. Why else would they show up right after the detonation? Why else would they run from the SDC?

Why else would that girl sound so guilty?!

It wasn't until he was much closer that Jaune realized the pair of Faunus had split up. While the Cat Faunus' scent remained close by, unmoving strangely enough, the Bull's continued on.

Why had they separated? Were they trying to lay a trap? Where was the Bull running to-?

Patch… The Fucking town. There was nothing else on this island, that's where he had to be running. Using the townspeople as human shields? He shouldn't have been surprised, these were the Faunus who had left a child to die.

"Coward!" Jaune roared in frustration. There were far too many people there, if he chased after the Bull then collateral damage would be unavoidable. Finding a specific person within such chaos would be hard, even for Whitback.

So why hadn't the Cat followed?

When the Faunus in question came into view, a part of him screamed for her immediate punishment. He felt his body tense as it begged for blood, crying justice. Not just his body, he realized, but the being inside him.

Was this Whitback's desire? He had never felt such a desperate need before. Even when they were destroying previous White Fang facilities, all he could feel from the Grimm inside was an odd disconnect. Apathy was the only way he could describe that feeling.

This feeling, however, was anything but apathetic. Looking at the faunus girl now, it was like a raging inferno in his mind. The desire to tear her flesh apart was overpowering.

You left Jaune to BURN! They were less words in his mind and more a feeling in his blood. Whitback wanted this Faunus to pay for what she had done to him. Wanted her to burn like he had.

But was that what he wanted too?

Jaune looked at the Faunus who he could just make out through the trees. Her eyes were wide with fear, yet she didn't run like he had expected. Like she had done so many years ago in that train station.

"Why?!" He leapt in front of the faunus, landing with a furious shout.

"Why aren't you running?!" His blade pointed to her throat while the thought of separating the hunk of flesh, bone and gray matter from its home continuously replayed in his mind.

"Your partner has already made it to the town," He continued when the faunus didn't reply right away. "Do either of you realize how many people would die if we fought there?!" The cat noticeably flinched, finally breaking eye contact.

"Of course you did!" Jaune snarled, taking another step forward. "Who cares what happens to them as long as you survive! Isn't that right?!"

"Y-you're wrong!"The Cat finally yelled back with a horrified expression, driving a spike of rage into Jaune. How dare she look at him like that, as if the thought of hurting an innocent was enough for her to hesitate.

"I could never-"

"LIAR!" He couldn't stop himself from screaming at her. "You let an entire family die!" He ripped off his helmet so the WalkingCorpse could see exactly what she had helped create.

"You left me to burn." He readied his blade as the light of realization entered her eyes.

"At the train station… That family…"

"My family…" He couldn't keep himself from looking away, the emotion feeling like it was almost burning his throat. It was only a moment before his glare returned.

"The last thing I heard was the name of your disgusting group… Before your friend blew my family to PIECES!" He couldn't hold himself back anymore, lunging forth to bisect and devour the girl in front of him.

He expected the girl to run like she had before. He even prepared himself to defend in case the girl decided to attack like a cornered rat. It wouldn't matter which of the two choices she decided on. Jaune would avenge his family.

He didn't, however, expect for the girl to simply close her eyes and spread her arms with an expression of surreal calm.

It made his stomach twist.

The next thing he knew his blade had buried itself in the ground, inches from the Faunus, while he roughly pulled her closer by her shirt's collar.

"WHY?!" He screamed, heedless of the tears that refused to stay back any longer. "Why were they taken from me…?" His family had nothing to do with the Faunus wars and the White Fang. So why?

Why did they have to die?

\-/

Even with his disturbing appearance, Blake couldn't look away from the face of a boy no older than her, begging for an answer she knew would do nothing to ease his pain.

"He had lost his wife," Before she knew it, she was speaking. She couldn't deny the boy's request for answers.

"She died inside the Schnee mines, just like countless other faunus had before her. It… drove him mad." She had to pause to keep her voice steady, the memory bringing up a slew of painful feelings.

"He decided to get revenge." She admitted. "I-I tried to stop him but…" She could remember hearing about it from Adam, that his father had decided the SDC would no longer go unpunished.

"...But I was too slow." She felt herself shaking at the memories that flooded her mind. She could see the corpses of the boy's family, mutilated and burned beyond all recognition. All that destruction and she just… ran away. Like she always did.

The armored boy's grip slipped from her, letting her go as he fell to his knees with a dull thud.

"The Schnee's caused it…?" The boy mumbled in shock, as if unable to process what she told him.

"I-I'm sorry…" She didn't know how else to respond, not when the boy looked so… defeated.

"-ave…" He mumbled something under his breath, so softly Blake wasn't able to hear.

"Wha-!" She fell on her backside when the boy suddenly moved inches from her face, his glowing red eyes burning with rage as he screamed at her to "LEAVE!".

Without thinking she stumbled to her feet and ran. With each passing step the spike of guilt drove deeper into her heart, heated by the pain in the boy's voice.

This was her fault. If only she had helped the boy she had known was suffering in the flames. If only she could have stopped Adam's father before he set the White Fang on a path there could be no returning from.

Adam's words spun around her mind once more. Was he right? Had she been outnumbered amongst her own people? Bloodshed had become much more frequent, but she had always thought it was for the betterment of her people, not the detriment of another.

What would happen if Adam won against the humans? How would he treat the people he was willing to use as meat shields? Would he treat them as equals, just like he had once asked of them?

Was he even capable of it? Was the White Fang? Could they truly live peacefully after what they had done?

… She couldn't go back to that. She couldn't support a fight for blood. But neither could she sit back and watch her people be trampled upon.

A third option. There had to be a third option.

\-/

The streets of Patch were peaceful as the morning sun began to share its light with the small town. It was a beautiful scene, but one Jaune was far too distracted to notice.

He wasn't sure how long he had been wandering the streets, his sense of time almost as warped as the world around him. Warped and wrong. And now that he knew how wrong the world really was, he couldn't stop thinking about it.

Jacques' family helped create the White Fang with their cruel treatment of Faunus. In turn, they retaliated by attacking the SDC, blowing up supply lines and killing his family in the process. Jacques then used that incident to turn him into a weapon to destroy the White Fang, encouraging him to take his vengeance.

How many people did he kill? How many families were left wondering why their loved ones never came back? How many would pick up arms when they found out it was the fault of a Grimm monster that the SDC had created?

It was a circle. A sick, twisted cycle that refused to be broken.

Please answer me Jaune. Whitback tried, not for the first time, to get his attention.

We need a plan. It insisted but Jaune wasn't so sure. Was there even a plan to have? Originally he had wanted to avenge his family, but now?

Now he just felt empty…

Do you want to hunt down Adam? If so, we'll need Ironwood's resources.

"I… I can't." It wasn't right. What would killing Adam do besides incentivise more Faunus to fight back? Killing him would only empower the twisted circle of hatred and war. It would only lead to further death, and for what?

To punish a man, a boy at the time, for panicking and making a rash choice in the midst of a burning building? For being the son of a monster who had lost all hope in being a person?

"What am I supposed to do…?"

"Are you alright?" The higher pitched voice caught him off guard, sending a jolt of panic through him.

This person has an Aura, and we don't have enough mass to properly defend ourselves. Whitback stated before Jaune could even turn, and immediately he could feel the material inside him shift to proactively defend.

"No…!" He tried to whisper to Whitback. He wanted to avoid scaring the new voice that he was sure belonged to a young girl, but he still didn't have his helmet on. The moment he turned around, his face would be on full display.

"It's okay," She must have heard him and misunderstood, because he could hear her move closer. In response, He could feel more material begin shifting and quickly decided his face wouldn't be as scary as tendrils exploding from his back.

"Wai-!" He spun to face the girl but found himself unable to continue. His heart froze solid as his thoughts came to a standstill, unable to process what was standing in front of him.

"Rouge…" Her pale face looked at him with wide eyes that stared straight through him. She couldn't be real, it wasn't possible, and yet there she stood. Untouched by the flames that had stolen so much from him.

He couldn't stop himself from reaching for her, he had to know if she was real.

Her wide eyes turned to his outstretched hand, just before reality seemed to dawn on her. Her expression as she leapt away ripped through his mind like an avalanche. Any doubts of his little sister's existence disappeared from his mind.

She is real.

And she's afraid of me.

The realization hit like a truck. Of course she was, how could she not be? He didn't just kill people, he ate them. What else if not a monster would do such a thing?

"Wait! Please…" He felt the world shift as he fell to his knees. Would she run away? The thought was almost too much to bear. He was going to lose his family again. Not because of some outside force, but because of his own choices, because he chose to kill people.

"Please…" He begged through the knot of emotion that formed in his throat. "I-I can't lose you again." Even if the memories were hazy at times, the emotion his family had instilled into him were nothing but clear as crystal.

"I'm sorry for what I've done. I-I couldn't stop myself." He confessed, desperate to say something, anything to keep his little sister from running.

"They took everything from us. They were doing the same to others!" He couldn't even meet her gaze, afraid of the judgment that may lie there.

"I-I didn't know I was making things worse…" Killing faunus without a trace, inspiring nothing but fear.

"I don't want to kill anymore, but-" What was the alternative? Sit by and let the White Fang inflict the same tragedy to countless others just as they did him?

"But I can't just stand by and do nothing while people die! I just ca-" His words caught in his throat as he looked up to see the young girl had moved closer. Close enough that he began to notice something a bit strange.

"Did you lose someone too?" The young girl, who he was beginning to realize looked different than he remembered, asked quietly.

Unsure how to respond, he only nodded slowly.

\-/

"Hmm." Ruby hummed thoughtfully to herself, trying to sort through her thoughts. The young boy in front of her was different, that was for sure. A part of her knew her dad, uncle and older sister would be all but forcing her to run away from someone who admitted to killing.

But looking at the boy, on his knees with tears streaming down his face, how could she leave? Even if the monstrous voice, blackened tears and red eyes reminded her of nothing but a monster, he was still speaking wasn't he? He was still showing how much he was hurting. She couldn't just leave someone in so much pain.

While she leaned back, looking at the early morning sunrise, a sad thought entered her mind. Was it brought on by the boy's expression? A haunted expression she struggled to understand, but could remember seeing on the face of every Hunter in her family. Everyone, except her mom…

"T-the people you… killed." She tried to force away the anxious feeling that swam inside her.

"Were they bad people?" Her uncle still told her stories about all the bad guys he "stopped". Only, she wasn't five anymore, and she was pretty sure she knew what "stopped" actually meant.

"…They were doing terrible things to people. Horrible, awful things that made me sick." His expression changed for a moment, showing enough unbridled rage to make the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Then, in an instant, it was gone, replaced by the suffocating sadness.

"But the things I did to stop them…" His face twisted, as if the thought caused him physical pain. "I-I don't want to do it… But I can't just stand by while people are suffering!"

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" The tears began falling with renewed vigor.

"H-hey, don't cry." Before she could think, she had closed the distance and placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. Coming into contact with the strange armor that covered his body reminded her of exactly what she was trying to comfort.

Helping someone in need is just common sense. It was what her mother believed, and even if he might not seem like a normal person, there was no doubt in her mind that he was definitely someone in need.

But what could she do to help? What would she want to hear if she were in his shoes?

"You know, I think you would make a great Huntsman!" She tried to encourage him with a smile, hoping the change in subject might help. With his strange armor and weapons, the boy already looked the part of an eccentric Huntsman.

"It can be a bit scary sometimes, but I think you could save a lot of people that way!"

"A Huntsman?" The boy looked at her with a perplexed expression. "But, I'm Grimm… I could never beco-"

"Nope." She cut him off with a shake of her head.

"Nope?" He cocked his head one way in confusion.

"Nope!" She confirmed with a smile.

"Being a Hunter doesn't mean you have to kill every single Grimm." Even if that was most of the job, she thought it was silly to think of Hunter's as nothing but Grimm exterminators.

"If you want to be a Huntsman, you just have to help protect people!" They were heroes after all, and what was a hero if not a protector?

"It doesn't matter what you are, just what you do."

\-/

Jaune couldn't look away from the girl in red. Despite already having come to the realization that she was not his younger sister, the shining smile she gave made it almost impossible to tell the difference.

"A Huntsman." Someone who protected people from the pain that he was all too familiar with.

He liked how that sounded.

I'm confused, Jaune. Surely our actions up to this point have all been in order to protect people. Is what she speaks of truly any different? Whitback questioned, not unkindly.

"I don't think you can count what we were doing as "protecting" anyone." White Fang or not, he was the one hunting them down. Killing them before they could even commit their crimes. Crimes that, as he had recently learned, had been committed against them first by the SDC and, by extension, the rest of Remnant.

Would he condone their actions? Never. But, for what it was worth, he felt like he could understand them.

Very well. If that is your choice then I, your Grande Protector, shall assist you any way I can.

"Thank you, Whitback." He offered gratefully.

"Who's Whitback?" The girl in red asked, reminding him that he was not alone.

"Oh! That's just the-"

Someone is coming this way. Whitback stopped him before he could explain. Someone with Aura, they should be here shortly. Jaune's mind immediately went to the mission he was currently failing and what James might do if he found him.

Without making a single mistake, he was still stuck spending the vast majority of his time locked inside a room. Unable to meet new people or do anything not already authorized by James.

What would happen now that he had let not just one, but two different witnesses escape? Would he ever be able to leave that room again?

"I-I'm sorry," He quickly apologized to the girl in red before turning to run "but I have to go."

He couldn't risk being caught, not when he had already had a plan! He would become a protector! He would help so many people that, Grimm or not, they would have no choice but to make him a Huntsman!

"If you have to." The girl in red frowned slightly, but nodded her understanding. "But, if you become a Huntsman, promise you'll come visit?" her smile reappeared once more, forcing him to pause.

"My name is Ruby Rose, and I'd love to hear about all the people you help!" Her positivity, it was too much for him to deny. He couldn't help but return her smile.

"My name is Jaune Arc, and if I become a huntsman, I promise you'll be the first to know!"

\~/

So, feel like i touched on some possibly sensitive subjects. The only reason i mention that is because a part of me feels like i might have been a bit too "heavy handed" for lack of a better word when dealing with Blake's reasonings and belief's. Possibly the same with Jaune, but that being said I kept it like this because i think that small part of me is just my anxiety speaking. All that to say, please let me know what you think of the drama i wrote! Is it as believable as i hope it is?

Either way, I hope you enjoyed and I wish ya'll a happy morning/evening!

bit of a side tangent, this chapter turned out to be longer than I expected. I believe i should have cut this up into two smaller chapters, so that id have two chapters with about 25% less words than current average, rather than this single chapter being 50% longer. What I'm trying to say is that if i ever do the future stories im planning on, I'd probably turn a chapter like this into two smaller ones, but since this is a rewrite and i want to keep the chapters lined up with the original, I kept it one long chapter. This probably doesn't really matter but i still felt the need to explain.