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'Sienna Khan' used to be a name that commanded respect.
She and the Albain brothers organized the first Faunus Rights movements in the southern part of Mistral. It wasn't long before peaceful protests proved to be moot; riots came next, followed by organized acts of violence against those who would mistreat her kind. Humans finally recognized the Faunus as a legitimate group that deserved their attention. It was the birth of the White Fang.
As the High Leader of the new group, Sienna was burdened with the role of leadership – a task she preferred to delegate to other, more qualified people. The Albain brothers, Fennec and Corsac, ended up handling all of the diplomatic stuff and called for those few they trusted to run the rest. Sienna needed to be out in the field. She soon found a young man named Adam with just as much of a fire in his eyes as herself and made him her lieutenant.
That was her first mistake.
Sienna – she would never think of herself by that other name they used – slowly sat up from her cot. She moved as carefully as possible, never allowing herself to push or pull beyond what her body could handle at the moment. The room around her was still dark, but the light coming from beneath the door was more than enough for a Faunus to see by. Not that there was much to see – the 'Disgraced' was not allowed more than the bare essentials for each day, and that included a bed. And a proper bedroom. She had to make due with this closet.
She sat naked and motionless on her cot, breathing slowly and deeply. Waking up always hurt while she was like this; her bones felt like they were made of rough stone, heavy inside her body. Most of her joints felt like they were filled with sand. Her head felt like it was full of lead, dull and heavy.
Another day in hell. How many more could she possibly endure?
Moving carefully and quietly, Sienna pulled out her only set of clothes – the uniform given to her the day she lost her identity – and checked every inch of the lining for splinters, stiff hairs or the occasional tiny needle. None today. Good. She dressed herself quickly, moving with her usual feline grace to keep any hairs from snagging and leaving her a quivering lump on the floor for the next hour.
Not so long ago, Sienna Khan could stand toe-to-toe with professional Huntsmen and barely break a sweat.
Now she couldn't even dress herself without meticulous preparation.
She checked her mask next, feeling all around the inside to make sure there were no surprises waiting for her. Last week she'd found a pin stuck to the inside, centered right between her eyes. Had she put it on without checking, that simple pin would have left her feeling like her head had been impaled on a spike. Nothing today, thank the gods. She never did find the asshole who left it there.
Lastly she checked her boots and gloves, only putting them on after making sure they were clean. Her closet room did not lock, so anyone could slip in and sabotage her entire day with nothing more than a pebble in her shoe. It had happened before, and she wasn't keen on letting it happen again.
Just before she slipped the gloves on, she glared at the plate stuck to her hand. It sat there, embedded in her flesh like a mechanical tick, laughing at her attempts to remove it. The veins all around it pulsed and throbbed. She stared at it, wishing hateful things on Adam and everyone who conceived of this demonic device, then put on her gloves just to get it out of her sight.
Finally she slipped on her mask and sighed. Time to get out there and do nothing. Again.
Honestly, it was the feeling of powerlessness that was actually driving her mad. She could handle the pain any day, but the fact remained that Adam Taurus had done far more damage by driving away everyone who ever respected and listened to her. He'd completely destroyed her image.
And she still couldn't figure out how in the nine hells he'd done it.
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Less than an hour later, Sienna once again found herself watching the Schnee boy in his cell. She'd just brought him a tray of barely-edible food they called 'breakfast' and he'd devoured it like a man on the brink of starvation. It would have been a pitiful sight… if she had any pity to spare.
She tried not to grit her teeth as the rumblings from her stomach threatened to put her on the floor. They'd given her a tray of food for the prisoner, but nothing for her… the idea being that they expected Sienna to eat his food in front of him.
Obviously that meant she had to give it to him anyway. Because they wanted her to do the opposite.
She sighed again, fighting the urge to run her fingers through her hair in frustration – it was tangled beyond all hope, and had been for almost a month – as she thought about her situation again. It was clear that she was either mad or close to it. Or had she been mad this whole time? How could she possibly know for sure?
Movement at the main door drew her attention as the guards made a shift change. One of the two who arrived spared a glance at Sienna, and she could clearly make out a sneer on his face. He was a newer member, recruited after her… falling out… so she didn't recognize him. Likely someone who'd joined only for the sake of bloodshed.
Recruited by Adam himself, no doubt. And like all other Faunus on Remnant, he definitely saw the footage that had sealed her fate. They'd all seen it.
It had happened several months ago now – she'd lost track of the exact number – during her last mission as High Leader of the White Fang. She and Adam had taken a few trusted soldiers to raid a Schnee warehouse for Dust and supplies. It had been going quite well up until Adam, out of absolutely nowhere, turned and slammed the handle of his sword into the side of her head, knocking her out. By the time she woke up, he'd somehow created fake security camera footage that showed Sienna attacking him from behind, in a cowardly fashion, and generally being a dishonorable wretch before they took her down. It was obviously fake, as Sienna herself knew full well what had really happened, yet… it didn't matter.
He'd already shown the footage to every branch of the White Fang and all of Menagerie long before she woke up. It was far too real to be denied. The soldiers who accompanied them all spoke out against Sienna as witnesses, adding to the legitimacy of the story.
Fake or not, the damage had been done. Everyone on Remnant was convinced that Sienna Khan had thrown away her honor for the sake of holding on to her power. She had disgraced herself.
And the strange thing was… she was starting to wonder if it really was fake. If she really had thrown away her honor for the sake of self-preservation.
It wouldn't have been the first time.
Eventually the guards came in to collect the boy. After almost a week of their beatings, he still acted like he was somehow in control. He never argued, never tried to fight his way out of their grip – instead he held his head high, walking with an odd sense of pride. Odd for normal people, of course; normal for a Schnee.
Sienna watched him leave once again, wondering if this would be the day they broke him. Part of her wanted it – he was a Schnee, and he deserved everything they did to him and more. But another part of her wished for his pride to hold fast, wanted him to defy them at every turn. She both wanted and didn't want him to break under their torture.
Heh. Maybe she really was going mad.
Without uttering a word, Sienna stood up and slowly made her way over to a small section of wall between the main door and the bars that separated the boy's cell from her own area. It was the only place she could relax without fear of some passer-by throwing something at her from the hallway. She sat on the floor and closed her eyes, weary and weak from everything she'd been through so far – her muscles ached, crying out to be used to their full potential. So many weeks spent moving slowly and carefully had taken their toll as Sienna had become quite thin and frail-looking. Where once she had been one of the strongest members of her race, she had now wasted away to almost nothing.
Once again, the thought of ending it all came into her mind. This particular base was deep inside a mountain that bordered the sea, and one of the Bullhead docks overlooked a tall cliff that dropped right off into the ocean. All she had to do was… walk forward. And it would all be over.
And as before, she took hold of that thought and shoved it far back into the corners of her mind. It may come to that, but she'd be damned if she died before taking her revenge. Adam Taurus had taken away everything she'd ever held dear. He had to pay for it.
But did he really? If that footage was indeed fake, then she had every justifiable reason to strike back, but if it wasn't… … … then she had received her due recompense. She'd seen the evidence, and it certainly looked like her attacking him from behind like a coward… could it be real…?
No. No, it wasn't. She knew the truth, knew that she was the victim. Adam had to pay.
But what if…?
Sienna gritted her teeth as hard as she could stand, letting the pain of feeling her teeth literally cracking apart inside her mouth wash over her… and silencing the voices in her mind. If she hadn't gone mad yet, thoughts like these would surely send her there. She did not want that.
Instead she tried her best to empty her mind, using a rudimentary form of meditation she'd come up with a couple of weeks ago. It didn't solve any of her physical problems, but it worked to calm her down and let her focus on nothing for a few hours.
Unfortunately, it did little to muffle the screaming that came from the torture chamber.
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_/_/_/_/_/
Once upon a time, Sienna Khan had a younger sister named Sierra. The two of them were always very close and shared everything. Though they were born under the same moon, they were not twins – Father had two daughters by two wives, a normal tradition for the strongest male warrior of their tribe. It ensured the strength of her tribe would live on through their offspring.
Both girls were declared adults of the tribe on the same night, and to celebrate they gathered a group of friends – Tawny, Sable and Ginger – and set out on a midnight Hunt. It would be the last night they ever spent together.
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("You are a disgrace to your people, Sienna. No… you don't even deserve a name anymore. Every eye has seen your treachery, and all know of your cowardice. I name you Disgraced, for that is who you are now.")
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The village sat at the edge of the jungle that bordered the desert of Menagerie. No other tribe dared live so close to such a dangerous area, but Sienna's people were the bravest and strongest on the island. They not only dared to live so close… they thrived here. The Grimm of the desert stirred no fear in them.
Sienna knew of a nest of Creepers just past the edge of the sands. The contest was simple – whoever killed the largest Creeper won, and whoever killed the smallest would pay for the meals for everyone else for the next week. Getting there was easy enough.
However, the nest had already been consumed by something far larger. Something that was still hungry.
Something… that was right under their feet.
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("I collected something interesting in our last raid together, Disgraced. This… I'm sure you know whose emblem this is, right? According to our technician, this little plate will be perfect as the means of exacting your punishment. Now hold still…")
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The monster consumed Ginger in a single moment, then took Tawny before anyone had the sense to run. It was a Grimm, but like nothing they'd ever seen before – it would be several years before Sienna learned its name: Blind Worm, a creature normally found in the desert of Vacuo. Sable tried to stay and fight, but her attacks were as effective as mosquito bites against a monster like that. She never screamed once before vanishing in the gaping maw of the Worm.
Sienna had always been a faster runner than Sierra, so she reached the edge of the jungle first. Both were fast on their own, so she expected her sister to make it as well.
Sienna Khan reached the jungle alone. There was no one else around.
Sierra was gone.
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("I know it doesn't look like much now, but just you wait… all we have to do is establish the pain threshold and the device will do the rest…")
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A rumbling was all the warning she had; Sienna watched in horror as the Blind Worm emerged from the sands once again, proudly holding its latest kill high in the air for all to see. Sierra. The young Faunus was firmly trapped by her legs in the jaws of the beast, still conscious but barely clinging to life.
Sierra's eyes locked onto Sienna's from the short distance between them. She mouthed the word 'help.'
Sienna Khan fled into the jungle.
The scream that came out of her sister's mouth, a scream of pure heartache and betrayal, would forever haunt the young Faunus. She would hear it in her nightmares for the rest of her life… and she would never forget how she felt at the moment when that scream was suddenly and abruptly cut off.
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("Ripping out this earring should do the trick. Ready… and…")
_/_/_/_/_/
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About two hours later, the beatings were over for the day. Whitley Schnee sat against the wall of his cell in silence, one eye swollen shut and his body almost completely purple from bruises. Several red marks indicated where Adam's lieutenant had gone overboard with the whip. The boy barely looked alive.
As usual, Sienna had her first aid kit out and was carefully dabbing the worst of the bruises and cuts. The boy flinched with every touch in the beginning, but now he simply sat quietly through his treatment. It was like he hardly felt it anymore.
In addition to the medicine, Sienna had also been secretly applying her own Aura to his body in an attempt to hasten his healing. It was subtle enough that none of her brothers and sisters of the White Fang would ever notice, but it was strong enough to have a notable effect – wounds that would normally keep him down for a week were healed in a few days. He never asked what she was doing, nor did he seem too concerned about anything beyond his daily meals.
As she treated his wounds this time, she reached out with her senses and discovered something new; a small, weak Aura within the boy. She knew her own Aura, and this was not it – this was the boy's own soul, grown strong enough for Sienna to actually feel it.
She held back a smile. If the boy had his own Aura, then Adam would have an even harder time breaking him.
And that was always worth it.
"If you… could leave here… freely…" the boy suddenly whispered, "…where… would you go?" His eyes were gazing off to one side, unable or unwilling to face her. It was hard to tell.
Sienna quietly packed up her medicine as she replied, almost as silently, "I have nowhere to go. No one on Remnant would welcome me, not now. This place is as much my prison as it is yours, but outside these walls… I have nothing."
He remained silent for the rest of the evening, never once turning his pale blue eyes back to his keeper. Sienna stared until it was time for her to turn in, wondering why such a question had escaped his lips. Had he been thinking about her words? Had he already broken? What was going on inside that head of his?
Just before she closed her eyes to try and sleep that night, Sienna had a startling thought; for some reason, she actually cared about what Whitley Schnee was thinking today. In fact, when she thought about it, she… really didn't want him to break after all.
Not just to spite his captors, but… for his own sake. She actually wanted some sort of rescue party to come and claim him, to deliver him from their clutches and take him home.
Caring for a Schnee…?
That was it, then; she'd finally gone mad.
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One week later, everything changed.
It happened while Whitley was still in the other room for his beating; Sienna's scroll beeped with an incoming transmission. She could hear every other scroll in the base making the same noise, and checking the screen told her why; a public announcement from Jacques Schnee himself, sent out to every available device in all four kingdoms. This ought to be good.
["Ladies and gentlemen of Atlas, of Vale, of Vacuo and of Mistral… my son is dead."]
While it was fun to see the old man looking so miserable, his words stirred a deep sense of unease in Sienna's chest. Something about this was… off.
["I received word just last night from General Ironwood himself: Whitley Schnee was found dead in a White Fang base, in the northern part of Sanus. You can look at the official report at the link I'll provide at the end of this message. This… is a terrible tragedy for my family, as well as the future of the Schnee Dust Company. Many of you know that Whitley was in line to take my place as head of the Company, but now I am without an heir…"]
Sienna's fingers ached as she squeezed her scroll a bit too tightly. Anger welled up within her at the sworn enemy of all Faunus. How could he turn a message about his son's apparent death into a personnel problem?!
["Of course, I and my wife are truly grieved at the loss. The White Fang mongrels have taken so much from me and my family, but this… this is too much. Because of them, my son… my own flesh and blood… will never come home again."]
Shift the blame to the Faunus and still make himself look good. What manner of demon did he have to kill to harvest such a powerful silver tongue?
["I hope that you will all keep me and my family in your thoughts and prayers as we deal with this loss. In honor of my son's passing, I will allow all SDC workers the next 2 days off, as well as a 5% discount on all Dust sales for that duration. I hope that future generations will not have to-"]
Sienna cut off the rest of the feed before she threw her scroll against the rocks. Her anger was at the breaking point when a sound reached her ears. A sound from her deepest nightmares.
A scream of pain and betrayal. The scream of her sister, Sierra.
But this scream was coming from the boy, all the way over in the torture room.
Of course he'd seen the message. Of course he would feel the pain… of watching his own father declare him dead to the entire world. It was a wonder it took as long as it did, really. Adam would know the boy was broken now. He would finally end this foolish game of beating and torturing the boy. He would… he would…
He would finally have Whitley killed.
For some reason, that thought made Sienna bare her teeth in a snarl. A low growl escaped her throat, but thankfully no one else heard it.
Within minutes, the boy was brought back and tossed into the cell. He no longer walked on his own power, but flopped about like a rag doll. Like a puppet with its strings cut. Tears clearly stained his face, even around the swelling, and Sienna's heart twisted in her chest.
How could they do this…? Schnee or no, this boy didn't deserve to endure so much pain.
The White Fang grunts who brought him in turned and left, but not before Adam himself came in and said a few words. "It is over. And how ironic that his old man did more damage in a few minutes of video than I did after several weeks of punching him in the face until his eyes bled! Ha!"
Sienna didn't respond. Her eyes were locked on the broken and bleeding form of Whitley Schnee, gasping and sobbing on the stone floor of his cell.
"Of course it was all a lie – the old man knows where his boy is being kept. But he also knows that trying to get him back would be a waste of time and resources. Cheaper just to start over."
Her blood pounded through her veins with the force of a river at flood stage. The hairs on her arms were standing straight up, feeling like tiny cactus needles against the inside of her sleeves.
"Tonight will be your final night with him, Disgraced. After you say your goodbyes, you are relieved of duty." And with that, Adam turned and left the room. The heavy door closed behind him with a loud bang.
Her mind was flooded with a myriad of emotions, none of
which made any sense. In one moment she wanted to
laugh at his pain, and the next she wanted to
claw his eyes out. Another she wanted to
run into his cell and
carry him away on her back, followed by a desire to
rip him apart and consume his flesh.
All this was accompanied by the
heavy
drumbeat
that was her heart, a rhythmic pounding that drove her
sanity
further and further into the abyss.
It seemed Sienna's own breaking point was fast approaching. One more push and she would surely-
Bap!
A large hand across her face sent her to the floor, her mad train of thoughts forgotten. The pain filled her head, forcing her mind to focus on what was real. Tangible. The slap across her cheek might as well have been delivered by an Ursai with a particularly nasty headache for the pain it caused.
Adam's lieutenant stood over her, glaring down with his full-face mask. His arms rippled with muscle, never able to fit into any sleeves. Even without seeing his eyes, she could feel his disdain through the mask.
"I'm here for the boy, Disgraced. You are to watch his final moments."
Sienna glared up at him through her own mask, which had shifted from the blow. Without replying, she adjusted it and stood back up to take her place against the wall. She would never admit it, but she was grateful for that slap – her mind was slipping away, and the pain brought her back to sanity. For now, anyway.
Her gloves sat on the table, but she didn't bother reaching for them. She stared down at the plate embedded in her hand instead, unable to watch the inevitable carnage before her. She could still hear their voices with no trouble.
"You're going to die now, boy," the lieutenant said, his deep voice echoing off the stone walls.
Whitley said nothing.
"No more screaming? No more petty threats and demands? I was so looking forward to those…"
No reply.
"In that case, do you at least have any last words? Come on… make this fun for me."
"… … …"
"What was that? You'll have to speak up…"
"Voice command… Override… access code… 6… 1… 2… 4… 5… Full shutdown."
"…Wha?"
The last thing Sienna registered was a metallic clinking sound – the torture device, hitting the floor and bouncing a few times at her feet.
The device… that was no longer attached to Sienna's hand.
Her entire body went completely numb as the pain vanished, along with all sense of touch. Her mind blurred with a mix of relief and joy, of pure adrenaline as her muscles fired of their own accord, moving her by instinct alone.
She barely noticed as her body flew through the cell door on its own power, tackled the giant man to the floor with no effort whatsoever, and wrapped her hands around his neck easily. Almost too easily.
She heard, rather than felt, the bones of his neck separate beneath her iron grip. He twitched a few times, then lay still. Dead.
She'd just killed a Faunus… one of her own kind… with her bare hands.
And it didn't hurt at all.
Elation flooded her mind and Sienna let loose a roar from the deepest part of her soul. A roar of victory. A roar that signaled her superiority over her prey. It didn't matter who heard it – let the entire world hear it and tremble!
The Disgraced was dead. Sienna Khan was back, and no one would ever muzzle this tiger again.
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She had no idea how much time passed by the time she came to her senses, but nobody had come in to see what that roaring was for. Her sane, rational mind hoped that anyone who heard it would assume it was a roar of grief… or that the lieutenant had struck her hard enough to cause it.
But she would not regret doing it. She'd never felt so damn good!
A soft noise drew her attention, and Sienna blinked as she realized that the boy had witnessed the entire thing. His eyes were now fully upon Sienna, wide with shock and a touch of awe. Thankfully for both of them, he was smart enough to keep quiet.
But now they were in serious trouble. If anyone came in and saw the two of them like this, the entire base would be on top of them in minutes. Neither of them would last long at that rate.
Sienna made a fateful decision in that moment. One she would ponder for quite some time.
Moving quickly, she darted over to the large door and listened. The guards outside were discussing the roaring, wondering what could have agitated the Disgraced so much. Good. That meant it didn't raise any alarms. Before either of them could react, Sienna threw the door open and grabbed both guards, slamming their heads together and yanking their unconscious forms into the room.
She was partway through disrobing one guard when the boy whispered, "What are you-"
But he didn't get any farther. Sienna grabbed a knife from the guard's belt and darted over to the boy, pointing the weapon directly at his face. She knew her eyes were full of a dangerous fire, and she could clearly see the fear in his eyes as he saw it.
After a tense few moments, she forced herself to speak in a hissing whisper, "You will not say a word until I tell you to, or so help me I will leave you to the mercy of men who will not be happy about that man's death…" she gestured to the large, unmoving form of the lieutenant. "You are going to put on one of these uniforms and you will come with me, right now, without saying a word. We are getting out of here. Do you understand?!"
The boy nodded, his lips tightly sealed. Smart kid.
"Good," she hissed again, though less harshly. She finished undressing the first guard, then tossed the uniform to the boy and got to work undressing the second. Her own uniform was of a distinct design and would give them away instantly, but these should let them blend in a little longer. They only needed an hour at best.
10 minutes to reach the Bullhead… and the other 50 to make sure the White Fang never forgot the true name of the woman they discarded.
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OwO