AYangThang: As of this post, Flame's Shade Revisited has surpassed the word count of its unfinished predecessor on FFN. The chapters haven't even caught up to where the old content left off yet. When I said this fiction was a lot longer, contained a lot more scenes, and was vastly more in-depth, I wasn't joking.

Still, to sit here and actually see the word count numbers continually climb makes me smirk to myself. I don't think I intended the story to become such a beast, but somehow it did. Knowing exactly how many chapters are left to the completed story also makes me a little embarrassed because good god, there's a shit load left to post. I hope you're enjoying this slower version of the story though.

Significant Changes: One scene was moved to this chapter instead of where it used to be in the original. I felt that it helped the flow of the fiction, particularly where Weiss and Pyrrha's growing relationship was concerned. Also, two entirely new scenes were added. This is an exposition heavy chapter.

Original chapter length: 1,811
Revisited chapter length: 3,794

"Regular dialogue" [Faunus speech only]

Chapter 23

It was too early for breakfast, but sleeplessness had claimed control of the house. The sun was a long way from rising, but deeper thoughts twisted and turned. Ruby couldn't help but fixate on Blake's words from hours before. Ruby couldn't even imagine the possibility of losing Ace in the event of an emergency. It seemed like an impossible outcome. They were huntresses first and foremost, with sworn duties that inherently placed Ace into danger. They had risks they'd never be able to get rid of.

As huntresses, they would be the first into battle, and the last to leave.

If something were to happen in Vale, keeping Ace safe would mean to ignore those duties. To make dishonorable choices, and cruel distinctions. Ruby refused to think about that as she rolled carefully into her side. Her arm securely around the sleeping Faunus to keep her from waking. Ace only stirred for a moment before sleepy purrs continued once more. Since her bed was pressed into the corner of the room, there was only emptiness on the blank wall. Another way to become lost in a sea of helpless thoughts.

No distraction from any of it.

She had no idea what she could do. She wanted to chase away all of the negative whispers rolling around inside her head. Every attempt had failed. Ruby found herself at a complete loss. Rubbing her eyes, she silenced a sigh before it could escape her lips. She had been laying there for hours. Never once leaving her exhausted twilight, or falling into a deeper sleep.

Footfalls carried from the hallway, Blake's movements from down the hall and into the kitchen indicating that she was also awake. It was a good a time as any. Ruby moved away from the bed ever so carefully, wadding Ace in the blankets enough to keep her there. Then, she grabbed the children's bed rail that sat upon the wall. Ruby slid it into place to ensure that Ace wouldn't accidentally fall off the bed in her sleep.

She opened the door, leaving it that way for when Ace woke up. Her path down the hallway smelled like a strong steeping cup of tea. Fumbling for the kitchen light switch took a moment, the bright light blinding both the human standing in the doorway and the Faunus at the table. Blake glared at the sudden change in lighting, trying to adjust her sights. Ruby did the same as fumbled around for the container of orange juice.

"What's the matter?" Blake asked groggily. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Nope." Ruby told her, upending the last of the orange juice into a small glass. The plastic bottle hit the garbage with a little more force than it really need. The frown lingering on the woman's face even after she had taken her first sip. "You're up early."

"I know." Blake mumbled.

With another sip of orange juice to wet her throat, Ruby licked her lips. "Why?"

"I have to be at the youth center before seven." Blake told her.

Ruby just gave Blake a mild scowl, shaking her head as she downed another sip of juice. "And you say I'm overworked…"

Ruby's bad mood was strange, and Blake noticed. Raising the warm cup of tea to her lips she waited to see what Ruby might do. There were times that Ruby would plop herself in front of the television, and others when she would sit at the table and toy with her scroll. Instead, Ruby just at down. No scroll, no paper, not even a book. Her eyes glaring daggers into the table.

The ticking clock in the kitchen hadn't chimed six yet, so Blake knew she had a little time. "I am a bit tired, Ruby, but I have to be there. With Velvet on the wall assignment, someone needs to teach the little ones the rules about marking territory."

"And you think it has to be you?"

"It doesn't have to be, but, I feel like it should be." Blake said softly. "The best way to keep children out of problematic organizations is to prevent it happening in the first place. In order to do that, Faunus children need to understand how to blend in with humans."

"I don't see why…"

No, Ruby wouldn't. She wasn't the type of person to demand conformity. As a leader she demanded respect and obedience on missions she was in charge of, but when weapon was put away, that demanding nature went along with it. Blake could only do her best to keep the smirk from tugging her lips. She doubted Ruby would appreciate it.

"It's just the way it is." Blake told her in explanation. "Human children are taught to keep their hands to themselves, but that isn't how Faunus behave. What's considered normal among our kind could be seen as harassment from a human's perspective."

"They're a bunch of kids, Blake." Ruby told her, fingers idly tapping the clear glass before she lifted it to her lips again. This drink lingered a while, long enough for Blake to have one of her own from the mug of tea. "How much damage can they really do?"

"More than you want to believe, I'll bet. Even Ace claims territory, Ruby." Blake said with a soft laugh. "Every time she rubs her cheek on you, or uses her hands, she leaves her scent behind. You can't smell it, but she marks us every chance that she gets. That instinct never goes away."

Putting her hands over her face, Ruby merely sighed. "Shit." She cursed under her breath. "Why is there still so much I don't know?"

"Because you never needed to know before." Blake told her.

"Yeah, but I need to know now." Ruby told her. "Every time I think I'm starting to get things figured out, I realize I don't even have a clue."

Blake lifted her tea to her lips once more. It was a loaded complaint, and the solution wasn't as simple has handing Ruby a book. Rattling off Faunus habits wouldn't do, either. This was something deeper. "You need to accept that Faunus kids just aren't the same as you were." She says, placing her mug back down again. "Faunus kids need to learn how to play and interact with humans. When we're little, it doesn't come naturally to us."

"I don't see why not." Ruby muttered, annoyance and exhaustion clouding her voice as she rubbed at her eyes. "Kids are kids, it's that simple."

"And that complicated." Blake pointed out. "We bite, scratch, growl, tackle each other to the ground, and take things we want on a whim. What we think of as playing, you'd think of as fighting or bullying."

Ruby only groaned, wishing there was something a little stronger in the house than juice.

"You know, when Ace turns three, she'll start going to a Faunus school too."

"What's wrong with Signal's academic program?" Ruby said, having already planned to enroll Ace there when the time came. "There's a primary school building a mile from the house…"

"Ace isn't allowed to go to a school with humans until she's a little older. It's the law." Blake explained. "Faunus need to pass an edict exam before we're even allowed to go to school with humans, and some of us don't pass that exam until we're older."

"Why is that even allowed?" Ruby asked, her hands falling flat onto the table. "If this is such a big issue, why keep Faunus separated from humans for so long? Why not just teach them together from the start?"

"We just don't learn the same way." Blake murmured softly. "Little kids don't have their aura unlocked yet, Ruby. If Ace were to play with a human her own age, she could hurt really hurt them without trying. If she bites a human toddler, the child would probably just start crying. She wouldn't understand that she hurt them, either. Another Faunus would bite back or snarl, telling her that it hurt."

"This is starting to get ridiculous…"

"Is it, though?" Blake wondered aloud. "Let me ask you this, how did you play tag growing up?"

Silver eyes gave an annoyed glare. Emotionally exhausted, she didn't see where this was going. "The same way everyone else did. The person who's called 'it' touched another player, and then the player who was tagged is then the 'it' until they tag someone else. It's just a fun harmless game."

"That's not how we play tag." Blake said. "I mean it is, but remember, Faunus will always be tempted to follow our instincts. We can get carried away when chasing something. Usually we end up tackling each other."

"We have games where we do that too, you know."

"It's not tied to dominance or territory, though." Blake shrugged. "When I played tag as a child, we tackled each other. We'd roll around on the ground until the player who's 'it' proves that they're stronger. Usually, that's by getting the tagged player into a submissive position. If the tagged player manages to get away, than the 'it' player has to try and catch someone else. We don't see it as anything other than a game, but human children don't see it that way. That's what I mean about learning to be gentle."

"So what, she goes to a Faunus only school?" Ruby asked.

"At first, yes. We all do. Until we use appropriate behavior a majority of the time, we're not allowed to go to school with humans. The program I'm teaching today is part of that. Scent marking is part of the edict exam." Blake said. "We can't just go up to whoever we want and rub ourselves all over them. We can't just sniff at another person because we like the smell. It might be normal to us, but it makes humans uncomfortable. Faunus have a basic edict exam as kids to enter school, and then secondary edict exam during puberty…the second one happens about the same time humans take sex education…maybe a little earlier, but not much."

"What class are you teaching?" Ruby asked her.

"Velvet's class was the basic edict course. They're young." Her ear flicked as a thought came to mind. "If this really bothers you so much, why not come with me?"

"I don't know if that's such a good idea…"

"The best way to understand would be to see how the students behave for yourself..." Blake told her. "If you really want to know these things, exposure is the only way you'll ever really begin to understand…"

Even after the storm, the duties along the wall persisted. In spite of the long hours the night before, they were expected to be up and manning their stations at their allotted time.

The wall had to be guarded around the clock, perimeter checks took place every eight hours. Guard towers were also manned all day, every day. Scheduled work hours were long, thankfully mundane affairs. There was rarely anything but a lone Grimm or two that wandered just a little too close to the computerized sniper turrets. The high caliber dust rounds normally dispatched the Grimm, or at the very least chased it away from the boarder.

There were also trapped Grimm raised in captivity. These were used to train the younger, lesser experienced students at Signal academy. These Grimm were less wild, slightly tamer around people. They would never be safe to be around, no one could entirely domesticate a Grimm, but it was the next best thing. Weiss decided quickly she hated working with the captured Grimm, and much preferred standing along the wall.

Pyrrha also chose this task over the dreary insides, and so they often spent their shift together. "It's always so beautiful this time of day, just before the sun rises."

"Only if you happen to be a morning person." Weiss replied, leaning on the stone slab that made for a defensive railing. "Or someone who just stayed up all night."

"Like ourselves?" Pyrrha jested.

"One could say that."

"After last night, I can't wait until we're relieved of our post." Weiss fought back a yawn. "I could really do with another nap."

"Yes, I plan to make an early night of it myself." Pyrrha agreed as she squinted. "What's that?"

"I don't know." Weiss said, flipping down her night vision goggles. Velvet and Fox making their rounds down on the ground. As a Faunus, Velvet was most suited to patrols just before dawn, and since Fox was blind, the time of day he worked didn't rightly matter. "It seems to be Velvet and Fox returning from the ground patrol. By the looks of it, they seem unharmed."

"I really wish Coco would bring Jaune back soon." Pyrrha said then, gazing far out into the trees. "I don't like the idea that she's using him as bait to bring back more Grimm."

"It was Yang's idea, actually." Though that was likely less of a comfort for Pyrrha, it was the truth. "Yang won't let anything happen to him, and besides, he's a skilled hunter in his own right."

"That I don't deny." Pyrrha said with a soft smile. "He has gotten very powerful, and continues to grow stronger by the day. Honestly, I know that's why Yang suggested it. Jaune can withstand a great deal of damage, as can Yang, making them perfect targets for luring Grimm…" Her smile fell however, as she grew more serious and thoughtful. "I still feel as though the entire practice of capturing Grimm is revolting. Keeping them alive only to be slain later is a terrible practice."

"It isn't as if we have a choice."

"I'd like to think we do."

"Everyone needs to start somewhere." Weiss said with little more than honesty in her voice. "I was fifteen the first time I killed a Grimm. Well, if you could really call it that." Weiss said, not liking to recall the situation, but it was what made her a huntress. "When I first decided I wanted to be a huntress, my father captured a baby Ursa. Just a little cub really. No bigger than the size of a housecat. He forced me to kill it in cold blood."

"Really?" Pyrrha asked. "How did you fare?"

"Perfectly, it was a Grimm, after all." Weiss told her, blue eyes turning to Pyrrha thoughtful. It was only for a brief moment, both of them turning their gazes back to the forest. "Strangely, it was easier than I thought it would be. What was your first kill?"

"A juvenile nevermore. I was fourteen, attending Sanctum." Pyrrha replied in kind. "As a student, I never thought twice about how those Grimm were acquired."

"You weren't the only one." Weiss said. "I never thought to ask where Port happened to get all of his Grimm, but you're not the youngest I've heard of. Ruby was eleven for her first kill. Yang was thirteen."

"Ren and Nora were eight." Pyrrha sighed at that. "When I even think about that, I know you're right. I understand why it needs to be done. I only wish circumstances were different. That, at the very least, we weren't the ones trapping the Grimm."

"I tend to find that many noble practices are usually the most unsavory." Weiss told her. Perhaps it was her upbringing that lead to such a conclusion, but she was firm and steadfast in that particular belief. "When you really take the time to look, you are given the chance to see the dark realties."

"And you would consider being a huntress one such thing?"

"Being a huntress, that is a personal choice." Weiss said thoughtfully. "But choosing to teach huntsmen in general, man or woman, that's questionable isn't it?"

"I don't think so…"

"What about taking children, and teaching them combat. Raising them to join academies in order to slay a Grimm? Furthermore, doing that knowing just what kind of danger you plan to put them in…" It was yet another moral grey area to say the least. "I would say that's more unsavory than the capture of Grimm itself, wouldn't you?"

"We were those children once, you know. To me, it didn't seem as cruel as what you just described."

"But now that I've described it that way, it's hard not to scrutinize it. Correct?" Weiss gave her something of a look. "If you could go back and get a degree in something else, would you?"

For a while, Pyrrha silently wondered that. It wasn't the first time she considered such a question. However, when Weiss posed the question, it seemed all the more sinister.

"No, I don't believe so. The system maybe flawed, and yes, it is questionable. We are right to think critically about what can be done better….what should be. In spite of the flaws though, I do not regret it." Her answer was always the same. "There is nothing else I would rather be."

Weiss nodded. "Exactly."

With Nora as an all too willing babysitter, Ruby followed Blake to the youth center. The young boys and girls were running amok before Blake corralled them into child sized seats for attendance. They sat in chairs that formed a circle in the large room. Blake stood in the middle, teaching the hour long class about scent marking. She spoke about friendship, and marking other Faunus. The class took to the lesson eagerly at first.

Then, the lesson became more difficult. Near the end of the class, it was time to talk about scent marking humans. Holding up a few pages of stickers, Blake explained the test as the children fidgeted in their seats. Ruby stood beside her, a willing test subject.

The test was simple. All the children had to do was place a sticker on Ruby. They simply needed to choose the correct places humans could be marked for scent. The little boys and girls had covered Ruby's torso, cheeks, and forehead with the stickers. The young students showing just how little understanding for personal space they had.

The smallest boy had even placed his sticker on Ruby's butt. The bright red circle contrasting heavily with the black fabric of Ruby's skirt.

Blake found herself at a loss when none of them had chosen the correct answer. Her work was going to be cut out for her.

"None of these places can be marked." She finally said when the last child returned to his seat. "We can't mark people in these places."

"Why not?" A small boy with a wolf's tail pouted, thinking himself clever for choosing Ruby's forehead.

"For humans, those are private places on their bodies." Blake told him. "We don't like it when humans pull on our tails and ears, right? Well, humans don't like to be touched in private places. We're not allowed to put our scent in places they don't like."

"What's wrong with marking cheeks?" One of the students asked curiously.

"Most humans don't want you to get that close to them. Humans like their space." Blake pulled a sticker from the page. "As Faunus we can leave our scent behind with our hands." She took Ruby's palms, placing a sticker in each one. "When you shake hands with a human, you can mark them."

"But then they wash them!" A little girl complained. "It goes away."

"Yes, it does." Blake said, trying to hold in her exasperation. "It's good to wash our hands. It keeps them clean. It's important to be clean and tidy, and so everyone should wash their hands. If the scent goes away and you want to put it back, just ask to shake hands again."

"But if we keep doing it, it's weird!"

"What if they say no?"

"What if the human gets mad?"

The uproar was silenced with a firm glace, Blake's stance demanding the room to hush by unspoken command alone. She relaxed her ears from their pinned back state, aggression fizzing away into nothingness. A soft breath later and she could only remind herself that children took time to teach. "It doesn't matter who it is. Human or Faunus, if the person says not to touch them, you have to respect that." Blake told the curious youngsters. "Most humans won't be mad unless you force them."

"Humans always get mad." One of the little fox Faunus boys fired back.

"Maybe some do, but not everyone." Ruby told him, kneeling down to his level. "I'm a human, but I'm not mad."

The little boy flattened back his red fox ears, backing away from Ruby as far as he possibly could while sitting in his seat. Ruby sighed, standing up and backing away.

"You must always respect humans." Blake scolded gently. "If they don't want to shake hands, you have to accept that."

"Why don't they let us mark them where we want?" One of the older girls in the class asked then. "They can't even smell it anyway."

"You're right, they can't smell it like we can." Blake told him. "That's why so many humans don't like it. They don't understand us. That's why we should all have Faunus friends, too. We should make friends with all types of people, humans and Faunus."

"Not if humans hate us." The fox Faunus growled under his breath. Crossing his arms as his ear flicked unhappily.

Blake could only clear her throat and carry on with the lesson. She understood his troubles, even if Ruby couldn't fathom such a thing. "If you try your best, and you're always kind, you can make humans friends who will let you mark them more often."

The bell rang and the children fled for the door, causing Blake to deflate as the room emptied out into the hallways. Parents were waiting to gather their children, and Blake could only shake her head. "Sorry about that." She murmured, plucking a few overlapping sticker from Ruby's brow. "I thought they'd be further ahead in the lesson book."

"It's fine, really." Ruby told her, pulling the wayward sticker off of her butt before plucking the rest by the handful. "Although, I think I see what you mean, now." Pealing a sticker that had ended up resting on her shirt over her left breast she couldn't help but be curious. "Do Faunus really rub their scent all over people's boobs?"

"Most Faunus have strong scent glands in our cheeks, so yes, it's certainly more common than you might think." Blake told her, dumping the used stickers in the trash and placing Velvet's lesson plans back into the desk in the corner of the room. "For example, think about when Ace nuzzles against you. Scent will be passed when it happens. Children abandon torso marking entirely as they get old enough to know what that scent is actually meant for."

"Like what…?" Ruby trailed off quietly.

Blake blinked at the question, her gaze suddenly falling away to the side. "It's um… a sex thing."

"Oh." Ruby muttered dumbly before her eyes grew wide like dinner plates. "Ohhhhhh… Wait. Why?" As if realizing what came flying out of her mouth, a blush touched her cheeks as she shook her head. "Oh god, never mind don't answer that."

Blake couldn't help laughing at the newfound redness in Ruby's cheeks. Her own embarrassment nothing near the level of Ruby's own.