Cover art - Mike (Now he won't return my calls! He called me crazy! Me! Crazy! Can you believe it?)

Chapter 8 - Humanities Excommunication

Jaune scowled. It was not the same tree as last time, but it was still going to be a bitch to get down from it. From here on out, he was gonna start chaining himself to his bed every night before he went to sleep.

"Looks like someone had a bad dream," came a very familiar voice.

Jaune turned his head right. His trusty tree-companion Blake waved at him.

"Morning, Jaune," she said.

Jaune hung his head in despair. Deja Vu. "Morning, Blake."

"Aww, don't look so glum. Look what I've got this time." She held up Gambol Shroud. "This'll be much easier than last time. I'll get us down after we eat."

"What's on the menu today?" he sighed.

"We got lucky. I know for a fact that there are tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches in these trees. I dunno why I don't make those sandwiches for every tree. I don't think about these things when I'm making them."

It disturbed him how accepting he was of all of this. He simply had bigger things to worry about that being stuck in a tree.

That nightmare… that was more than just a bad dream. He had taken a brief glimpse into the future. A future where he was paraded around like a monster. A future where all his friends cast him aside.

A future that gradually seemed to be getting closer every day.

Gods, he was hungry.

He ravenously chewed into his sandwich when he retrieved it from its branch. The fishy goodness brought him some level of comfort. He knew it would. It was appealing to his faunus side after all…

"So, what did you think of them?" Blake said as she chewed.

Jaune looked at her. "Think of what?"

"The books you borrowed from my collection."

"How do you know about that?"

"Yang told me."

"She did what?" she groaned. "Gods, that was supposed to be a secret. I even sat through that dreadful movie marathon to get her to keep her mouth shut."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Have you ever known Yang to be tight-lipped about anything? She'd speak out loud her diary entries if she owned one."

Jaune grunted.

"You should've seen her when I came back," Blake said. "She wasn't happy with me. She accused me of somehow 'corrupting' you and swaying you over to my wicked ways. Her words, not mine."

A shudder passed through Jaune. There was some truth in those words, but not in the sense she meant.

"Don't worry, I'm not annoyed about it," Blake reassured him. "You chose some good ones. Lover's Full Moon is a classic. What made you choose it?"

Lover's Full Moon. That was the book he was reading last night.

"I guess it spoke to me," he said. "A story about someone struggling with his inner self, trying to fit into a society that would reject him if it found out the truth about him… yeah, I can relate to that."

"Same here," Blake said eagerly. "But by pushing himself away from other people, he makes himself more isolated than what society could ever make him."

"The whole story is a cry for help. A lonely soul with a troubled past forced into submission not just from others, but from himself too. He fears what others think of him, but cannot bear to face the truth himself. Isolation is both his solace and his prison."

Blake looked moved by his words. "You understand it so well, Jaune," she said.

The compliment felt bittersweet. "Like I said, I can relate."

Silence hung in the air.

"Hey, Blake?" he said. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"What's it like being a faunus?"

Blake let out a loud groan. "Oh my God, where to begin? Well for starters, we're constantly being oppressed by humans every day of our lives! The pay wage gap between humans and faunus is wider than Port's waistline, and don't even get me started on-!"

"No, no, that's not what I meant," Jaune quickly cut in, saving himself an earful of rambling. "Okay, lemme change the question- what does it feel like to be a faunus?"

"Feel?"

"Yeah, feel. Are there any specific feelings you get that you know only faunus experience? Do you ever wake up some days and think, 'yeah, this is definitely a faunus thing I'm feeling right now.'? You ever feel faunus-ey, Blake?"

Blake scratched her chin. "Hard to say. I've never known any other lifestyle. Sometimes I have trouble wearing hats- my ears keep knocking them off my head. But that's about it really. Why do you ask?"

Jaune leaned back against the tree. "I dunno," he admitted. "It's probably pointless to talk about it now. But I've been feeling faunus-ey lately. You've probably seen it already, given how weird I've been behaving lately."

"You've been acting weird?" Blake said, sounding surprised. "I hadn't noticed."

That didn't surprise him. The two were one and the same.

"That may be so," he said. "But come on, fighting over fish? Chasing red dots? Waking up in trees? You gotta know that isn't normal human behaviour."

"I'm not sure I'm the best judge on what is human behaviour. You'd be the authority on that, not me."

"I'm not so sure anymore…"

"What do you mean?"

Jaune closed his eyes. He appreciated the gentle rustle of the leaves as the wind blew against them. It helped ease his mind. If he could focus on that and not think about his progressing metamorphosis, perhaps he would find peace? That would be nice.

"I used to think my thoughts were my own, and that I was in control of my life," he said. "Now though, everything's blurred. There's something else in the driver's seat, not just in my head- but in my soul. A new presence has appeared. It's aggressive, it's dominant, it's… beastlike. A roaring spirit that's scratching its way to the surface. My body is its cage, and for the past few days, it's been clawing away one bar at a time. But the cage won't hold forever. It will be free."

He opened his eyes and looked at Blake. She was staring at him with an intense gaze.

"Blake, I'm changing," he said. "I don't know why I'm telling you this before my team, but this new presence is telling me I can trust you. These feelings - which I'm sure are faunus feelings - are controlling my every move. My every thought. I feel more connected to you than any fellow human. I can't bring this up with them and it makes me feel isolated."

"Jaune… are you saying what I think you're saying?" Blake whispered.

"There's no doubt in my mind. You've already seen the signs. You've been with me every step of the way so far. You understand why I've been doing the things that I do lately… and I understand why you do it too.

"You know what lurks in my soul. We are connected, don't you see? Bound by the genes that make us what we are. The transformation is already upon me, Blake. I don't know how long it'll be now, but my heart, my mind, my soul… it's that of a faunus. I'm becoming faunus, Blake."

He left out the part where this had all started when Blake bit him. He didn't want her to feel like she was the cause of all this. Even though she absolutely was. The jerk.

Blake silently swung herself over to his tree. She sat on his branch, inches away from him. Jaune had never seen her look so serious. She had always looked stoic, but this was something else. This was… double-serious.

"I understand completely what you're talking about," she said double-seriously.

"You do?"

"Of course. I just never thought it could be possible."

"Can't blame you for that. It is pretty far fetched. I thought my kind were only supposed to exist in legends- grrfd!"

Jaune nearly had his lungs crushed from the strength of Blake's sudden hug. Her surprisingly strong grip slowed the blood flow to his brain, preventing him from questioning why she was hugging him in the first place.

"I never thought I'd see the day!" Blake wept- wept? What was up with her? "This is exactly what I've been fighting for! All those years of terrorism have finally paid off!"

"B-Blake!" Jaune wheezed. "What are you talking about?"

"You don't have to be so humble. I should have seen it earlier. All those times you mirrored my behaviour… it all makes sense now!"

"Then you understand what's happening to me?" He wished he shared her joy over his curse.

Her eyes were tearful when she looked at him. "I do. You're trying to better understand what it's like to be a faunus!"

Jaune blinked. "Uh… what?"

"I've never met a human so open-minded as you. To walk a mile in our shoes and see the injustice our kind face first-hand… you're incredible, Jaune! If all humans were like you, Remnant would be paradise. Not even my own team is as understanding as you."

He tried prying himself free. Why did every girl at Beacon have to be so ridiculously strong? Even the slimmer ones had a grip like a vice. "Um, Blake, I think you got it all wrong," he struggled. "This isn't some kind of spiritual journey that I'm on-"

"No, no, of course not," Blake agreed. "This is a way of life. You've adopted our mindset and mannerisms to better understand us. You should've told me sooner. I would have supported you every step of the way!"

Blake finally released him, giving him a chance to catch his breath. He was too busy sucking in lungfuls of air to correct her.

"There's just one more step you've got to take," she said. "Just one more step to better understand what it's like to be a faunus. But first, let's get out of this stupid tree."

She slung him over her shoulder as she used Gambol Shroud to get them down. She let him down when they touched the ground.

"Get changed and meet me back here," she said. "There's something I want to show you."

"Blake, seriously, I don't think you understand what I'm saying," Jaune tried reasoning with her.

Her expression was that of pity. "I don't blame you for being suspicious. It must be hard for you to trust people, having gone through such a rigorous challenge by yourself. But I'm here for you. Now come on, don't dilly-dally. Your brothers and sisters await."

[/]

Blake had dragged him to a district in Vale where some kind of political rally was going on. Thousands of faunus marched through the streets carrying signs with angry messages about equality written on them. They stretched for miles, chanting at the top of their lungs. It was a loud and wild place to be.

Jaune would've been lost in the crowd if it hadn't been for Blake. "Is this one of those White Fang meetups I've heard about?" he asked her, trying to make himself heard over the crowd.

"Nah, this is different," Blake said. "Just because I'm no longer White Fang doesn't mean I don't get involved in protests anymore."

"Sure, sure. Just remind me why I need to be here again?"

"This is your final step to becoming one with your inner faunus, Jaune. By taking part in rally's like this, you'll hear the true voice of your brothers and sisters. You'll understand what it's truly like to be one of us."

Jaune didn't have the heart to tell her that she had this all wrong. She looked so passionate about this, he didn't want to crush her spirit. He decided to just roll with it. It wasn't like he was against equality anyway.

Blake handed him a sign. "Okay, here's what you gotta do now," she explained. "You gotta take that sign and you gotta raise it in the air."

"Like this?" Jaune raised the sign.

"No, no, no, more aggressive than that. Thrust it harder, like you're trying to pierce the heavens with your words of truth."

"So… like this?" He thrust the sign up like he was wielding Crocea Mors.

Blake pulled a so-so face. "You'll get the hang of it eventually."

He'd get the hang of holding a sign?

"Now then, when we march we move as one body and mind," Blake said. "We are unified in our goals to fight back against oppression. Just follow the crowd and you will become part of this body. You will feel the love and acceptance flowing into you. You ready to feel it, Jaune?"

"Sure, why not? Gimme all that good stuff."

"Great. Then let's go!"

They marched with the crowd through the streets of Vale. Jaune had no idea where they were going or how long this was going to take. He hoped there would be lunch and toilet breaks in between all this walking. He tried asking Blake, but she was too lost in her passionate chanting to notice him.

He looked at all the other protesters. He seemed to be the only human in the crowd- well, as human as he could be until his eventual transformation.

One of them caught his eye- a girl with deer antlers. "No need to hide your faunus traits here, friend," she said. "Everyone's welcome here."

"Actually, I don't have any," he said.

"You don't?"

"He's not faunus," Blake said, quickly appearing behind him. "He's a human here to support us."

The girl's eyes widened. "Are you serious? You're seriously a human, not a faunus?"

Jaune wasn't sure how to answer that. "I'm sort of in an in-between state, to be honest."

"That's right," Blake beamed proudly, patting him on the back. "He's learning how to adopt faunus mentality in order to become more open-minded."

"That's not what I mean-"

"That. Is. HOT!" the girl breathed. "The world needs more men like you." She quickly scribbled something down on a piece of paper and handed it to him. "Here's my number," she purred. "Lemme know if you ever want to get into an 'in-between' state with me in bed sometime."

That was all the motivation Jaune needed to get him to raise his sign proudly, and roar the words everyone was chanting with the same amount of passion too. This was the kind of love and acceptance he could get used to!

"What do we want?" One of the lead marchers shouted.

"Equality!" they all repeated.

"What don't we want?"

"Not equality!"

"When do we want it?"

"Now!"

"When don't we want it?"

"Tomorrow, next year, when we're stuck in traffic, or any other time when it's otherwise inconvenient!"

The powerful words echoed throughout the city, carrying a message that caught the ears of every passerby.

Eventually, the marching stopped in front of a large stage in the middle of Vale's park. Jaune thought a band would start playing there, but instead, a single man took the microphone in the centre of the stage. He was also a faunus, unless the large crocodile tail protruding from his back was just for show. Everyone in the crowd immediately stopped chanting the moment they saw him.

Blake patted Jaune's arm excitedly. "You'll like this," she whispered. "This is the best part."

Jaune waited for what the man had to say.

The speaker cleared his throat. "My brothers and sisters!" he boomed. "For too long, we have been oppressed by the man- the hu-man! The man asks us to hide what we are, to keep our mouths shut, to be a slave to the system! The man asks us to be ashamed of our heritage, so as to not shatter their precious bubble of reality- a reality that is built on the mistreatment and discrimination of faunus. The man does all this because they fear us! And as we all know, fear is born of ignorance. My brothers and sisters, we live in an ignorant society where those with power spit on those that they do not understand. Well, now's the time for the ignorant and stupid to open their eyes and see us for what we really are."

He spoke with a real fire-and-brimstone kind of tone. Jaune found himself engrossed in everything he was saying. It was impossible for him to turn his attention away.

"I look at you all, my brothers and sisters, and you know what I see? Only the bravest and strongest folk to ever walk this planet. I already know that most of you here face some kind of oppression every day from the man. They look down on you, treat y'all like animals. Maybe even ask you to hide your animal traits? They ask - nay, demand - you to conform to their rules, while at the same time making you a slave to them too! I know you know what I'm talking about. I can see that righteous fire in your eyes."

Jaune was stunned. Every word the man spoke was like lighting striking his every thought. Each jolt brought newfound clarity and understanding to his situation.

The man was right. For the last few days, Jaune had been judged by his friends and colleagues for his strange behaviour. They looked at him as if he were some kind of freak. The only person who seemed to understand him was Blake. His fellow faunus. His fellow sister…

In that moment, Jaune felt his faunus side howl inside him. The man's words lit newfound energy deep within his soul. He was so sick of it. Sick of trying to explain his behaviour. Sick of people who were too ignorant to understand what it was like to be him.

He felt stupid worrying about his transformation. He had let himself be fooled by the web of lies strung by the society he lived in. Cardin had tried to convince him he was cursed. How wrong he was. This wasn't a curse. It was a blessing.

He wasn't an anomaly, a monster, something to be locked away and silenced.

He was faunus! And he was proud of it, damn it!

"Well today, my brothers and sisters, I say let the man be scared. Show the man that you are not ashamed of what you are. Wear your heritage like a badge of honour. Show the world that you deserve to live in it, just like every other human. Do not allow anyone to tell you how to behave, how to dress, how to conform. In all of us runs the blood of beasts. Let it be your confidence. Let it give you the freedom to live your own life. And once you break down the cage that holds back your spirit - the cage that the man has forced you to build - my brothers and sisters… only then will you truly be free!"

The crowd erupted into thunderous applause. Everyone screamed praise for the speaker and his inspiring words. Even Blake was punching the air, cheering in appreciation.

For most of his life, Jaune had felt lost. He was always unsure of himself. Even his dream of becoming a huntsman was one he still questioned. Every choice he had made seemed daunting and confusing. There was never a moment in his life he didn't doubt himself.

But not this moment. At last he had acceptance. Direction.

Thousands of faunus voices cried out in joy that afternoon. If one listened closely, his could be heard joining in.