Note I began writing this fanfiction before season 3 so some things won't be as accurate. I will try to stay as close to the canon story as possible. Enjoy.

P.s. For best experience (in my opinion) listen to the Berserk Ost murder while reading.

"The point I'm making here is that you cannot give in to it; you cannot play into that fear. We are not the monsters. These people are the monsters, okay? We do not have to be afraid of the dark they live in"

- Burnie Burns

"The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but it is fear."

-Mahatma Gandhi

As the young faunas walked the streets of Vale, he felt somewhat... Out of place. His hood was up, covering most of his face and more importantly his eyes. This made the people he passed by oblivious to his faunas heritage. But he still felt like he was being watched, like he was in the scope of a rifle and the rifleman was intent on killing him, just waiting for the perfect moment to pull the trigger. He watched everyone he passed closely, expecting them to suddenly turn and attack him. He tensed up when ever someone new came into view, fearing that they were working for the non-existent rifleman.

He sprinted as fast as he could to get away from it all. But the feeling of terror stayed with him. Fear loomed over him ready to engulf him. Ready to cast him into a nightmare. Ready to kill him and tear him to shreds. The fear spread outward, changing the world he was in. O'ryan was no longer in the city but in a burning forest. The laughter of people enjoying themselves quickly turned into screams of pain and terror. The air smelled of burning flesh, blood, and smoke. The sun turned into a blood red moon as clouds darkened and surrounded it. The blue sky turned black. The faunas froze, unable to move or run from the rapidly spreading flames. His usually calm, balanced breathing had turned into rough, jagged attempts to grasp for air. Sweat made its way down his neck. All his hair stood on end. His eyes darted in every direction, scanning for any threat.

The sound of footsteps caught his ears and his body spun around to find a gunman on a horse there, with his rifle at the ready. Ready to kill the young faunas. The gunman's lips moved, but no human voice came out. Only a loud shriek that made the fox wince and cover his sensitive ears. Immediately a mob, consisting of demons, the dead, and enraged humans, began to pour out of the burning forest. The mob rushed past the gunman. The wall of hateful monsters was too thick, forcing the gunman back out of view. The horde, with inhuman speed, surrounded O'ryan leaving him no chance of escape. Three silhouettes came forward but remained hidden in the darkness. The demons looked back and forth between three silhouettes and O'ryan and slowly began chanting 'kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!' as their distorted and mangled figures clawed at each other in an attempt to get a better view of the carnage they so wished to see. The humans glared and cried out, demanding the young faunas's blood as payment for crimes he did not commit, while the dead merely stare with hateful eyes, waiting for the moment to strike.

The silhouettes stepped forward into the light. The flames revealed that they were his deceased friends Zeke, Logan, and Mathew. The sight of their broken bodies made tears swell up in O'ryan's eyes.

Zeke's face was bloody, bruised, and burned. His eyes were no longer glimmered with their old hopeful light blue color but were instead pale and hateful. Tears of blood streamed down his face, before dripping off his chin like raindrops. His once golden blonde hair was now dull and colorless save for the red blood that splashed over it. The scales on his tail were dried and falling off. His whole body shook as he stepped forward. The cuts on his arms and legs tore themselves open, as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"You left us!" His voice was rough and strained. So much so, that it didn't sound human. It was terrifying to the poor fox.

Logan shambled forward. His brown hair was dirty and unkempt. His chest, ripped open and constantly poured out thick, dark blood. His intestines barely holding themselves inside of his broken, rotten body. His pale skin was as white as snow making the bags under his eyes stand out. The monkey tail attached to his lower back was broken, bloody, and limp. His eyes showed pure rage and blood shot out of his mouth with every word he shouted.

"We died because of you!" The gurgled mess of a voice sent shivers down O'ryan's back and made the tears within his eyes finally jerk loose and fall to the ground.

Mathew stepped in between Zeke and Logan. His eyes, cold and unforgiving. One of the cat ears on his head was torn off. Blood poured slowly from the large gash, that ran from his forehead to his scalp. His black hair made its way into the wound, causing an voice, unlike the others, was clear and smooth. But this only made his shouts that more powerful.

"So it's only fitting that we kill you!" O'ryan's heart sank like a rock.

The fox began backing up slowly, with tears obscuring his vision. His voice was soft and distant. "I'm sorry." He turned and sprinted away from them.

O'ryan forced his way through the mob, that clawed and bit at him as he passed. His fallen friends walked the other way! Disappearing behind a wall of flames. Cuts appeared all over O'ryan's body with every step he took. The pain growing more and more intense with every breath. A small demon, that looked like a mangled child with bat wings, flew on to his shoulder and bit into his flesh. The demon arched backwards tearing a chunk of the faunas's shoulder off. O'ryan used his good arm to grab it by its neck and launched the damned child as far as he could. He brought his hand over the wound, blood flowed down his arm and dropped off his fingers like rain. The smell of iron flooded his nostrils and made him nauseous. He fell to his knees and a dark brown and green fluid burst from his mouth and onto the ground before him. The fox brought his gaze up, only to be met with a fist from one of the bloodthirsty humans.

The punch threw O'ryan a few of the living dead. The faunas jumped to his feet and sprinted away. He ran for what felt like forever before he came across a massive wall made entirely out of stench caused the faunas to gag repeatedly, but nothing came up. Forcing himself, the fox pushed his way through the thick wall of bodies, finally breaking through the wall of hate.

But he didn't stop, he couldn't. His legs burned and ache but he refuse to stop. A loud shriek made its way into his ears once more. He looked back, a decision he regretted immediately. What he saw made him freeze.

The creatures were trampling over each other in their blood fueled rage to kill the fox. At the front was a wolf with blood red eyes and pitch black fur. The new comer was covered in scars from head to toe. On its back the scars formed the shape of a cross that matched perfectly to O'ryan's necklace. It's hateful gaze burned its way to the fox's heart. When it had reach the heart it proceeded to stab it repeatedly with barbed ritual dagger. O'ryan's knees grew weak and he collapsed to the ground. The faunas stared right into the eyes of the wolf. The black beast lifted his paw, stretching the scars that cover it, and slammed it to the ground. A wave of purple and black aura shot out like a shockwave in every direction. It brushed though the wolf's fur and passed through the horde, freezing all the creatures in place.

"Who are you?"

"I… I am your strength when you are weak. I am your shield when you are scared. I am your sword when you fight. I am your hate….. I am your heart when you feel alone. I am your tears when you feel hated. I am your mind when you feel useless. I am your sadness….. I.. I am Serapis." It mouth moved but was not synced with his voice. Blood shot out as it opened and closed. It's voice was rough and aggressive.

"What do you want from me?" Tears swelled up in his eyes once more in fear that the new comer wished for his death like the rest of the world.

"For now all you must know is that I exist within you." The wolf vanished and the horde moved once more.

The faunas ran. His legs burning with each step once more. He didn't get far. A tree collapsed cutting him off. A small knife flew past his head embedding itself into the burning log with a thunk.

He turned to see childhood friends each armed with a katana. Standing in between the mob and him.

"Running won't save you. No praying will grant you forgiveness for your sins. Your only salvation is death!"

The three corpses moved in. The air became hot and dry as O'ryan tried to think of a way to end all this. But the faunas couldn't think straight, he was too scared. The corpses walked behind him. His once close friends raised their weapons, readying themselves to end O'ryan's life. Their swords came down with lightening speed, slicing through his back. The fox's heart was trying to breakout of his chest as though it was trying to run away from the wound. His lungs were refusing to take in air. The three turned and walked away, before giving the mob permission to finish him off. Within a second the mob was all over him.

The mob was screaming and shouting at him as they tore him apart. The faunas struggled as much as he could to fight them off, but they were too powerful and overwhelmed him. The shrieks and screams of the dead mixed with the roars and growls of the demons. They were all jumbled into one, but he was able to make out some messages and with each message his will grew weaker.

"You should have died with them!" "You don't deserve to live!" "People like you will never be loved!" "The world has no place for deserters!" "Your death will bring joy to the world!"

That last one didn't sound that bad to the faunas. If his death could bring happiness, then who was he to deny it from others. He began to accept his fate, only wishing that his death would bring joy to others. But before the creatures could kill him the gunman returned.

The gunman barked out to the mob, in a demonic tone. "Don't touch him!" and ran towards him. The mob complied and opened a path for the man. O'ryan tried to run but his legs wouldn't move. The gunman grab his shoulder and shook him, but it was not rough it was...gentle? With the shake the world returned to its former self. The flames were extinguished. The trees turned back into large buildings. The sword wounds on his back vanished. The demons and the dead were no longer there. The humans no longer glared hatefully but looked curious or concerned. The gunman was gone and in his place was a girl he had never seen before.

The one who grabbed him was a faunas girl about the same height has himself. That is if you didn't count her large rabbit ears. She had long brown hair that ran down to her waist and her eyes showed genuine worry for his health.

"Are you okay?" She asked. Her voice was calm and soothing.

O'ryan merely stared, letting her see his eyes. The girl extended her arm forward and introduced herself as Velvet. The fox hesitated but took her hand.

"You know when someone says their name, you're supposed to say yours, right?"

"..."

"What scared you?"

"The world."

"Yeah the world can seem pretty scary because of the grimm."

"I'm not afraid of this world because of the grimm. I'm afraid of it because of humans and faunas."

"Come with me." Dragging the fox behind her she ran away from the crowd.