Chapter 10. That Which Connects All

(October 26, 2015)

It's been two weeks since the initiation. Nicandra, as if possessed, did her best in learning from Bruin and teaching him that her leader started to be a bit afraid of her. For the past week, their interaction was minimal and Bruin was communicating with her mainly via Scroll, much to Nicandra's discontent. Zelony was actually pondering whether to tell his team leader about the blue-haired girl's reason behind her act. Nicandra however asked him to not tell Bruin about it, saying it's "not important".

The past few days marked also a string of unusual "accidents" across the campus: Jaune was locked inside his own locker which was then sent outside the school area, a bucket of cold water fell on Bruin and he got cold, and Dove supposedly "missed" Velvet's ears by nearly a tenth of an inch during practice match to name a few.

"Cardin and his clique sure have a terrible definition of the word 'accident'."
"They're just a bunch of bullies with superiority complex, Rouge," Zelony commented. "Just because Faunus have some animal traits makes them less for the oh-so 'pure' humans."
"I wonder how such simpletons ever make it to Beacon. There is a difference between a combat and a Hunter academy and they certainly don't know it."
"Nic, what if they confused the word 'Hunter' for someone who 'hunts Faunus' instead of for someone who 'hunts Grimm'?" the dark pink-haired girl offered, while the other seemed to came to a realization:
"Hunter is someone who 'hunts monsters'. Those excuses for Hunters-in-training must confuse the terms 'monster' and 'Faunus'."
"Someone should really teach them a lesson." Then after a brief pause, Zelony turned to their team leader, "What's you opinion on the human-Faunus conflict, Bruin?"

The boy was suddenly torn from his Scroll by his partner's question.

"M-Me?" he asked surprised. "Well, why can't we just get along?"

Nicandra rolled her eyes in disbelief: their leader was some kind of being completely detached from reality. Zelony was looking at him with a serious face, Rouge smirking in his general direction.

"Life is not that easy. There will always be groups who think higher of themselves," the green-haired boy said. "Humans or Faunus, we're not that different as some think."
"Maybe we're envious of the things they have, like night vision and such? Humans are such mystery to me..."
"Yet you're one of them, aren't you Mister Leader?" Rouge asked playfully.
"Yeah, like you." A faint blush appeared on Bruin's cheeks.
"Bruin, Rouge, could you please get back on track? We're discussing a serious social issue, yet you're treating it like air," Nicandra's cold voice sliced the air.
"We have our similarities, we have our differences. We should learn to live together, really," their leader replied with a somewhat unlike of him pensive look.
"Bruin..." Zelony suddenly muttered under his nose. "How can you be so... so unsullied?"
"What's up, Zel?" the other boy asked his partner worriedly.
"You're so unbiased, you don't look down on others no matter who they are..."
"Um, Zel, you're kinda freaking me out," Rouge said. "Just spill it out, okay?"

Zelony suddenly left their room. Bruin, Nicandra, and even Rouge were surprised by their team mate's behavior. They didn't know him very long, just barely two weeks, but they could tell it wasn't anything normal of him to act so serious.

"What's with him?" Rouge wondered.
"You should go after him, Bruin."
"Acting like a team leader now?" the boy asked.
"I'm just giving you advice, nothing more. Do whatever you want with it." Nicandra looked away from him, not wishing to meet with his gaze.

Larimar was studying at the library along with a member of Team RWBY, Blake. Well, they were sitting at the same table, but were reading and doing homework mostly in silence, sharing only a few words when they were unsure of how they should fill gaps.

"You sure know a lot about history," Larimar suddenly commented. "It's hard to find a person our age to be such a history enthusiast."
"In a perfect world if people learned from history they wouldn't repeat the mistakes of the past. However, this world is no fairy tale, no one learns at the end," Blake darkly responded.
"I can already tell there's more to you than you reveal. Some history that you wouldn't like to be a part of." He then looked her straight into her eyes, "Am I right?"
"If you're so keen on learning something about me, you should share some of your history with me first."
"Yes, I suppose I should, however, I, too, prefer to keep my past to myself."
"Then let's forget about this talk and return to the task. And don't ask me about my life from before Beacon."
"All right. Now then, onto the topic of Menagerie."

The two spent the next half of hour talking about the island where humankind wanted to isolate Faunus from the rest of the world. During the whole conversation Blake was somewhat on edge, but Larimar decided not to comment on it.

With the help of his Scroll, Bruin tracked Zelony to Beacon Cliffs where the initiation took place not so long ago. The green-haired boy was lying on the edge of the cliff, legs dangling. Bruin slowly approached his partner, afraid of accidentally causing him to fall from his sudden appearance.

Suddenly Zelony turned and looked Bruin with sad eyes. It was a weird thing, seeing the green-haired boy being so down.

"Is... everything okay?" Bruin started cautiously.
"You are okay," he responded cryptically.
"Wh-What do you mean? What about others?"

Zelony sat up at the edge of the cliff, one knee curled up to his body.

"The others are bad, they're wrong, wrong about everything."
"Want to talk about it?" Bruin now sat next to his partner.
"As you can see I'm a human." His leader looked confused with his words. It was kind of weird to state such an obvious fact. "However, my mother was not."

"Was". Then it must mean she's gone. Bruin felt that she was very close to Zelony. He was curious about it, but wasn't sure if he should ask him about her. However after a moment he decided to take this dangerous step and inquire Zelony about his lost mother.

"'Was'?"
"She was killed, by one of family members from dad's side." Zelony's eyes started to get watery.
"I'm so sorry." Bruin pulled Zelony gently into a hug.
"Don't be. It wasn't your fault. It was his fault."

That moment Zelony burst into tears. Seeing his partner cry, made Bruin cry too. Soon enough, the two were in a comforting embrace. They spent some time there until nightfall came.

"We should get back," Bruin gently said. "The others must be worried."
"Thanks."
"What?"
"For being so kind," Zelony replied with a sad smile. "I met quite a few people who were accepting of Faunus, but you simply accept them without a question."
"Well, there are differences between humans and Faunus, I won't deny that, but really, I could never understand why they're hated so much by our kind," Bruin's cheeks were turning red a bit.

Zelony chuckled.

"You're really... something else." Bruin cocked his head to a side, confusion on his face. "Well, let's go back. Nic must be worried."
"If there's something you need to talk about, come to me with it, okay?"

The green-haired boy smiled at his team leader. Shortly after that the two went back to the dorms, Zelony joking about as if the situation from few minutes ago haven't taken place at all. Bruin was laughing, happy to see his partner upbeat once again.

Pearl was training with Thistle in the gym. The fox Faunus's wild claw assault was surprisingly well blocked by the purple-haired boy's shotstaff. Thistle shot several bullets from his weapon, few of them scratching his opponent. Pearl responded with a charge in, spin kick, and an upward punch launching her opponent into the air. The boy performed a front flip shooting a round at the girl which exploded in ice upon the contact with the floor. The Faunus tried to break out of the cold prison but without achieving the desired effect.

"So much fun!" Thistle exclaimed happily, although Pearl doesn't look as such.
"Damn it! You win this round," she sighed.
"Not only this round, but our whole mini-tourney as well!"
"Now release me from this. I'm getting cold."
"Oh, right."

With the single swing of his shotstaff, Thistle created a flame which melted the ice. Pearl shook her legs, few drops of water falling around her.

"That's enough training for today, although I'd prefer if Maize and Larimar would join us as well. Only two of us training together doesn't bode well our future, especially with the tournament coming up next semester."
"You want us to compete in it?"
"Who wouldn't want compete in it? I know it happens every two years, but this coming one happens here in Vale! Besides, think of all the perks the winner gets."
"What perks?"
"You become a recognizable figure, even if it's even for a moment. I would do so much with that popularity."
"I think what you're currently experiencing is... how do they call it? Selfishness, yes?"
"I wouldn't abuse it for my gain, oh no, I have just a plan to realize," after a brief silence she added, "provided that I win of course. It would help get my message to a whole lot of people."
"I don't really understand you, Pearl."
"There's no need, at the moment at least," she strangely smiled at him. "When the time comes, you'll know what bites me and what I hope to achieve."

They packed their things into their lockers and went to shower. Around an hour later they arrived at their dorm, only Maize being there. Larimar still kept to himself after his battle with Pearl; Thistle noticed he was spending a lot of time at the library studying with a girl with long black hair and a big black bow. Maize as he was, kept his distance from his partner, much to the girl's irritation. Despite her constant efforts to have him join her and Thistle in group activities proved to be a challenge. Pearl suspected that he had some sort of phobia about girls since he seemed to be just fine in a same-sex interactions. She often thought if other team leaders had such problems with their team mates.

"Another White Fang attack," Maize commented from over his Scroll.
"Figures." Pearl's voice cut through the room earning the blond's a slightly scared face. "Where is it now?"
"R-Right here in Vale."
"Don't you think those Faunus are kind of weird, robbing exclusively Vale?" Thistle wondered.
"Strangely enough it's another Dust shop. They took crystals and what-not, but left the money, not even a single Lien went missing," Maize informed them.
"Weird, wonder what they're up to. It's not like I'm a fan of them, they're making more harm than good, but there is something not right here." Pearl was strolling around the room, sank deep in thought. "With the amount of Dust they steal they could blow ou a city of at least the size of Vale. Or maybe it's for some kind of weapon? There are too many possibilities to consider if we want to know what they're about."
"Pearl, it's you who want to know what they're about," Maize said. "I don't really wanna be a part of some White Fang hunting."
"You want to leave White Fang to themselves? The authorities have barely any power!"
"I get that you're a Faunus and White Fang damages the already bad reputation about you but we are just students. We have no power."
"That's your excuse? That you're 'just a student'? Or are your human instincts saying to stay put and let things resolve on their own?" Pearl's voice started to seep with poison. "Faunus or human, it's a fight you can't simply back off from. Right now I see you as a coward and nothing more."

With these words the fox Faunus left the room. The silence lingered, neither of boys speaking, unsure of what to say. Finally, Thistle broke the quietness.

"She's angry, isn't she?"
"Oh, so you noticed," Maize remarked sarcastically. Thistle tilted his head slightly in confusion. "Sorry. It's just that she thinks she can change the world that ticks me off."
"Can't she?"
"I know from experience that you can't. What does she even hope to accomplish with knowing what the White Fang is up to? That she can stop all this hatred and killing and become some damn savior?"
"She seems to have a drive," Thistle commented.
"Yeah, 'highway to hell' drive thing."
"She's our leader."
"So?"
"Shouldn't we support her? It seems to be very important for her. Our group is already doing bad."

Maize couldn't listen to it anymore. Following Pearl's example he left the room. Now Thistle was all alone, confused as what to do. Was inner conflict the fate of their team? He didn't want his team to fight among themselves.

He then decided to take it upon himself to get the team together. However how he would achieve it, he didn't know.

After Bruin and Zelony returned, the team went to the cafeteria to east some supper. The green-haired boy was being more cheerful than usual, something that got Nicandra's attention. Rouge was sitting next to her partner who observed Zelony with great interest.

"You know it's rude to stare at others, Nic. Although I wouldn't mind getting some attention from you," the dark pink-haired girl winked at her.
"E-Excuse me?" Nicandra stuttered, her face turning slightly red.
"I also noticed that Zel changed after he came back with our leader and I can see you're curious," Rouge suddenly sounded very serious. "You want to know what happened, don't you?" Nicandra nodded. "Too bad. If they wanted for us to know, they'd tell us."
"What'cha talking about?" Bruin suddenly spoke to them. "Zelony was just sharing some crazy adventure he had last year."
"We were talking about, um..." Nicandra stammered. She didn't want it to be known they were discussing Zelony.
"...how nearly everyday you're eating toasts for supper," Rouge provided. "And with like three or so slices of tomato on it. Usually people use ketchup."
"Is something wrong with that?"
"You tend to surprise me all the time," Nicandra said. "I don't think you'll ever stop flabbergasting me."
"Is that... a compliment?" Bruin asked unsure.
"Well... yes."
"Zel, where did you stop your story? I wanna hear it! It will certainly be more fun than discussing our peculiarity of the leader with Nic," Rouge winked at her partner who looked away from her.

The rest of the meal was spent with Zelony relaying them his adventure in Mistral where he camped for a week during a heavy thunderstorm. The story proved to be so interesting that Nora of Team JNPR joined them, accompanied by her friend Ren. The boy tried go back to his team with the girl, but she was adamant about hearing the story. Team BRNZ didn't really mind them, maybe aside of Nicandra who was giving the orange-haired girl angry looks which she seemingly didn't notice.

The atmosphere at Team PLTM's table was chilly at best however. Maize and Larimar didn't share even a single word despite Thistle's best attempts to start a conversation. Pearl was still angry about her partner's passiveness and demonstrated it with loud growls directed at him, also irritating Larimar by chance.

The long conflict between humans and Faunus... Will it ever end?

Author's Notes

Let us celebrate the release of the first episode of the third Volume of RWBY, "Round One"!
That ending was a surprise: Team BRNZ, from Shade Academy if I got it right? Honestly, what are even the odds? I'm sure that others who also have an OC team called "BRNZ" were surprised as well.
I like Neath's take on Ren, maybe a bit too deep, but works. Mercury also got a change in voice actor, for a recognizable one at that, who in my opinion did a good job. And is it me or Emerald also got a new voice actress? She sounds so much cooler than before!

As you've no doubt noticed, human-Faunus conflicts are the focus of this chapter. Also if there is anything wrong with my writing about racial issues, please do say so! I'm not a Person of Color so I'm afraid that even with all the research I could do I can write it so it's accurate of how it actually is.

I think the next chapter will center more around Bruin, but I'll also probably include some Team AZRE and/or BLZE.

Edit (November 13, 2015)

I edited the chapter here and there, mainly the conversation between members of Team BRNZ about human-Faunus conflict since it felt to me it didn't have good build up, although I touched a bit of a argument between Pearl and Maize as well.