Shit was going on in life. Nothing else.

Also heads up, I was in a mood after watching sappy and gothic movies so this chapter is kinda... yeah.

"Hugh, I hate clean up duty." Natsu complained to himself as he walked back to his dorm after fixing the sparing center in Miss Goodwitch's classroom. "Doesn't Beacon have repair-bots or something?"

"Well maybe we were tired of being pushed around!" Natsu heard someone shout, a someone who revealed themselves to be none other than Blake as the Faunus darted out of her dorm and past the Dragon Slayer, panic rolling off her in waves.

"Blake wait!" Ruby cried out running after her teammate only to be stopped when her brother caught her arm.

"Ruby, what the hell is going on?" Natsu demanded his little sister.

"Blake and Weiss were fighting about how Weiss looks at Faunus a-and it got really out of hand then I-I think Blake just admitted she's a Faunus then she ran off!" The younger teen cried, looking on the verge of tears.

Natsu sighed, "Go back to your dorm Ruby, I'll go talk to Blake."

"But-"

"But nothing. This is why you should try to learn of your friend's and allies' baggage before it becomes an issue. None of you knew Blake was a Faunus- and she didn't want you to- now she's let her heritage slip while having a fight with her racist teammate that neither her partner or her leader tried to stop. She's scared and is feeling cornered, you going after her won't help. I knew she was a Faunus, and she knew that I knew, so with any luck me talking to her won't make her feel as trapped. Go back to the rest of your team Ruby, and make sure that when I bring Blake back this doesn't happen again. Okay?"

Looking down with her eyes still teary, Ruby nodded her head and went back to her dorm.

As soon as he heard the dorm's entrance close behind his sister Natsu let out a deep breath, "Now, where did she go?" He whispered, casting out his sensory net to find his friend.

Usually he would just use his dragon senses to track the girl down, but because of how much time Blake spent in this part of the school her sent was muddled with that of days past and was hard to pinpoint so he was forced to use his brother's sensory magic to find her.

'I just realized that I've never used Master Mavis' magic outside of training before… well that and my experiment with trying to recreate Larcade's 'Desire' magic… given the results of that I can understand why Gramps told us never to practice our magic drunk, but it all worked out in the end right? Right… There she is!' Natsu thought to himself before taking off in the direction he had sensed the amber eyed Faunus.

She had, fortunately, not left the school choosing instead to stand in front of the statue of founders her mind in turmoil. "Got to say, never did like the bow." Natsu called out to her as he walked out of the shadows to stand by her side.

"It was necessary." Blake said dully, her voice cocooned in sadness.

"It was a coward's way out." The wizard told her bluntly causing the Faunus' head to snap his way her eyes wide with shock and hurt. "You cannot hide what you are Blake, especially from your friends. I warned you it would only cause trouble in the end."

Now she was angry, "Well what about you?! You never told Yang, Ruby, or even your Father about Zeref! Or about what he did to you! And I doubt anyone knows about your master either!" She yelled at him.

With a sigh the Dragon Slayer met her gaze, "Zeref may be my brother, but he is not my father's son, and what Zeref did to me isn't something that should be shared, though I have long since overcome my inner demons. Both literal and figurative. You however have not and by running away from them, by hiding them away from those who you should be trusting with your very life, you are giving them power. Being a Faunus is not something to be ashamed of Blake, it in fact makes you physically superior to most humans. You should look at your bloodline with pride, not scorn. So why don't you?"

"Because of what I did!" She yelled, her head now bowed in self-hatred, "I was a part of the White Fang almost my entire life, I took part in every rally, boycott, gathering, everything! When our old leader stepped down and a new one took its place things didn't change right away, all of us could see what was happening, what the Fang was being turned into." By now the golden eyed girl was openly crying "He turned us into an army, a group of terrorist scum that proved everything anti-Faunus campaigns had preached in the past. And the worst part? I stayed. I followed my orders like a good little bitch and did everything I was asked. I killed people Natsu, and I didn't even care!" She sobbed, "How can I tell my team what I am? What I did? You're a literal demon of rage and fire, one who's very soul revolves around being able to harness your hate and anger into a weapon, someone who mortally wounded his brother and left him for dead, and yet the only monster here is me." She cried dropping to her knees, "How do you do it? How do you live with yourself? How do I live with myself after everything I've done?" She asked him- no begged him.

For a moment the dragon slayer said nothing and simply gazed sadly at the broken girl before him before with a sigh he began to speak, "I once met a man named Jellal Fernandes, when he was young his home was destroyed and he turned into a slave. For years he was tortured both mentally and physically before one day, he snapped. He ended up taking control of the compound he was a slave in and lead many raids on settlements outside the kingdoms' walls. Years later we met when he tried to kill a friend of mine named Erza Scarlet, and the two of us ended up fighting. By the time we finished the whole compound had been destroyed and he was left half buried under a pile of rocks." Complete and under bullshit, but close enough to the truth to get the point across. "To be honest I had thought I killed him that day, but then he came back with no memory of who he was or what had happened. It took me using my flames of memory on him just so he could see the highlights of his life until that point." Here Natsu turned back to Blake, looking her dead in the eyes, "I ended up leaving him with nothing more than memories of pain and death, yet he didn't regress into the monster he was before. Instead he cried. He cried for the innocent blood he had spilled, for the ideals he had betrayed, for his own tainted soul." He told her, "I don't know how many or what kind of people you killed in the past Blake, but trust me when I say Jellal did worse. For months he did nothing but sit in his new prison cell and cry. Then one day, he stopped. He broke out of his cell and disappeared for nearly a year before I heard of him again." This was also bullshit, Jellal never regained his memories and disappeared for way more than a year. "He had created a group of people who had wronged others in the past and, like him, sought redemption. They called themselves 'Crime Huntsman' and took down several gangs and bandit groups that went around the Grimmlands. He did this for nine months before he pledged his groups service to help me kill Zeref. He knew it would be his last mission, but he still agreed and lead his group against one of my brother's honor guard, a man named August. They were defeated within minutes without even scratching him, every one of them died by his hand."

"Does this story have a point?" Blake whispered, her head bowed once more.

"Every one of Crime Huntsman were among the worst Remnant has to offer, both Faunus and Human, yet they died heroes and without fear of judgment." Natsu told her, "They committed the most heinous of acts in life without care, acts that make murder seem tame in comparison, but like you they grew to feel regret for what they had done. They devoted the rest of their lives to protecting the very people they had wronged in the past and died in a war that few ever knew of, and even fewer survived." He continued, "They did everything they could to redeem themselves and in the end they died heroes. If people like them could do that, I have no doubt you can too." He said as he kneeled beside her, gently grabbing her face to make her look at him, "When you left the White Fang you didn't vanish from the world, you didn't seek some hole to spend the rest of your days in peace in. You came here, to Beacon, to become a huntress, someone that devotes their life to the protection of others. You asked me how you can live with yourself after everything you've done, well the best thing you can do is exactly what you're doing now, your seeking redemption Blake, and I have no doubt you will find it." He told her, bringing her head to his chest as she broke down again.

For almost an hour the two sat like that, holding each other as Blake cried her eyes dry. "Come on," Natsu said helping her to her feet, "I'll call my sisters to let them know you're alright, but I think you need some time off. I'll rent us some rooms down in Vale for the night, and tomorrow we can start getting you to come to terms with who you are."

Throughout all this, neither noticed the blond monkey Faunus in a nearby tree, watching the seen before him in sadness. He knew what it was like to have baggage from your past.

Maybe he should meet up with the two of them sometime the next day, offer the girl the ear of a fellow Faunus to unload on. After all, sometimes you need to talk to someone with a similar past to really move on.

Yes it is shorter than it should be, but I wrote this at like 2300 and just wanted to get something out.

In this chapter Blake had a breakdown after revealing some of her (NOT CANNON) past, Natsu delivered a story that he mixed with just enough BS that it could happen on Remnant, team RW(B)Y is in a hole, and Sun Wukong is set up to be given a tragic reason for leaving Vacuo. See how shit goes down next time on 'Reborn Dragon'.

Now there is a poll up on what I should focus on, the top two will have semi regular updates while the others will not. So go cast your votes.

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Wingd Knight out.