Her hair was cut, and afterwards, a rope was tied around her neck.
The Faunus woman, whose black horns sprouted from either side of her head, stood still as the guards patted her down. Usually an SDC guard would bind a Faunus's arms behind their back to prevent struggling, but…
she only had one.
Her expression was blank, and her eyes dim. Her short, red hair flowed gently in the night breeze. Every other slave in the mining field was asleep, oblivious to what was occurring.
Finally, they stopped. One, a tall woman in a heavy suit, stared her dead in the eye. She took out a slip of paper from a pocket on her chest and unfolded it slowly.
"Slave #23,736,021. Is that your designation?"
The Faunus never once blinked. "Yes."
"Rose Taurus. Is that your other name?"
"Yes."
The guard paused, wadding up the slip of paper and putting it back in her pocket. The Faunus narrowed her eyes as she felt the two other guards tighten the rope. It was attached to one of the electric light poles, near the wire fence that outlined the dust mines for hundreds of miles.
The guard, with a sigh, resumed, "…and you understand why you are to be disposed of tonight?"
"For wanting freedom."
"Do not lie in your final moments, Faunus, what is it you are here for? " The woman snapped, leaning her face close till their noses were almost touching.
The Faunus's eyes were unfocused, and her hand clenched into a fist. "…For attempting to escape the mines."
" Repeatedly attempting to escape," the guard corrected, circling around the Faunus woman with a leering eye. "somehow, not even losing that arm could stop your idiocy."
Once the guard was behind her, the Faunus heard a click. "Do you have anything else to say? Any last words?"
Rose Taurus was silent. Dead silent.
The guard turned to the other two standing by, giving them a quick signal through her hands. "Pull."
The Faunus felt her feet leave the ground, and slowly, she began to choke. She thrashed, lightly; there was little strength to be found in her as she was suspended three feet in the air, hanging by the noose.
But her thoughts ran like wildfire.
Great Fire, save me.
Great fire, free me.
Free my people, Great Fire.
Free these people who sleep tonight.
Free them from the shackles of cruelty.
Free them from the touch of humanity.
Free them from the hunger and the labor and the anguish.
Great Fire, send a messenger.
Send a messenger who shall free them all.
Send a messenger to save the Faunus.
Send a messenger to protect my son.
Oh, Great Fire, protect my son.
Please, Great Fire, protect my son.
Protect A
There was a crack.
A sickening
sickening crack.
And then…
"kkkkkkkkkhhhhhhhhhhhhh…hhhhhhhh…..eeea—aa—aaahhhhhhhhkkkkkkkhhhhhh….."
The rattle of a final breath, as the Faunus's head slumped to her right shoulder.
Her body hung limp from that rope, from that light pole.
Three feet above the ground.
Two feet from freedom. From that beautiful land that stretched far beyond outside those fences.
All three guards silently walked off, likely to the comfort of the mine's facility building.
Meanwhile, Faunus began to awake. All slaves, all smaller and thinner than they should have been, in rags and with barely the strength to stand.
But with that strength, they began to form a crowd, and at the sight of the body, each one slowly froze.
Their eyes were wide, many in shocked, confused and saddened expressions.
But each Faunus held a semblance, a single semblance, of the same, shared emotion.
A feeling stuck in the back of each one's throats that nagged and thrashed, dug like a worm into their brains and hollowed the mind to make itself home.
A terrible realization that…
But then, footsteps.
Small,
light
footsteps.
And a look of dread fell upon every Faunus in the crowd as a small, bony young boy with red hair, black horns, and bright, blue eyes passed between them, approaching the hanging body.
The little boy looked up at it, his eyes wide and shimmering.
Her lips were just barely parted, and her red hair, cut at her jawline, blew in the cold breeze of night.
And her eyes were just open enough to see that they were just as blue as his were.
The crowd of slaves watched on helplessly as the young Faunus took hold of both his mother's ankles in his tiny, skinny hands. Her ankles had been bound with a thin, metallic and sharp wire, meant to ensure that she wouldn't escape during the execution.
The boy looked up at her with those bright, blue and hopeful eyes, and whispered…
"G-goodnight, mama! I'll see you in the morning…I love you!"
And with a small squeak, he looked at his mother's lifeless face one last time before getting on his knees, laying on his side, and curling up into a tiny ball, just below where her feet still dangled.
It seemed then that the little Faunus instantly fell asleep. The crowd stared at the boy, not one uttering a single sound. Slowly in the night, they left one by one, back to where they'd been sleeping on the grounds of the dust mine field.
But they still shared a single thought, one single thought that screamed in their minds, screamed for a cruel, unloving world to hear.
Great Fire, send a messenger.
…and Great Fire, save us all.
Ten years later.
Even as the SDC mining field remained stationary in its size, the population of Faunus slaves who would be born, live, and die on their grounds had tripled.
Faunus, shoulder to shoulder, worked countless hours in cramped, noxious and dark tunnels, mining some of the most dangerous material living kind had ever known.
Throughout the entirety of the area, bodies of Faunus who'd starved, frozen, or been beaten to death lay to rot, and disease festered among the people. Not a single slave was untouched by filthy, staining dirt and grime.
The stench of sweat, vomit and blood emanated from each and every tunnel. The slaves were marred with bruises, scars and welts, and not a single one wore the proper clothes needed for such a job.
By now, all those who once knew the outside world, who made parting acquaintances with the concept of freedom itself, had died out. All that remained were Faunus who knew nothing else than to mine and die afterwards.
The dozens of miles the mines stretched were surrounded by tall, wire fences that were sharp to the touch. And at one of the fence's corners, two Faunus, a young girl with lamb ears and a little boy with the eyes of a bug, were looking out to the other side of the fence.
There were human men there, human mine workers. They were suits, gloves and boots, and had coverings for their mouths. While the little boy was expressionless, the young girl was enamored.
"Ooh, look at those guys!" The girl whispered, "Can you see?"
"I can see! I'm not that short…"
"Didn't say you were! But look!" She pointed her finger at one of the men outside. "His suit! I wish I had a suit like that guy has on…"
"It's probably really tight. Are you sure you'd want that?" The bug-eyed boy asked quietly, tilting his head.
"Yeah! I think it'd look good on me." She teased cheerily, before turning over her shoulder and looking at something else, "…wouldn't you like a uniform like that, too?"
Sitting on the dirt ground against a wall of fencing was a weak, skeletal young man, with black horns protruding from the sides of his head. In comparison to other bull Faunus in the camp, they hadn't grown much at all, likely due to starvation. His right eye was covered in hardened dirt and grime, and his left eye… covered by the grotesque, large property brand that caused that entire side of his face to scar. Even a decade later, the wound remained blood red.
His lips were slightly parted, and his arms were limp at his sides. His long, red hair brushed against his waist. His body was bruised, scarred, abused and degraded in all the cruelest ways visible. He looked less Faunus, and more like a corpse.
He was only 15.
"…Hey," the lamb girl spoke again, coming to the black horned boy's side. She gently prodded his side, and he winced slightly. "did you… hear what I said? W-Wouldn't you like a uniform like those guys over there do?"
The bug-eyed boy came over as well, squatting down at the black horned boy's other side. A concerned frown came to his face.
They couldn't tell if he was even awake. But a small sound came from his lips, a 'kkkkkkkkkkkkkkhhhhhhhhhhh….'
that was just barely audible.
The girl sighed sadly, but then, she forced a smile back onto her face. "Here. I bet you're really sad just staring at the ground like that," she gently lifted the black-horned boy's chin so he was looking up at the sky, "there we go. At least look up at something happy!"
The older Faunus only managed a weak moan. Others once told him that his eyes were as bright as the very sky he watched above— how, they were as dull as a poisoned ocean.
Suddenly, a bell rang. A new shift was beginning.
"Oh, that's us!" She cried, grabbing the bug-eyed boy's wrist as she stood back up. "We'll see you later! Hang in there!"
The two children ran off, leaving the young man to watch silently as the clouds ever so slowly passed by… "watch." He couldn't see a thing.
Maybe somewhere in his mind he could still think. Have the strength to think, and the strength to realize he was likely reaching the end of his life.
He'd been like this for weeks. Too weak to preform his work. Too week to head into the mines, too weak to even stand or move at all from this position.
And a useless Faunus wasn't one deserving of life at all.
Perhaps, too, he prayed he would just die there. Die before any human would put their hands on him again, for any reason. Die before he could die like his mother did, hung and left in the cold to rot. Die looking up, looking up to the very thing he once held so dear to him.
Watching the dream he would never attain.
But unbeknownst to them all,
someone else was watching them, too.
"…Alright." Sienna Khan lowerred the binoculars from her eyes and dropped them on the ground of the cliff. She turned back to the five other soldiers she had with her, each one wearing the same specific uniform garb of blacks and greys. Her hair had been cut short, and she wore a gray sleeveless top with white trimming and an open back, which exposed the dark-brown stripes that went along her exposed arms and the edges of her cheeks and forehead. A grin flashed across her face. " I'd say we're golden."
"Golden?" One of the soldiers, a young lady with bunny ears, stepped over to her. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Sienna glared at the Faunus like she was a ghost, before bursting into a fit of chuckles. "You've never heard that phrase before? Here, I'll say it differently : we're good."
"No, no, I-I've heard it before, but…" the girl sighed and, crossing her arms, asked a bit quieter, "What are we golden for?"
"Golden for breaking that dust mine over there wide open," Sienna declared proudly, adjusting the gray vambraces on either of her arms.
"But Ghira's orders—"
"Enough about 'Ghira's orders' already!" groaned Sienna, turning back in the direction of the dust mine, far off in the distance. "I still can't wrap my head around how you can follow me and still stand to believe a word he says."
The bunny-eared girl seemed to pause at that, and she stepped back with the other five soldiers.
Sienna looked over her shoulder back at them and smirked. Opening the small pouch attached at her side, she began slowly pulling out a heavily wadded up, green cloak, topped with a hood.
"Eugh, it's wrinkly…" she muttered, sighing exasperatedly as she began pulling it over her shoulders, fastening it together with a golden button at its neck. "there we go! Surprised this could fit in there…"
"What are we doing next, Sienna?"
"Ooh, finally, someone else on board!" She cried, putting her hands on her hips. "Alright. Once we get off this cliff and are a close-ish enough distance to the mine pit, you're all going to split off from me." Sienna stepped closer to the group and looked at them as she pointed towards the back half of the mine pit. "You all go here— " she then pointed to the front of the pit, where a large, black gate was situated as its entrance, along with a small street with other buildings leading to it, "—and I go there ."
All five of the White Fang soldiers nodded silently.
Sienna clapped her hands together. "And then , once I've done my thing, and you hear that the front entrance gates are open, you all go in. And each of your jobs is to make sure every Faunus gets out, and no Faunus stays in. And… that other thing we discussed. Taking out the human threats is my job. Got that?"
"Got it."
"Got it!"
"Got it…"
"Got it."
"So you'll be alone up there?" One of them, a tall, muscular brute wearing a plain white mask over his face, asked.
Sienna stared at him, long and hard, before gently lifting up the left side of her cloak. Attached to her other hip was a balled up chain whip, one which ended in three sharp blades.
She pat it once with her hand. " She'll keep me nice and protected," she whispered happily, before straightening herself out and flipping the hood over her head, "…It is time we let the world know what the White Fang is capable of. "
As they scaled down the cliff of the mountain, all six of the Faunus were dead silent. However, Sienna was grinning. A small grin, but nonetheless grinning.
She was the only one whose expression lacked any sort of unease or worry. Sienna was confident, always confident, with that confidence sometimes turning to outright arrogance.
Ten years ago she'd joined the White Fang, the only thing in all of Remnant fighting against the oppression of the Faunus people. She'd acquired a popular reputation among others in her rank, as she was one of the only ones to argue against the White Fang's set methods: peaceful methods against humanity.
In her own words, Sienna saw through "its lies". She saw how their efforts made barely a scratch on the larger picture, and that if all they ever did was hold up signs and stand perfectly still, they'd make more of an impact as target practice than activists.
She knew first hand that peace could never be achieved between humanity and the Faunus without something to trigger it. Just a little push… she felt would be enough.
And if she had to be the one to make that domino fall, she would be. She would gladly be the culprit.
But what many others knew was that, aside from the cause… Sienna held nothing else to her. She scarcely spoke with anyone, and every moment she wasn't being informed or out actively serving the White Fang, she was in her room, or more likely in the training grounds of their camp on Menagerie.
Sienna had no one left but her own ambitions. But to her, her goals were all she needed.
Once their feet left the rocks and stood to walk on dying grass and melting snow, Sienna Khan stopped in her tracks. She held her arm at her side bent at the elbow, her hand forming a fist.
With her other arm, she pointed in the distance, the far side of the mining field.
Slowly, all five of her accompanying soldiers began to walk that direction, after one quickly asked,
"How will we know you've made it?"
"You'll know it when we get there."
And after watching them slowly walk along the grass, Sienna began to head her own way, to the front of the SDC facility.
The sky grew pale and cloudy. Two guards outside of the facility were standing next to the fence, talking with each other. The wore armor typical to that of an Atlesian Guard.
"Did you hear what happened in one of the Atlas mines?" One of the guards asked, crossing his arms and staring at the other.
The second one shook his head. "Run out of dust?"
"No! There was some huge explosion, and a lot of the workers there were killed…"
"Oh. It was a Faunus mine?"
"Yep."
"Guess they weren't too bright," the second guard replied indifferently, shaking his head, "Explosions like that don't happen unless someone's real stupid. And Faunus…"
"But listen! What's interesting is that," the first guard interrupted, moving from his position to stand in front of the second guard, "It was also on the news that some… rich guy's daughter got her teeth punched out by one of her classmates after the story broke out, and since then that classmate hasn't been found."
"When was this?"
"Two weeks ago, I think."
"Damn!" The second guard grunted, scratching his jaw. "They're really trying to cover it up, huh?"
"You know our bosses. Can't let anything soil the glorious reputation of…"
"…What the hell is that?"
The second guard's voice was monotone, but he pointed a finger over the first guard's shoulder. They both turned around, and from all the way across the line of processing buildings…
a tall, formless figure, shrouded in a blowing, hooded cloak, slowly strode down the street. It cast a stark shadow across the buildings, and with each step it took, the faint sound of metal jingling could be heard.
"…Is it a worker?" The first guard whispered, looking back at the other man, who shook his head.
"If it was, they wouldn't be wearing that. And what are they…?"
As the figure grew closer, they began to see its form more clearly. Specifically, it was dragging a metal chain along the ground, one which ended in 3 triangular blades and was at least 20 feet long.
Both of them grabbed the guns that were leaning against the fence.
"Were we informed we'd get visitors today…?"
"No, look at its hood! That's a Faunus!" The second guard cried, running forward, "MEN!"
Instantly, around eight other guards ran over to and surrounded the cloaked figure, who stopped in their tracks. Each one aimed their guns and stood their ground.
"Put your weapon down."
The figure stood still, keeping their head low.
"I said, Drop—"
She slowly brought down her hood.
"—Your—"
She dropped the chain, letting it fall to the ground.
"—Weapon."
Silence.
For a good 20 seconds, not a soul moved. Her cloak blew gently in the light breeze, and she closed her eyes with an inaudible sigh.
Then, she reached for her side and—
A gunshot. The moment she heard the sound, Sienna Khan bent back and ducked low to the street ground. The bullet flew through the air before going straight through the helmet of a guard standing in the way.
"Shit!" Another guard yelled, as Sienna grabbed her whip, threw aside her cloak, and swung the whip over her shoulder in a single swift motion.
She leapt into the air and brought the three blades of the whip's end down onto one guard's shoulder, piercing first through the armor, then the cloth below, and lastly, the skin. The guard screamed as Sienna landed behind him and swiftly wrapped the chain around his wrist, to which she swung it in the direction of two standing guards and slammed the man into both of them.
While it was still in air she whipped the chain around the neck of the guard behind her, whom she got behind and began to suffocate. A different guard aimed their gun at them and began firing, but instead of the rounds hitting Sienna, she used the guard in her grasp as a meat shield to take each and every bullet fired.
At the sound of blood splattering and an aura breaking, her strength invigorated. Sienna slammed the guard to the ground with the chain still around his neck, the momentum alone slicing the man's head clean off his neck. Sienna took his head and cartwheeled through the air, slamming the front of the helmet down onto the helmet of another's.
She brought the whip back up behind her and swung it forward, just as another guard prepared to fire at her. Just as a bullet came hurling towards her the first of the three blades on her whip split from the rest. The bullet split the blade in two with just enough time for Sienna to duck into a crouch and let the bullet pierce the chest of another human guard.
"Oh! Guess I'll just get that fixed afterwards," Sienna grumbled, as she grabbed the broken halves of the blade with the cloak she'd dropped and stood up. To her surprise, the guard who'd just fired at her had now dropped his weapon and was crawling away from her, backing into the fence and crying out.
Sienna smirked. She approached the guard with her hand twirling the chain in a circle, the other hand holding the folded cloak. The guard cowered away, shaking his head vigorously.
"N-No! Please, I-I'll do anything…! Don't hurt me! Please, don't hurt me…!" The guard begged, sounding almost like a sniveling child.
"You'll do anything? How cute of you," Sienna drawled, putting her boot on the guard's knee. The man whimpered. "Often it's your kind ordering us around."
"Wh-What…?"
Sienna kicked her foot down and looked across the field. In the distance, she could see her group was ready.
She looked back at the man and put her hand on her hip. "Run. Run away as fast as you can and go tell the world; tell the world that the Faunus of the White Fang are done playing nice ."
The guard slowly stood up, trembling. He took a step forward, keeping his eyes on Sienna's indifferent gaze.
"You can grab your gun back, if you want."
The guard bolted off, screaming. Sienna burst into laughter.
"Easier done then said…" she muttered, looking down at the two halves of her chain whip's blade. She sighed indignantly. "…and Now, the difficult finale."
She looked up at the facility gate. It was at least a towering 50 feet tall, thick, and black, with its equally towering doors sealed shut.
As she threw her cloak back on, Sienna let out a sigh. She had one shot.
One.
Shot.
She dug through the pouch at her side and pulled out a suction bomb. It was small, and the moment she threw it to the side of one gate it attached itself to the wall. She threw six separate bombs on one side of the gate, and six more on the other.
Then, she ran towards the gate and noticed a particular button. She pressed it, and out popped a microphone.
"Oh! That's perfect," she muttered, grabbing the microphone and screaming into it, "EVERY SINGLE FAUNUS IN THERE, LISTEN TO ME!"
She heard her voice echo throughout the pit. She was speaking through each speaker in the mining facility, even those situated in the mines themselves.
Sienna took a deep breath and continued. "IF YOU ARE NEAR THE FRONT GATE, GET AWAY FROM IT. IF YOU ARE INSIDE A MINING SHAFT, GET OUT OF THERE. IF YOU ARE INSIDE OF A TUNNEL, GET OUT OF THERE! THE MOMENT THIS GATE BLOWS, ALL OF YOU WILL RUN. RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN GO AND DON'T STOP RUNNING. GATHER YOUR LOVED ONES AND RUN FOR CIVILIZATION. RUN FOR FREEDOM, AND THE WHITE FANG WILL PROTECT YOU!"
As she spoke, she heard gasps from within the field, and she saw dozens of Faunus slaves running away from the front gate, as well as hundreds more rushing out of the mines as fast as their skinny legs could take them.
Sienna Khan took a deep breath. Though her adrenaline told her otherwise, she was trembling. Horribly.
She dropped the microphone and began to run away from the gate, far away, grabbing a long, thin detonator from her pouch. She slowed to a halt a good 40 feet away, and after waiting for a good twenty seconds…
she closed her eyes, and Sienna triggered the beginning.
Twelve explosions were set off on the front gates, each one increasing the power of the others. A harrowing bang shot out across the land, and through the smoke that followed afterwards, she began seeing Faunus running out, yelling and hollering on their way.
A confident smile grew across Sienna's face. It worked. The gate was busted clean open.
She ran through the crowd and the smoke, finding herself inside of the SDC mining field. It truly was a nightmare. Faunus in rags, barely more than skin and bones, working in a seemingly endless field of rock, tunnels, dirt and…
As Sienna's eyes wandered around, she froze dead still.
All the Faunus slaves were running for escape, except for one. One who couldn't run at all if he wanted to.
Sitting against an electric box maybe fifteen feet away, a starving young man, one with long, red hair, and small, black horns.
Horns.
The boy had… horns. Small, horns.
Small, black, horns.
Sienna's eyes went wide. Her lips parted as she shakily approached the young man, pulling off her cloak.
He didn't seem to register that she was there at all, or that she'd blown the door to his freedom wide open.
His hair was red. Long and red.
Red.
In him, she saw red.
In
him,
she
saw
red
Horns. He had horns. Small, black horns.
This boy had horns. Bull's horns.
Horns of a bull. In him, she saw red.
Sienna wrapped him in the cloak and gently scooped him up into her arms. She held him with just one arm, using the other to instead lightly brush his dirty hair from his eyes.
His face— no, his entire body was skeletal and bruised, and the rags he wore hung off like thin drapes. His lips were in a small O, and his stick-like arms hung limply at his sides. He had no strength left inside of him.
One of his eyes was covered entirely by hardened dirt. And the other…
Sienna froze. The young man's other eye was blind. The sclera was a dark, blood red, and his Iris had decayed into a light lavender.
But on this eye, stretching clean across the side of the face that was visible to her, was a property brand. A brand that was a stark crimson, as if it had only been burnt into him yesterday. A brand marked with a single acronym: S. D. C.
Sienna's eyes widened even further. The light in them has completely vanished, as did the arrogant smile and the confidence she'd ran in with had. Instead, all of it was replaced… by a rage unknown to all life, a pure, festering, hellish wrath only known to her.
Sienna saw everything in the eye. The scar, and the brand. She saw every night of trauma. Every second of abuse. Every moment of darkness and cruelty and agony. Every tear shed. Every cry stifled. Every single second that pain was ever brought to this boy.
But deep down she knew. She only knew half the story.
Sienna's ears folded down in her madness as she grit her teeth tightly. Her hands trembled, and an expression of horrific, indescribable fury slowly filtered over her face.
She could hear an entire army of Atlesian guards running onto the fields, and she heard some of them surround her completely.
She heard one scream at her. She heard not what they spoke. She slowly reached a trembling hand for the boy's hollow cheek, her whole body now trembling with ire.
A boy with horns, damaged by the world.
Sienna's fingers began to bend like claws, and a single tear rolled down her cheek, onto the boy's chest.
A boy with horns, she knew all too well.
"Wh-who would do this…?" Sienna breathed, shaking her head angrily as tears started to pool down her cheeks in thin rivulets.
Red. In him, she saw red.
"…to a child…?"
Two souls,
bound by rage.
"TO A LITTLE BOY!?"
Sienna Khan swung the Cerberus Whip through ten of the guards and cleanly sliced through each. As the circle of humans erupted into a shower of blood, she screamed a horrible, blood-curdling roar as she began to run across the field, holding the Faunus boy in one arm and her weapon in another.
As she ran, more guards came for her. Sienna arched her shoulder back and swung the chain around, slamming into each and sending them to the ground. The edge of her whip's blade hitched onto an abandoned box of dust, which she hurled through the air and slammed down onto the ground, erupting the earth.
From across the field, she could see the tiny specs of her five soldiers scouting the area.
But Sienna Khan couldn't get there just yet. An eternal Grudge was needed to be paid off.
She ran through the army of guards gunning her down, slicing and slicing with her whip cracking through the air back and forth, and blood showered her body.
As the enemy grew weak, she grew stronger. That Grudge grew stronger.
But as she ran, in the sky, she saw an invigorating sight: she had company. Three bullhead ships, each one open with multiple armed soldiers visible inside.
Before she knew it, they began to fire on her. Sienna felt two bullets pierce through her skin; one through her left thigh, the other in her side.
She screamed out, but she pushed onward.
She would not let this boy perish.
Sienna whipped the chain towards the first bullhead and the blade at its head dislocated from the rest of the whip, flying upwards and into the cockpit of the bullhead, where it stabbed through the side of the pilot's head.
As it began to fall towards the ground, Sienna swung the whip again. She grit her teeth, so tightly she thought they'd crack, and her eyes about bulged from their sockets as she stabbed into the bottom of the falling bullhead ship.
She screamed into her teeth as she eyed the second ship, and with every bit of strength her one arm held, and every ounce of burning rage in her being, she slammed one ship against the back of the other in the air, causing yet another explosion as it was sent hurdling to the ground.
Sienna pulled the whip back and quickly looked around herself. Not a Faunus in sight, just the bodies of countless human guards.
She could see her men more clearly now. They were waving for her, but from above… she saw the remaining Bullhead was aiming it's sights on them.
She yelled out as she swung the whip into the ship's floor, using it as somewhat of a grappling hook to pull herself inside.
There were five guards on board.
She quickly set the boy down on the floor of the Bullhead and looked over her shoulder. Sienna grabbed the first one she saw and slammed him against another, before throwing both of them off the side of the ship.
She felt another bullet break through the skin of her right shoulder, and then, a guard punched her in the side of her forehead. The guard's gloves were sharp enough to make the cut bleed, and Sienna grimaced. She knew she needed to be fast, because at the next hit, she'd be completely auraless.
She let out a mad roar as she grabbed a fourth guard's arm and twisted it behind his back. At the sound of a crack, she continued to tug, until with a swift movement she pulled the arm completely off. As the guard screamed, he stumbled off the ship, and she used the arm to bat the guard who'd shot her in the face. As he was momentarily incapacitated she used that time to kick the guard off the ledge, but just as she did so, the fifth and final guard ran behind her and aimed his gun straight down at the boy's head.
Sienna cried out and rushed to grab the guard's arm, slowly lowering it up towards the ship's roof.
Sienna's strength began to diminish. She could feel her grip on the man's arm loosening, but a single thought came to her as panic set in: when you can't use your head, use your teeth.
She ripped past the neck of the guard's armor and bit straight into his jugular. The guard stumbled back and clutched at his gushing throat, to which Sienna grabbed the gun from his hand and shot him twice through the head as he fell off the side and plummeted to the ground.
Sienna then walked into the cockpit of the bullhead, where a single pilot sat. As soon as the two met eyes, there was a bullet between both of his, and she dragged his body out and tossed him over as well.
She quickly walked to the black-horned boy, who still sat perfectly still on against a black crate. "You alright?"
No reply. She should've figured.
"…Shit," she grumbled, running back into the cockpit to grab the wheel of the ship. She had no clue how the hell she would fly this thing… but thankfully, she didn't need to. "Prepare for an awful landing!"
As the ship began to land, the five White Fang soldiers below looked up. As soon as it landed they each stepped up onto it, and Sienna quickly stepped out.
"Did you get everyone out?" She asked weakly, leaning against the entryway of the cockpit as she stared at her group.
The other five stared at her with a mixture of fright and concern. Sienna was both covered in her own blood, as well as the blood of all she'd just killed.
"I said," she barked, before her voice rose into an anguished scream, "DID EVERYONE GET OUT!?"
"Y-Yes, Sienna! We couldn't find anyone else!"
"And does anyone know how to… to f-fly this back home?" Sienna wheezed as she stumbled forward, only to collapse on the floor.
"I can," another replied, rushing into the cockpit. As she felt the ship began to elevate, she saw another wave of SDC guards running for them in the distance.
"GUN IT!"
"Gunning it, Sienna!" Came the cry, as they rose high above the grounds of the field.
"Lieutenant!" Sienna gasped, looking up at the tall, mask-wearing brute that stood above her, hanging onto a railing bar. She hunched over and coughed up a splatter of blood before continuing, "Did you manage to…?"
"We rigged the mines up top to bottom," the Lieutenant answered deeply, letting go of the railing and clenching his fists. "We're set to blow this damn place!"
Sienna stared at him blankly, before a grin tugged at the sides of her lips. She pulled out the detonator from her pouch as they began to distance themselves apart from the mining facility.
"A-ah…" She whispered, turning to face the mines one final, satisfactory time. "…I like the sound of that."
and Sienna pressed the button.
Over ten quick seconds, a series of explosions coruscated across the length of the mining pit, erupting tall, wide and lustrous plumes of blazing fire into the sky. And slowly, the dust inside of each cave began to trigger, and the flames intensified as flashing explosions of reds, oranges and yellows beamed across the land with every second that passed.
They rose high into the air and left smoke formed in plumes, while billions of cinders and ashes soared into the sky, finally free as well.
And once the explosions had stopped, all Sienna stared upon were the colors. Red, orange, yellow… colors of fire.
The Great Fire.
Sienna Khan had lit the Great Fire.
Just as…
…Red.
Sienna looked to the side to see the young Faunus boy, who… still hadn't moved.
"C-Could one of you… bring him to me?" She asked softly, motioning her hand towards him.
The lieutenant looked down and gingerly picked the boy up, before setting him down in Sienna's lap.
"There… there we go," she sighed, wrapping an arm around his back and using her free hand to adjust the cloak around him better. His head fell against her bleeding shoulder, and she winced.
"Oh, you poor thing…" she mumbled, trembling with both pain and sorrow. "Don't worry, we… you will be safe… we will take you to safety. You'll…" she choked on her own words, and she pressed her forehead against the boys as the tears of realization began to fall, "…you'll live…!"
The five soldiers still around her could only watch as Sienna held the boy to her and wept. What she whispered to the boy was unintelligible, and perhaps… their words were best kept secret.
Perhaps they were the only ones who would ever understand.
"High Leader Ghira! They're back!"
"Who's back? It's getting—"
"Sienna Khan is back! She's returned!"
Ghira Belladonna burst to the outside of the White Fang camp as others around him began to gather. His eyes were focused on the very front entrance, where two poles stood with patterned rope tying them together.
Another member rushed over to him, but Ghira simply kept walking forward, his eyes narrowing.
The sun was setting in the distance. The blue color of the sea which surrounded all of Menagerie began to dim, and…
The High Leader's eyes widened.
Sienna Khan, along with the six slowly came up over the hill. She was bleeding all over, and her blood stained the sand and grass beneath her feet.
Her ears were folded down, and her expression was empty, unreadable… but her eyes. Her narrowed eyes were full of a rage he'd never seen before.
And then… Ghira's eyes fell upon what she was carrying. In both arms, she held what resembled a corpse. A corpse of a Faunus, a young one… with long, red hair… in rags… black horns…
…and the brand of the SDC over his visible eye.
It was then he realized it was no corpse. Not a corpse at all.
But the poor, poor boy who would likely be better off as one.
Ghira turned away.
As they came through the camp, not once did Sienna stop or falter. She stared straight ahead, and as she entered the base, went straight to her bedroom.
She laid the boy down on her bed and removed her cloak from his body. But just as she left the room and walked out of the door—
"What the hell have you done!?" Ghira grabbed her by the arm and pulled her across the corridor, to one of the main gathering rooms. Brothers and Sisters of the White Fang were watching a projection of the news, and as Sienna stood to listen…
"There has been a terrorist attack on a Schnee Dust Company Mining Facility just outside of Mistral this evening. Over one hundred guards were killed after six unknown Faunus attacked the facility and detonated its mines, triggering an explosion which decimated the entire pit. None of the facilities' Faunus workers were found at the sight, and it is believed the supposedly peaceful organization, the White Fang, is behind this destruction. However, no investigation is to be taken until the area in which the explosion occurred is safely—"
Sienna turned the news off. She burst into laughter, arching back and slamming her fist against the wall.
"What is so funny to you, Sienna!?" Ghira snapped, towering over her.
"Did you hear what that woman called them? Faunus 'workers'?!" She giggled, coughing a tiny bit of blood into her fist. "Those were slaves. I freed slaves. Slaves of our own people! There were no workers in there! Only—"
"DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!?" Ghira yelled, silencing her. "We have become a THREAT to the eyes of all in Remnant! Your act of… utter terrorism has set us—"
"Terrorism? What I did was liberation! Those Faunus would have perished in that mine before they ever had a TASTE of civilization had it not been for me and my men!"
"And how do you think the world will see that?" Ghira growled, glaring down at her. "How do you believe a world which already despises us will see what you've done? On the news, a mine in flames! Countless amounts of dust eradicated, over a hundred dead, and—"
"And I shall blow each and every one of their mines to bits of I have to!"
"Do you not hear—!"
"I SAW CHILDREN, GHIRA!" Sienna screamed, staring Ghira dead in the eyes as she clenched her fist. All in the room went dead silent. "I WATCHED THE CHILDREN OF OUR PEOPLE RUN OUT OF THOSE MINES. CHILDREN WHO HAD BEEN STARVED, BEATEN, USED AS CHEAP LABOR AND TREATED AS PROPERTY! CHILDREN, ALONG WITH THEIR MOTHERS AND FATHERS, WHO HAD BEEN BORN TO LIVE NOT AS FAUNUS, BUT LIVESTOCK! CHILDREN AS OLD AS YOUR DAUGHTER IS NOW, IF NOT YOUNGER!"
"Do NOT bring my daughter into this!" Ghira barked, grabbing Sienna's wrist.
"Then take it that what I did this day," Sienna finished darkly, tearing her arm out of Ghira's grasp, "was to ensure she and all Faunus born like her would one day be given the lives we deserve."
"By making us Terrorists."
"By making us free."
Ghira clearly had something else to say, but… he sighed.
"Then… let's hold this discussion off for tomorrow," he grumbled, storming past her, "and I'll leave you to that boy you brought home."
"Are you comfortable yet?" Sienna whispered, as she gently scrubbed the young man's skinny shoulders. He was sitting in a small, shallow bathtub, and he made not a sound as she cleaned him. His malnourished body was covered in scars, bruises and sores, and it seemed his wrists and ankles especially had been permanently bruised from being grabbed so much.
Sienna ran her fingers through his long, red hair, and dirt came out of it in thick clumps. The smell was repugnant.
Sienna made extra certain to be gentle with him. There were bandages wrapped around her shoulder, thigh, waist and forehead from where she'd been wounded during the day.
She cleaned his arms, legs, hair and chest… and finally, she got to his face. She got her hand wet again and gently began to brush the hardened dirt away from the boy's other eye, and slowly…
Sienna paused.
The boy's other eye slowly opened, and it was a pale, lightless blue. His eye focused on her, and…
…a soft breath left his lips. And instantly, the tears came.
Sobs shot through his body violently, and it seemed all the strength he had was spent on his cries. Sienna stopped what she was doing and stood up, grabbing one of the towels and slowly scooping him up into one.
He cried in her arms as she carried him back to her bedroom, where she carefully laid him back down on her bed.
Sienna pulled the blanket up to the boy's chin as he tried to turn onto his side, which she quickly helped him accomplish. "There we go…" she sighed, watching the boy cry into the pillow.
Sienna's bedroom was lit only by a candle at her side of the bed. It held barely any furniture in its space, likely due to the fact that she never had the chance to bring anything from… her true home.
But she couldn't reminisce now… as much as it felt this situation was all too familiar to her.
She sat on the side of the bed and gently put her hand on the young man's cheek, where that terrible brand still stretched across half his face. She traced her thumb on it, and he gave an audible wince.
"I… apologize for that," she breathed, jerking her hand away.
But then, to her surprise… the boy managed to reach a small, bony hand out from beneath the blanket, and grasp Sienna's in it. His grip was weak, but… there. And that was enough.
Sienna smiled down at him, and, despite herself, tears formed in her eyes yet again. "Ah… don't cry," she murmured, giving his small hand a gentle squeeze. "you don't have to cry anymore… you're safe here."
His good eye widened. Despite it all, he still seemed so innocent.
"My name is Sienna Khan. And for the meantime… you shall remain with the White Fang," Sienna began, her ears folding down at the softness of her own voice. She gave the boy a smile as warm as firelight as she continued, "you're on Menagerie now. An island full of Faunus, just like you and me, and you will be protected here. I…" she swallowed, "I will make sure of that. With all my life, I will keep you safe."
The young man, hearing her words, began to whimper again. His blue, lightless eyes softened.
"And I will be here to care for you, every step of your recovery. I will care for you until you can walk," she let go of his hand slowly and stood up, turning across the room.
"Then, I will care for you until you can run…"
Sienna went to her closet and pulled out a folded-up piece of clothing. As she came back to the bed, she pulled down the blanket and helped the young Faunus sit up.
"…And then," Sienna carefully slipped the garment over his head, "you will know how to fight."
It was a red, long sleeved shirt, with a thin line of black around the neck. It was baggy on him, extremely baggy, and with his size fit more like a gown.
But she knew he'd grow into it eventually.
"But now… I'm certain you're very tired, eh?" Sienna chuckled sadly, laying the boy back down on the pillow. "Just one last thing, and then I'll let you go to sleep. But… may I ask?"
Sienna got down to her knees and leaned in close to the boy's face, where his good eye looked into hers.
Speaking as softly as she could, she whispered, "…May I know your name, as well?"
There was a pause. And then, slowly…
"A-ah… a… ad… a-a… m…"
She leaned her head back, raising a brow. "…Adam? Is that your name?"
He nodded quietly, giving her the tiniest, yet saddest smile she had seen in years.
…But Sienna returned the favor, smiling as she tucked the covers over him and stood back up. "Adam… it is very nice to meet you."
She gave him once last look before turning to leave, putting out the candle at his bedside and walking to the door.
"I'll see you in the morning, alright? …Goodni—"
"S—Si… Sienna…?"
Sienna paused, her eyes widening. She turned over her shoulder and, in the darkness, their eyes met.
Adam's voice came slightly louder than before.
"C-C-Co… could you… l-leave a light, for me… please…?"
Sienna blinked. There were tears in his words.
"…I'm scared of the dark…"
She was standing next to a small table at the side of her doorway, where a thin candle sat. Next to the candle was a small box of matches, which Sienna picked up and pulled one out of.
And as she bent down to light that candle, a happy smile came to Sienna Khan's face for the first time in years.
"…Of course."