AN: Sorry, it's almost been a week since I last uploaded. Expect it to take a long time to upload a chapter now. I've lost most of my energy being able to type a chapter in a day or two. I will be uploading chapters once a week now instead of three times a week... probably, it could take longer depending on how I'm feeling.
AN2: One more thing. I'm not sure why some of you readers can't read certain chapters. I can read them just fine, so it's most likely having to do with the website itself, sorry to those who miss out on those chapters.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter.
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"Mom, I'm going out," I say loud enough for my Mom to hear. "Alright, come back before dinner, sweety," Mom says. I put on my socks and shoes. Leaving the house, I follow the usual route to the market while greeting neighbors, friends, and relatives. Some of them were kind enough to give me some fruits, or even some canned tuna. Tuna is my favorite, but the reason is a bit embarrassing. I have a sneaking suspicion it's because of my faunus trait. I'm a cat, and cats are usually known for liking fish—I only have the ears, nothing else. I almost forgot. I also have night vision, but that's a trait all faunus have.
I walk up to one of the vendors I always purchase supplies from. His prices are usually great compared to other vendors who try to haggle for some strange reason—I think it's because of their faunus nature, not sure. I greet him with a good morning, and he returns the gesture. He hands me the ingredients I asked for, one of them being garlic. I drop the money in his hands and walk off, waving goodbye. I return my attention to the bag, looking through it. I always put the garlic at the bottom of the bag. Never really liked the smell. I don't think anyone does. I was counting and checking that I fetched everything on the list before accidentally bumping into an adult.
"S-sorry," I say quietly. I'm never usually clumsy. I looked up to see that the adult wasn't looking at me. I don't think he noticed me bump into him—that or he didn't care. I spot something strange. My cat ears perk up subconsciously. I don't have control over them. I don't particularly appreciate how it expresses my emotions, I hate it a lot, and I mean a lot. I shook the thought away and set my attention to my surroundings. It was silent, you could hear the seagulls calling out to each other. The ocean swept over the shoreline—retreating back after a few seconds. It was surreal and it put me on edge. Everyone was looking in a single direction. What's going on? I thought. Is it the reason why everyone is acting like this? I push myself through the crowd, some surprised to see a kid, me, and some annoyed. I didn't care. I was now curious to see what caught everyone's attention.
I finally got through the dense crowd wall. My eyes lay upon a singular man in the center of the crowd. All but him were blurry, my eyes focusing solely on him. It's hard to describe what I felt at the moment. Admiration? Hope? Joy? Determination? Reverence? I had no idea, but I had this feeling of safety around this man. I felt that he was someone I could trust. Someone my eyes deny to avert from—afraid that if I do, he will be gone and never to return.
Is he… the god of animals? My mom read plenty of stories to me as a child, one of the stories was called the shallow sea. I found it odd, not the book but what my mom said—the god of animals is supposed to have a faunus trait, or look mostly animal as described by many—four horns, white fur fading into black at the tips, and a feeling of safety. This man didn't have those horns. The white fur, or any fur. Nevertheless, he had one of those traits—a feeling of safety.
The god of animals made faunus and created them. The god of animals told us to come to Menagerie—a supposed safe haven for us faunus—It was anything but a safe haven. Two-thirds of Menagerie were, and still are, ruled by the grimm. Too dangerous to live in their territory. The last group of faunus that tried were killed, and their settlement was never to be seen again as it vanished in thin air. It's a story that has been passed down for generations, but we haven't ventured out into the desert to verify its authenticity—scared we'll face the same fate as those settlers.
We were told one day that the god of animals would be the one to lead us into the desert with a path of life, prosperity, and vitality to the land around him, trees growing from nothing but ashes, dirt, and sand. He would be the one to turn the desert into a forest, blooming with fruits and bountiful trees brimming with newfound vigor. As wonderful as it sounds, I don't think it will ever come true. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of a god watching over us faunus, but it made me wonder—will he ever save us from the humans? I'm not saying that humans are monsters out to kill us—most of them aren't at least—I think they're just scared. Scared that we'll take over and treat them how they treated us. We're not as mean as them. One thing that stuck with me was I was told to always treat others how you want to be treated—a saying my dad always told me. I never forgotten it.
My attention focuses back on the man. The girl he was holding jumps out of his arms, she flips his hood over his head. His majestic appearance—gone—but not the feeling resonating between him and me. An instinctual feeling. And to be expected, the both of them ran, holding hands. Everyone was silent for a few more seconds before murmuring to each other. My cat ears twitch. Some say it was just a beautiful human. Some say he felt like family. Some say he produced a comforting feeling within themselves. A lot of different experiences between people.
What caught my attention was what the first person had said. 'a beautiful human.' His appearance intrigued me, not because he's uhh… a good-looking man. How can a human—not a faunus—produce such a feeling within me or us? Not to mention we're faunus, and he's human, I think. It didn't matter. In all my life, I've helped the white fang, joining them in peaceful protests, boycotts, etc. With all that, and there still no noticeable change to how we're treated—I never could imagine myself being able to wrap my head around why humans keep treating us less than them. The cause—a physical trait from animals—faunus have an extra appendage attached to them, specifically an animal part. That single appendage is all it took to separate us from humans. I dislike humans for that reason, well, those that discriminate against us. I hate them since it is such a dumb reason for discrimination. It was over something that scientists would call a mutation. I mean- I know it's more than just a mutation. It sounds horrible to even call it a mutation, but if it gets us closer to being treated equally…
I watch the two run farther and farther away. I don't hate that man. It was the opposite—I adore him. Why do I feel fond of that human? I didn't realize the crowd stopped talking until I saw the crowd start to flow seamlessly around me. It didn't look like they were walking, jogging, or running. I look down at my legs. It wasn't the crowd that was moving, but me. My legs were moving on their own, following the two.
Sorry, Mom, I don't think I'll make it before dinner.
Saffron Ambrosia
I wasn't the brightest of the bunch, but I can tell when there's something off about someone—and there's something off about this guy. A small house hidden deep into the forest, big enough for one or two people to live in. Then there's the design. The house's design seems to be inspired by Kuroyuri, a town. Obviously, I haven't been there before. I've only seen pictures on the Internet.
In one of the rooms, a single short square-shaped table sat in the center of the room, and four cushions, each cushion surrounding each side of the table. It was… weird. It's definitely from a culture way different from mine. I sat comfortably on one of the cushions. To my right, Adam was sitting on a cushion as well. To my left is the strange man who calls himself Buddha. This was anything but comfortable. I'm anxious just sitting in between the two.
Buddha sat leaning back, using an arm to support himself while using his free hand to twirl the lollipop in his mouth. He's a tall and muscular man like Adam. Of course, there are key differences like how Buddha's eye seems void of any pupil. I wonder if it's a faunus trait. I thought. Then there's the black eye patch covering his left eye. I wonder how he lost his eye? Another key difference is that Buddha wears clothing—specifically a tank top and really baggy pants that have an open gap starting below his knees and closing above his ankles, revealing his shins. I've, honestly, never seen his style of clothing before, but it could be because I'm not too into designer clothing. I haven't been keeping up with that type of stuff lately. But there's another thing bothering me—the drawing of a cute bunny face on his tank top. There is text beneath it in a language I don't know of. Is he not from around here?
"Eh- weird, I swear you and Eve are always glued to each other, where's she at?" Buddha asks Adam. I couldn't help but monitor Adam's expression, waiting for some reaction. Eve? It's a name I'm unfamiliar with, and I never met anyone besides Adam. Nobody was with Adam when I encountered him in that field. How come Buddha had said that Adam and Eve were, in a way, inseparable? If they were, where was she when I met Adam?
"I'm not sure… I woke up in a forest without her nor my kids." Adam replies. What?! I scream internally. Adam's a husband and a father? He looks so young though… "Heh," Buddha chuckles before biting down on the lollipop—crumbling into bits, "Dang, I can't ever reach the center of lollipops, you know." Buddha takes another lollipop from his pocket, unwrapping it, and placing it in his mouth.
"Man," Buddha plays with the lollipop before speaking again, "I'm in the same boat as you. I ain't sure how—woke up in some forest like you, not too far from here, actually. I mean, I ain't all too mad about it—been pretty chill so far." Buddha says, calmly. Buddha leans forward with his arms on the table. "Though, I'd be lying if I said I didn't care all too much about what happens next in Ragnarok. You know, I was once human before I ascended to godhood, so I kind of feel responsible helping them fight against their extinction. Plus, it's better than helping those damn annoying gods." Buddha says.
…? Ragnarok? Once human before ascending to godhood? Human extinction? Uh, did we run into some crazy person? My eyes drift towards Adam. He doesn't look the slightest bit phased at the madman's rambling.
Buddha's eye lingers in my direction. My eyes dart downwards—staring at my hands gripping my legs, "Who are you, by the way?" Buddha asks me out of the blue. I glance up, and his singular eye looks void of life. Seeing it makes me straighten my posture as my shoulders go stiff. "I'm- uhh… Saffron. And I met Adam not too long ago, he saved my life." I say. Even though this man is speaking crazy and going on about ascending to godhood—he knows Adam. Maybe they're acquaintances. Hopefully, or else we're just casually chatting with a madman.
"Ain't that a flower?" Buddha says. I nod. "Knew it. Anyway, by the looks of it, you know nothing of Ragnarok, do ya?" I was about to answer before he interrupted me, "I'm joking—I already know you're going to say no. It'd be weird if you did."
Buddha twirls the lollipop in his mouth, "Too bad I can't exactly explain it to you—well, more like I could but don't wanna." He says, smiling with his two bottom large canine teeth sticking out. I look at him dumbfounded. Then why bring it up? I thought.
"Did I… win?" Adam spoke, his eyes listless. Adam caught Buddha's attention. My shoulders turned lax, and my posture became loose. I let out a long sigh. Buddha spoke, "'Che-I never really liked being the bearer of bad news, but, unfortunately, no. You lost." Buddha says without much emotion, "However," Buddha bites down on his lollipop—shattering it, "You united mankind as a whole. You gave them the confidence and determination to see a brighter future ahead—to win no matter what. I can say, confidently, that your last stand won't be forgotten and it will go down in both mortal and immortal history." Buddha grins. "Your unbreakable willpower even got me pretty damn fired up—felt like I could take on all those bastard gods myself."
"Ah… I wish I was there to see their faces." Adam says with a small smile. Then, out of nowhere, Buddha's expression turns blank. Did Adam say something wrong? I look over at Adam and then at Buddha, worry crossing my face. Or maybe Buddha was in a state of astonishment? Suddenly, a smile crept up on Buddha's face, "Adam, you're one hell of a dad, you know?" Buddha lets out a bellowing laugh.
Adam chuckles, his smile sweet, "I have to be… for my children."
Thump.
There it was again. My heart skipped a beat again. Is there something wrong with me? I've heard that if your heart starts skipping beats, you should go to a hospital. Yet, I doubt it's anything as complicated as that.
Snap
The noise causes me to jolt in place as a tingle covering my body climbs from my feet to my head. The sliding door that led to the outside had fallen over—lying inside the house. The noise had also caught both Adam's and Buddha's attention.
"Man, you must be kidding," Buddha sighs, "That ain't cheap to replace." Buddha got up from his cushion, walking around the table before standing over the now fallen sliding door. "Ah~ that explains why it fell over. It's 'cause of you, you little brat." Buddha says, annoyed with said brat. Brat? I carefully observe the fallen sliding door, noticing something I didn't catch at first glance.
A small girl was lying on the sliding door. It wasn't hard to piece the puzzle together. The cause for the sliding door falling over was this girl—by the looks of it, she probably was eavesdropping on the conversation.
"What'd I tell you 'bout eavesdropping." Buddha scolds the young black-haired girl—who was now on her knees dusting herself off, her face looking as red as a tomato. Now that I got a closer look at her. I saw that she had cat ears. A faunus. I thought. She sat quietly—sitting on the sliding door that lay parallel to the ground—not uttering a word.
Buddha sighs, "'Che- Go ahead and make yourself at home." Buddha pulls out a lollipop, unwrapping it, and placing it in his mouth. How many lollipops does he have? ...I wonder if he'll give me one if I asked? "Now get off my door 'cause I'ma have to fix it later." Buddha says.
The young black-haired girl quickly nods, hopping off the door and sitting on one of the cushions near Adam. "Are you alright? You didn't hurt yourself?" Adam says with his usual caring tone while scanning every inch of the young girl's body for any signs of injury.
Adam's worry for her catches the young girl off guard, "Ah- no- I mean, I'm fine, thanks for asking." The young girl says while shifting in place. I guess she's the shy type. I thought. "Don't worry 'bout her," Buddha says, "It may not look like it, but she's quick on her feet and a tough cookie. A trait that made it possible for her to reach my place—It's not an easy trip making it here with all the monsters roaming 'round here. They remind me of Hades' hellhounds—the weak ones." Buddha says before lying the sliding door against a wall, leaving it to be fixed later.
Monsters? Did he mean the grimm? And what are hellhounds?
"Anyway, she can sneak around those monsters without a problem. Ain't that right, Blake?" Buddha says to the young girl, now named Blake, and she replies with a nod.
AN: Yeah, y'all probably expected Blake to make an appearance with the two being in Menagerie and all. Cya next time.