Author's Notes;
-Hey guys. Hope you're enjoying the rewritten volume 4 so far. We're going to be taking a brief break from the storyline here for a few chapters of backstory. As such, the italicized thought represents Blake's narration, to be more specific, her POV in the first person. Dialogue and description will be left as it normally is while her internal thoughts with narration are italicized with only one quotation mark at the beginning and end of each thought. I figured this would help understand the readers how I'm laying this out.
-I've had the idea of a 'Beauty and the Beast' Arc in my head for quite a long time, and I always thought that a full on story would be really helpful to the audience to better understand what really happened. Considering that CRWBY has failed to properly and thoroughly explain Blake's past with Adam and Adam's backstory in volume 6 and likely never will, I feel that it is mandatory for me to improve upon their mistakes.
Now, let's begin. (opens a book) "Once upon a time, in a faraway land..."
It all started over a decade ago. Or perhaps even two decades ago. As I said when I mentioned the history of the White Fang to you, things were a lot different in those days. When the Faunus Rights Revolution came to an end twenty years ago, the White Fang formed as an alliance group between humans and Faunus. They had allied themselves with a council member from Vale, Vacuo, and Mistral. Many believed that things would become better for faunus. Unfortunately, the council member from Vacuo perished in a Grimm attack, Vale's member was murdered by a human supremacist, and Mistral's member backed out out of cowardice, all within two years.
The White Fang had originally been centered in the southern edge of Mistral, nearby the coast. That is where, my father, Ghira, ran the White Fang when he was the high leader. When he traveled to Menagerie, he met my mother, Kali Belladonna. He quickly fell in love with her, and she returned his feelings. Within three months they were engaged. The two had planned to establish a permanent residence in Mistral so that they could continue paving the way for equality, but with the death threats being made against them, against Ghira especially, they fled to Menagerie to avoid conflict. When they moved to Menagerie, the primary White Fang base was moved there as well. As a result of these events, I was born in the capital city of Menagerie- Kuo Kuana. I will admit, growing up in Menagerie, I never had to worry much about being disrespected, or hurt, simply because of who I was. Menagerie was the only known haven for faunus.
The scene showed a young Blake, no more than two years old, happily looking at Menagerie from the top of her father's shoulders with her mother standing alongside him. The camera zoomed out to show them on top of a cliffside, looking at the city down below.
Even though I grew up in the safety and comfort of Menagerie, I had already been part of the White Fang, taking part in marches and boycotts and being told how to distinguish racist bullies from kind humans. I was only six years old, and youthful optimist. As part of the White Fang's more peaceful forms of protests, we would occasionally go to the mainland to protest. Most of the time we were in Mistral. This time however, we were at Calais, a coastal city on the southern tip of Atlas. Normally, we would be freezing, but with it being summer, the weather was a lot more tolerable.
A six year old Blake stood there with a her cat ears on display for all to see, a black scarf, a light sleeved top, and black skirt with black strap on tennis shoes. She held up a sign reading, Schnee Dust Company with a red circle and slash mark through it. It was a simple, yet effective way to get the message of boycotting the SDC across.
I thought we were making a difference. I thought we were doing a good thing. Suddenly, everything went wrong. The sound of a gun firing was heard. No one knew who pulled it, or even if it was a real gun or just a sound. Whatever it was, it scared everyone. Before I knew it, I heard sirens in the distance and dropped my picket sign. Horribly terrified and unable to find mom and dad, I fled the scene before the cops even saw me. I ran and ran, as far as my little legs could carry me. The city was huge and I barely even noticed my surroundings or the people around me. All I could think about was getting out of there.
She found herself in an alleyway, the buildings constructing the alley in dark shades of grey. It was a dead-end alley because the passage way to the left and right was blocked by a huge dumpster.
I managed to escape potential interrogation with mean human police officers.
"Well, well, well, look what we have here..." a voice said.
Unfortunately, I found myself on the wrong side of town.
Young Blake found herself in the presence of three no-good bullies, who appeared to be siblings. The first one, the leader, was the biggest and baddest of them all. He stood at 6'4, so he had to have been in his late teenage or early adult years. He wore a black jersey top with ripped jeans and black boots with dark brown laces. The second one was also a guy, but slightly smaller, likely in his early teens or late adolescence years, wearing jeans, red tennis shoes and a red turtleneck. The third one, a girl, wore a dark blue miniskirt with a light blue crop top and black sandals. They all had the same ginger hair and blue eyes, only for the third one, her hair was styled into a braid.
The first one spoke again, "A cat faunus. What's a scraggly little cat doing here?"
"She's probably hiding from her owner." The second one answered. "Shouldn't cats have an owner, and not be running loose?"
The third one gave an evil smirk to her brothers. "I say we get her."
The trio approached her. "No, leave me alone!" Blake yelled, backing away from the trio. "Get away!"
This was before I knew how to fight, and before I had my aura unlocked, so there was nothing I could do to prevent the damage.
Blake was punched in the gut, the face and the arm by each of the respective racists. The cat faunus shielded her arms in an X in an attempt to protect herself, only for the second one to grab her wrists and restrain her. She tried to break free, but to no avail.
The first one pulled out a knife and used his other hand to slightly lift up her sleeve. A tear escaped her eye. "No, please, don't!"
He ignored her plea and used the knife to slash through the sleeve, and then he proceeded to cut her arm with it. Blake screamed out in agony as they tormented her, laughing at her pain.
I begged and pleaded them to stop, but they didn't.
"Stop it!" Blake protested. They cut her other arm and ruined her other sleeve, causing her to scream out in agony once again. "Ahh!"
"Why should we?" the girl asked. "Your screams are music to our ears."
The leader put the knife away and they continued to punch and kick at her. "Stop! Help me!"
There were a few human spectators that saw the mess, but they didn't do anything to stop. Whether it was because they were scared, or because they thought someone else would intervene, or some other reason, no one dared to get involved. I never felt anger and bitterness because they didn't do anything. All I really felt was sadness and shame. It was also the first time I was ever discriminated against.
Blake was thrown against the wall, softly moaning in pain before falling down.
"Come on, we better just leave her." the leader said.
As the racist bullies walked away, more tears came streaming down my face. I brought myself to my knees before sobbing uncontrollably. I tried to hide myself in the darkest corner of the alley, which if I be honest in retrospect, wasn't very successful. But no one saw me. No one else bullied me. I just sat there, shaking and cowering, wanting to be left alone. Before I knew it, my light was blocked by someone's shadow.
"Are you okay?" a male voice asked her.
In front of me, stood a boy, about eleven years old with red hair and sunglasses on his face. On top of his head were two reddish-black horns. The boy wore a black hooded jacket with his hood down, a pair of dark blue jeans and black tennis shoes with red laces.
"No..." she answered, still sobbing.
He extended his hand to me and helped me up.
"What happened?"
In between sobs, she answered, "I was beaten... hurt... simply because of who I am."
"I know how you feel." He looked at her sadly. "Hurt for who you are, circumstances out of your control... It hurts..." He chuckled a bit. "You got off lucky. Me and many others have been beaten much worse than you just endured."
She looked at him with sad curiosity. "Why? What happened to you?"
"It's... a long story." He looked around, not seeing anyone else nearby. "You look a little young to be here by yourself. You got a family?"
The catgirl raised her eyebrows in fear. "Oh no, my parents, they were at the protest. I don't know what happened, and I'm scared to go back there alone to face the police. Will you come with me to help me find them?"
He smiled. "Of course I will."
The two of us made our way back to the site of the protest. Luckily, my parents were unharmed. My father Ghira was just standing there, talking to a few police officers while my mother, Kali, was frantically looking around trying to find me. I called out to my parents, letting them know I was there.
"Mom! Dad!" Blake called out to them.
"Blake!" Kali responded.
"Excuse me if you will, officers." Ghira said before running towards Blake, jumping up into Kali's arms. As she held her, he came up to them and embraced them. "We're so glad to see you're okay."
The boy smiled as the family was reunited. "Are you okay?" Blake asked her parents.
"We're fine." Kali answered. She held her child in her hands and then gasped upon seeing the damage that had been done earlier. "Oh no..." Kali gently set Blake down. "What happened?!"
"Who did this to you?!" Ghira asked.
"I was beaten by three bullies." Blake began answering, sobbing. "Two boys and one girl. They all had red hair and blue eyes. They seemed to be siblings but I have no idea what any of their names are. They insulted me, hurt me. They treated me like I was a wild cat and not even a person."
Mama Belladonna knelt down and threw her arms around her daughter as she sobbed into her chest. "Oh, sweetie..."
"Don't ever believe a word that they said to you." Papa Belladonna told her. "They want to use that to make you feel inferior. You are a person, and a good one, no matter what they may say."
"Thanks dad." Blake said to him.
Kali noticed the young boy standing away from them. "And who might that young boy over there?"
"I don't know. He found me after I was beaten by the bullies. I was scared something happened to you and I was terrified to go alone, so he agreed to help me."
Ghira looked at him curiously. "Who are you?"
"My name is Adam." the bull horned faunus introduced. "Adam Taurus."
"Well, Adam, thank you for helping Blake finding us."
"You're welcome." He put his hood back up. "I better get going."
"Need to get back home?"
He answered hesitantly, "Yeah..." before turning away sadly.
Kali guessed, "You don't have a home, do you?"
"No, I don't." Adam turned away from the Belladonna family. "Home... my home... was lost long ago..."
"You could come with us, to Menagerie." Blake said as she extended her hand to him. "You'll be safe. You'll never be hurt again."
He slowly turned to her, smiling as he slowly took it.
And so, the three of us returned to Menagerie with a new friend. Since Adam was homeless, he grew up in the White Fang cell block, being looked after by my parents and other responsible adults in the organization. Oftentimes he'd come over to my place and we'd play tag and over games in the house or the courtyard.
An image of the two playing tag, with Adam being a few feet behind her, was shown.
We had become fast friends. I suppose I could say he was the first friend I ever had. A few months later, Adam turned twelve years old. The day after his birthday, he told me that he was going to become a White Fang fighter and go on missions.
The scene showed the two of them on the beach, building sandcastles. Adam was dressed in red swim trunks still wearing his sunglasses as Blake wore a black one-piece.
Blake lifted up a pail as she constructed the castle. "You're going to be a fighter?"
Adam dug out a small area with a shovel to serve as a moat. "I want to be a fighter. I want to see the day where no faunus will have to go through what I went through." Blake turned away sadly. "You're not happy about that, are you?"
"No, I'm happy that you're going to help with the cause. It's just..." She hesitated. "I'm going to miss you." She threw her arms around the bull horned faunus, which startled him at first.
He returned the embrace. "I'll miss you too."
She blinked, a lone tear escaping her eye. "Will I ever see you again?"
He put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Blake. I'll be back again someday."
I had faith that he would return. After three years, I began to believe that something may have happened to him. Of course, I was wrong. Two years later, on my 11th birthday, he had come back. My mom and dad had already given me their presents, but there was still one left...
"We have a surprise for you. Think of it as an extra gift."
She smiled curiously. "Okay, what is it?"
Suddenly her eyes were covered by a pair of hands from someone behind. "Guess who?" a voice said.
At first, she was unsure, but within a few seconds, the answer came to her. "Adam?"
He uncovered her eyes and spun her around, confirming her answer. Adam Taurus had changed since he was first at Menagerie. He had grown within these years, now 16 years old, wearing a black jacket and pants, black shoes with red soles and black gloves with red sigils resembling the Greek letter Ω (Omega). He still wore the same sunglasses around his eyes.
Blake smiled upon seeing him again and gave him a bear hug. "Adam! I've missed you! Where have you been?"
He chuckled. "It's a long story."
He told me all about his adventures and how he thought of me while he was gone. He still went on missions occasionally, but he wanted some more time with the catgirl he befriended and the White Fang family that took him in. Things were going pretty well for all of us. Until they weren't. Slowly over the course of my tenth and eleventh years on this planet, many White Fang members realized that Ghira's peaceful methods weren't working and that faunus were still subject to discrimination and hate.
When I was twelve, they had recently returned from a mission where my father was nearly killed. While returning home, they were encountered by human supremacists, one of which almost killed him. Adam had saved his life, but at the cost of murdering one of them. Sienna had encouraged it, and called Adam a hero, while dad was worried of what people would say and or do.
A few weeks later, my father realized that things weren't improving under his leadership. And so, in dismay and despair, he choose to step down as High Leader. He gave the position to Sienna Khan, one of his long-time trusted allies. At that same time, both my parents chose to leave the White Fang and Ghira became the chieftain of Menagerie. They left the White Fang because Ghira felt that his methods of trying to bring about equality had failed, they feared Sienna's methods would be more violent and they didn't want to be involved in that violence. I however, choose to stay in the White Fang, despite their protest.
Within less than a day, Sienna and a small faction of faunus in Menagerie coordinated the first attack on an anti-faunus store in Mistral. Within less than one week, they started robbing dust from the Schnee Dust Company. Within a month, they pleaded me to leave the White Fang. Of course, I refused.
"Are you sure you that you want to do this?" Ghira asked his daughter.
"How can you just abandon the cause like this?!" Blake angrily asked them.
"Blake, we're not..." Kali began.
"Yes, you are! Don't lie to me!"
Without another word, I packed my bags and left my home. That same day, I went to Sienna Khan and pledged myself to the White Fang.
Blake stood before the High Leader of the White Fang, bowing respectfully to her on her knees.
"Ah, Miss Belladonna." Sienna greeted her. "What brings you here?"
"High Leader Khan- I wish become a White Fang fighter. A specialist. I want to truly aid the White Fang. Travel around the world on missions. See to it that faunus are equal to humans."
The tiger faunus smiled. "An admirable reason to pursue a difficult goal. Now, before you rush out onto the battlefield, I must ask- how much combat experience do you have?"
Blake looked down sadly. "None."
"I see. Well we all have to start somewhere. Unfortunately, many of my best combat instructors have already left on missions, which means that I may not be able to start you on your training as soon as you would like..."
The door behind Blake was opened, revealing Adam to be there. "High Leader." He slowly approached her. "My deepest apologies. I did not realize you were busy."
"It's alright. Your friend Blake here has decided to become a fighter." She looked at him, a smile growing on her face. "Say, you have decent enough combat experience, and you know Blake well enough. Would you be willing to teach her how to fight?"
He respectfully bowed to her with his hand over his heart. "It would be an honor high leader."
"Excellent. I wish you good luck in training her."
And so, combat lessons began, and Adam was the instructor.
The scene transitioned from the White Fang throne room to a private dojo with a few black and white punching bags. An image of Jacques Schnee was posted onto each bag. Blake stood in front of the punching bag while Adam stood nearby to instruct her.
"First things first. You need to know the basics of hand to hand combat. Anyone with a brain can fire a gun, but there may be times where you don't have a gun, or any weapon for that matter. When that happens, you'll need to know how to use your strength and wits to make it out alive. Try punching the punching bag, like this." Adam clinched his fist and punched the punching bag.
She repeated the motion she was shown. "How was that?"
"Good, but you should have your thumb to the side of your fingers, like this, so that you don't break any bones." he said as he adjusted her thumb to be on the side of her hand, right next to her index finger. "Now try punching the target." She punched it again. "Good."
We covered everything. First we started out with hand to hand combat, then he taught me some marital arts moves. Then, after two months of that, we moved on to aura training.
"You have gotten the basics of hand to hand combat down." Adam began. "Now it's time for aura training. Do you have your aura unlocked?"
Blake scratched her head. "Uh... what's aura?"
Adam sighed. "Oh boy... I'm guessing that's a no."
"I'm afraid so. So, how do I unlock it?"
"Well there's a few ways of unlocking one's aura. Usually, it requires training and willpower over time. Sometimes, it can be activated by certain circumstances such as stress. There are some techniques that can instantly unlock ones aura. Unfortunately, I do not know any of them or do I know anyone who does know."
"It's alright. Hopefully, this will be easy."
Unfortunately, aura unlocking was not easy. One month had passed, without any results.
"Well... This isn't going as fast as I had hoped." Adam paced back and forth in the dojo. "Most people who are or intend to be aura users unlock it within a week or two. And now it's been a month."
Blake looked sadly at her mentor. "What have I done wrong?"
"I don't know." He slumped his back against the wall. "Maybe I've been thinking about this with the wrong tactic. Perhaps what you need is a new approach."
She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
He sighed. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you. The last thing I want is for you to be hurt, but I'm thinking that the only way to get through this block is a trial by fire."
"Fire?!"
A week later, we were in Mistral. Adam armed with his signature weapon Wilt and Blush, and me armed with only a simple laser gun that normal White Fang goons would use, we were, quite literally, looking for trouble. Eventually, we found it. We were in a city called Zephyros, a city known for its flowers in the spring and summer time. The mayor of the city had been murdered on a small wooden stage by a group of human supremacists in the midst of her speech. Everyone listening had fled in horror, but the two of us stayed behind. As I looked the group, something seemed familiar. Too familiar...
Blake looked closer at the group and gasped. "No... It can't be."
They were the same trio that teased me all those years ago. The leader was now in his late twenties, the second one was an adult, and the third one was a teenager. They wore similar attire to what they wore all those years ago. The only major difference was that the girl no longer had her braid. Her hair was shorter, only a few inches long.
Adam looked at her curiously. "You know these guys?"
"These are the same bullies that tortured me all those years ago!" she answered.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" the leader asked.
"The little cat has wondered off here." the girl answered.
"And she's found a new friend. Seems misery loves company." the second one said.
Blake growled. "Leave him alone!"
"Aw, now why would we do that?" the third one asked tauntingly.
She fired away at the third one as Adam dashed towards the leader. The leader got out a long sword and the swords clashed between the two men as Blake battled the younger siblings. The catgirl kept her distance and fired at them with the laser gun, but the two younger siblings were experts in evasion.
"You can't run forever!" Blake proclaimed.
The second one was knocked down and since he did not have his aura unlocked, got his skin burnt. The first one was knocked out by Adam, and the second one soon followed.
"Is that all you got?" the girl asked.
Blake kicked the girl in the gut, knocking her against the wooden stage, knocking her out. The second one went towards Adam and tried to use his daggers to hold back Adam's sword. Blake and the girl continued to fight, and after a series of blows, Blake was knocked against a pole. Her vision slightly blurred as the third one came in hot and a flash of black took over the screen. In the black, a purple aura surrounded her and she ducked down. The blackness disappeared as the red haired girl stabbed 'Blake' in the heart... Only to have a black image fade away.
She quickly realized that she had been deceived. "Huh? What the?!" She was down kicked down in the head from behind, knocking her out.
The real Blake stood right behind her. Adam smiled. "Seems like you've not only unlocked your aura, you've learned a new trick. Your semblance."
"I have." Blake concentrated and made another shadow of herself. The catgirl and her shadow waved in unison.
All three siblings had been knocked out, and were later arrested, thanks to our efforts. My aura and my semblance had been unlocked all on the same day. And from there, my rise to a warrior had begun. From shadows, we would descend upon the world, reclaim our destiny and rise above above the darkness.