Seeing Red
Chapter 2
Eve had been hoping that the entire thing had just been a dream all along, but waking up in the same room the next day confirmed that it had all been very real. She stared up at the ceiling for a moment, wondering what to do, before recalling her plan from the day before.
All she needed to do was overpower the human, steal his weapon, and kill him with it. Then she could make her escape into the forest, find her way to the nearest White Fang outpost, and all would be well.
Of course, that was simplifying things somewhat – Atlas was almost certainly combing the forest, searching for her. She was still too weak to even move on her own, let alone try to overpower somebody and kill them. And, of course, she didn't know which part of the forest she was even in; Eve couldn't have been floating in the river for too long, she supposed, but the fact that she'd never even heard of Fall Grove didn't bode well for her chances of finding her way back on her own. At the very least, she was going to need a map of the area and a compass, plus supplies and a weapon to deal with any Grimm she might come across.
Her brow furrowed as she considered her options. She really was well and truly stuck for the time being, wasn't she? And being cared for by a human, no less. It was embarrassing, as if she hadn't had enough embarrassments already over the past few days. Between Blake's betrayal, Atlas nearly killing her, and being picked up by this human, she was far past her limit.
Eve let out a tired, annoyed sigh and ran a hand through her hair. What was the best thing she could do for now? Play along with the human's delusions, she suspected. Again, that would be a hit to her pride, but between losing a bit of self-respect and dying or being turned over to Atlas, she knew which she preferred.
He thought she was a Huntress? Well, then he'd get a Huntress.
The door opened, and he stepped in, carrying a tray with what looked like a bowl of soup balanced on it. Personally, she could have used something a bit more hearty than soup, but beggars couldn't be choosers, she supposed.
"Good morning," he told her as he sat the tray down on the table next to her bed.
Eve didn't say anything, instead reaching for the spoon he'd provided with her food and digging in. It wasn't the best thing she'd ever eaten, but it was better than the stolen military rations she usually got in the White Fang.
"So," Jaune began. "Mind if I talk a bit?"
Eve didn't respond at first, because he was a human and didn't deserve a response, but then recalled her plan to play along with his delusions. So she swallowed her pride and gave a small, reluctant nod. Jaune grinned slightly.
"So, you're a Huntress," he said. "Which Academy did you go to?"
Beacon was the first one that came to mind, but she quickly pushed the thought away – as close as they were to Beacon, she couldn't discount the possibility that he might know a thing or two about it, enough to check her knowledge. Atlas was also a no-go, for obvious reasons, but even if it wasn't, she refused to pretend to be Atlesian based purely on principle. That left two options, and so she picked one at random.
"Shade," she grunted between mouthfuls of soup.
"Shade?" Jaune asked. "That's the one in Vacuo, right? What was it like?"
"Not easy."
"Heh, yeah, I can imagine. Is the rest of your team from there?"
"Yes."
"Interesting. Where is the rest of your team, anyway? I can call them to get you, if you'd-"
"They're all dead," Eve told him.
That shut him up. He stared at her for a moment, sympathy crossing his face, and Eve felt anger well up inside her. How dare he pity her over a blatant lie, when his entire species had never shown her even an ounce of pity over the genuine atrocities she'd suffered in her life. Did he truly think of her as his kindred spirit, purely because he believed she was a Huntress and he was going to be a Huntsman-in-training?
"I'm sorry," he offered. "I didn't know."
Eve grunted again. She went back for more soup, but the bowl was already empty. She did her best not to let her disappointment show as she placed the now-useless utensil in the dish and pushed it away.
Idly, she became aware that Jaune was looking at her again. She blinked, surprised, but then realized he probably wanted her assurance that he hadn't done anything wrong.
"They knew what they were getting into," she ventured. "Most of them died well, at least. That's more than most people get."
Jaune shifted uncomfortably. "How did it happen? I-if you don't mind me asking, that is, it's just… they sound like they were really good people, and I'd like to help keep their memory alive."
Eve blinked again, surprised once more. Admittedly, that was actually an interesting response from him. She didn't know how to respond to it for a moment, but thankfully, experience caught up to her.
It was just a matter of mixing her memories with the truth.
"Marco was the leader," she began. "He got shot in the back by a bandit when we were trying to help protect a settlement out in Mistral. His Aura was depleted; he never even saw it coming. Bullet severed his spine; he was dead before he hit the ground. Quick and painless, he didn't even realize what had happened before he was gone. If only we could all be so lucky."
In reality, Marco had existed, but it hadn't gone that way. He had been shot in the back during a raid on an SDC warehouse, and it hadn't been nearly as quick – the bullet had pierced above his lungs, and he died slowly, drowning in his own blood as it filled his lungs. She'd been the commander on that operation, and Marco had been her first real loss. She didn't know him that well, but he had been young, around Jaune's age to be exact, and his loss still bothered her because of that.
"Azure went not long after," she continued. "She got swallowed whole by a King Taijitu. Grimm ran off before we could cut it open and save her."
The method of Azure's demise had similarly been changed. She had been killed by a Grimm, but it wasn't during the defense of a settlement or a Grimm extermination mission – rather, it had been in the aftermath of a skirmish with Atlesian military forces who had hunted them down. Grimm had descended on them all not long after the fighting had started, and Azure had been one of the unlucky few to be picked off by an Ursa. Eve could still hear her screaming as she clutched at her guts, trailing out of her body after the Ursa had gotten to her.
She knew what she had signed up for – they all did, in fact. But that didn't make seeing them die any easier.
"Silver was the last of us to go," she said. "And it wasn't a Grimm or a bandit that got him. Coward did himself in – couldn't live without Azure, apparently, though I suspect the memories of everything he'd seen out in the field played a part in that decision, too. Left me alone to pick up the pieces, the selfish prick."
That hadn't been much of an exaggeration compared to the other two – Silver had taken his own life with a shotgun under his chin, and it had been because Azure was his lover. Eve wasn't lying when she said she suspected his memories played a part in his decision to take his own life, though – they all dealt with memories like that; some of them simply dealt with them better than others. For him, the memories combined with the loss of his lover had proven to be too much, and one night, he'd finally had enough.
It wasn't an unusual story for the White Fang, unfortunately. Some people just got tired of it all – all the fighting, and the killing. Eve wasn't one of them; she knew she was fighting for something bigger than herself, and that motivated her to keep moving forward.
Besides, she already knew that if anything was going to kill her, it wasn't going to be herself. Not for as long as she was in the White Fang.
She caught the human staring at her, giving her that same sympathetic look he had earlier, and had to force herself to hold back another scowl. She hated being pitied, especially by a human.
"I'm sorry," Jaune said after a moment's pause. "That had to have been hard on you."
Eve let out a small grunt. It hadn't been easy, of course – it never was, seeing people she commanded die like that. But that was war, and over time, she'd learned not to grow attached to any of them, because she might have to sacrifice them for a greater goal. That wasn't to say she was wasting their lives, though – there was a difference between wasting lives and spending them.
Truthfully, she hated whenever she had to send some of the recruits out, because she knew that many of them wouldn't be coming back… but sometimes, there was simply no choice. And besides, they knew what they were signing up for.
But that was why she didn't get attached. Blake had been the rare exception to that, chiefly because the two of them had known each other for years, but even then, it still hadn't ended well for her. Perhaps that was Eve's lot in life, then – to live as a revolutionary, unattached from other people until the day finally came when she would be called upon to lay down her life for the cause. It wasn't exactly a surprising revelation or anything, but even she had to admit that it sounded lonely. Still, loneliness was worth if it if meant a better future for her race.
"Eve?"
Jaune's voice shook her out of her thoughts, and she turned to him. "Thank you," she forced herself to say. "For… remembering them, I guess. Someone besides me has to."
Jaune gave her a slight smile. "Yeah, no problem. How are you doing, by the way? Is your injury healing okay?"
He reached for her sheets, no doubt intending to pull them down and look at her bandages, but Eve stopped him, clamping her hand around his wrist. He looked to her in surprise, but she held firm.
"It's healing fine," she insisted. "It doesn't hurt as bad as yesterday."
Jaune blinked. "That's good," he said carefully. He pulled his hand away, clearly sensing that he had come close to violating her comfort zone, which she was inclined to agree with – it was one thing for a human to touch her while she was unconscious, but she would not let him touch her when she was awake. She'd sooner cut his hand off than allow him to lay so much as a finger on her.
"You know, there's one thing I can't help but wonder," Jaune thought aloud.
Eve had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Of all the humans to end up with, she had to get the one that didn't know when to quit while he was ahead. How annoying,
"Yes?" she asked.
"You said you went to Shade… what are you doing a few hours from Vale? I-I mean, not to imply you're unwelcome here or anything, but-"
"The work pays better here," she said. "That, and after I lost my three teammates, I didn't want to stay in Vacuo anymore. I'm sure you understand."
"On a certain level, yes," Jaune ventured. "But… I suppose that doesn't quite make up for what you have to deal with from idiots here."
Eve stared at him, surprised. Her gaze narrowed quickly, however, and she soon looked away. "Yes, that is a point of contention. I suppose now is the part where you tell me how you aren't like the rest of your kind?"
Jaune shook his head. "I would hope actions would speak louder than words in this instance. I saved your life; somehow, I doubt the people you're thinking of would do the same."
That much was true, she had to admit. But then again, the people she was thinking of knew exactly who she was, and Jaune didn't. But she knew that the instant he found out about her involvement with the White Fang, that he'd treat her the same as the others. As far as she was concerned, his courtesy only extended as far as his ignorance did.
"You don't have to trust me," Jaune told her. "That's not what I'm asking."
"Then what are you asking?" Eve snapped, turning back to look at him. "Hm? What is it you want from me, exactly?"
"I just want to help you," Jaune insisted. "You're injured, and you were injured while helping other people. The least I can do is help make sure you get better. I don't need you to trust me, or even like me; I just need you to be willing to accept my help."
"Am I not doing that already?" Eve asked, her tone confrontational. She motioned to the bandages on her torso. "I didn't raise a fuss when I learned you had bandaged me while I was unconscious."
"But you also didn't let me take a look earlier when I asked to," Jaune reminded her.
Eve's brow furrowed. "My injury is healing fine," she insisted. "I am capable of changing my own bandages. Or do you think of yourself as being better-trained than I am?"
Jaune raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine. I'll let the issue rest, if it bothers you that much. But I'm not going to just leave you alone."
"And why is that?"
"Because I don't think you should be alone."
"Do you not trust me?"
"Trust has nothing to do with it. It's not good for someone to be stuck in bed alone all day."
"Believe me, it's preferable to having to deal with you," Eve hissed.
"Well, too bad, because you're stuck with me," Jaune declared. He crossed his legs. "So, mind talking a bit more? Telling me a bit more about yourself, maybe?"
Eve grit her teeth and looked away. Jaune was unperturbed. "If you won't talk, then I will. I was born and raised in a small village called-"
"You are annoying," Eve declared, rounding back on him with a glare. "What would it take to get you to go away and leave me in peace?"
Jaune shrugged. "Tell me a bit about yourself. That's all I ask."
Again, Eve grit her teeth. Of all the humans to be found by, she'd been found by the most annoying one in the world. Still, if that was what it took to get him to shut up and go away for a little while, she supposed she could afford to indulge him with yet another made-up story.
"You want to be a Huntsman, right?" she asked. "That sword on your hip proves it."
"You've got that right," Jaune answered. "Just waiting to hear back on if I got accepted to Beacon or not."
"Then you ought to know what the life is like. You fight and kill Grimm, over and over again. Occasionally, you fight people such as bandits or the White Fang. You do that until you die. Is that truly a life you're willing to live?"
Jaune stared at her. "I want to help people," he declared. "And I want to be a hero. If that requires me to lay down my life, then so be it."
Eve sneered at him. "You want to be a hero, is that it? And you think being a Huntsman will help make you one? You're clueless. None of us are heroes out there; we're just a bunch of trained killers. If it weren't for the Grimm, we'd just be killing each other even more than we already do."
"That doesn't change the fact that you're all out there, doing some good in a world that desperately needs it," Jaune insisted. "I won't deny that there are some bad Huntsmen out there, but there are plenty who are still good, too. Hell, I'm looking at one right now – you got yourself shot trying to fend off a group of bandits."
"And it didn't amount to anything," Eve snarled. "That village has probably been burned to the ground by now. It's s never-ending fight, you know – there's always another battle, and you never know which one will prove to be your last."
"Then why do you keep doing it?"
Eve motioned to herself. "Look at me," she spat. "Do I look like I know how to do anything else? I'm just a trained killer, same as the rest of them. All Huntsmen are the same; there are no heroic Huntsmen, just people who do a job that, more often than not, ends up being dirty work."
Jaune shook his head. "That's not true. Even when they're fighting people, they're still doing good."
"Because the ones they're fighting are bad people, right?" Eve demanded. "Do you truly believe that?"
"Yes, I do."
"Even the White Fang?"
"You support the White Fang?"
"Why wouldn't I?" she hissed. "No White Fang member ever called me an animal, or forced me to work in the mines, or arrested me for no reason. No White Fang member ever lobbied the government to pass restrictions on where I can and can't go, or kept my people enslaved."
"Is that what this is about?" Jaune ventured. "You're angry that Huntsmen are fighting the White Fang? The same White Fang that bombs hospitals, and schools, and government buildings?"
"Can you blame them?" Eve demanded. "Violence is the last resort for a people whose cries have gone unheard. The Faunus have spent years upon years begging someone to listen, and nobody ever did. Now they're forcing people to listen, the only way they can."
Jaune shook his head. "That's wrong. All of it's wrong – the way the Faunus are treated, and their methods for making themselves be heard. It's all just making people miserable."
"And I suppose you have a better plan?"
"There has to be a better way," Jaune insisted. "A way that doesn't involve innocent people getting hurt."
"There's not," Eve insisted. "If there was, they would have found it by now. But their hands have been forced, and they're done playing nice."
Jaune stared at her for a moment in disbelief. "Are you a member of the White Fang?"
"What if I was?" Eve countered. "What would you do, hm? Would you rat me out? Maybe you'd try to kill me. How would you do it, human? With that sword on your hip? After all this time you've spent trying to heal me, would that be enough to push you over the edge?"
"It wouldn't," Jaune insisted. "I wouldn't do any of that."
"Then what would you do?"
"I'd ask why."
"I told you why."
Jaune shook his head. "No, I'd ask why you, personally, have to get involved like this. What pushed you down that path? What great evil was done to you to make you throw away your life in pursuit of violence? Why would someone as promising as you dedicate themselves to hurting as many people as possible, all for a goal that you seem to be working backwards towards in the first place?"
"You want to know why?" Eve said with a snarl. "I'll show you why."
Then, before she even knew what she was doing, her hand had drifted to the bandage covering her eye. At the very last moment, as her fingers curled around the bandage and she was about to rip it off, Eve stopped herself. She froze, her finger tips wrapped around the cloth, and slowly, she pulled them away, leaving the bandage in place. She took a breath to calm herself, then looked back to Jaune.
This human was going to be the death of her if she wasn't careful.
"...If I was a part of the White Fang," she said slowly, "and I'm not saying I am, but if I truly was, then my reasons for it are my own."
"You really expect me to believe that you're not a member, after everything you just said?" Jaune asked.
"Believe what you want to believe," Eve told him. "I will neither confirm nor deny. What I will say is that I support their cause, because they are the only ones fighting for my people. And if they have to use violence to make their voices be heard, then so be it. As far as I'm concerned, that's the fault of the humans for refusing to listen in the first place."
Jaune sighed tiredly, then looked out the nearby window. "Violence like that can't be justified," he stated. "The ends do not justify the means… but I can at least understand where you're coming from. I won't claim to know anything about what the Faunus have gone through, aside from just the basic history of it as it was explained to me. I'm not a Faunus; I can't possibly know what it's like. But I can tell based on your reaction that it had to have been pretty heinous, even if it didn't necessarily affect you personally. I still can't agree with the violence… but I can condemn both sides for it, I suppose."
"Understandable, I guess," Eve grunted. "We don't use violence just for the sake of it."
"I know, but I can't abide anything that hurts innocent people, no matter how justified you claim it to be. At the same time… you deserve to have your voices heard." Jaune sighed again, running a hand through his hair. "It's frustrating. I wish there was a way to solve all this without bloodshed, but I guess the time for that has passed."
"The time for that passed years ago," Eve told him.
"I know… I hate the whole shades-of-gray thing. I wish the world was as black-and-white as the old war stories made it seem. Gray… I don't really know what to do with that."
"Gray's all we've got," Eve said dryly. "You want to be a Huntsman? Get used to dealing with shades of gray; that's all you'll ever deal with."
"I thought you didn't like Huntsmen."
"I don't. Funny coming from me, I know, but if you want to be a Huntsman so bad, then you should get the idea of the old heroes out of your head, because they don't apply anymore. Grimm aren't the only monsters you'll be fighting, and sometimes, you'll find that the so-called monsters are monsters in name only. At least in the case of the White Fang, they're usually just normal people pushed to the breaking point."
Jaune fell silent for a moment. "...How do you do it?" he asked. "How do you keep going on despite being so jaded? That can't be easy."
That was a good question, actually. What kept her going? She'd known for years now that her goal was basically unachievable in her lifetime – they'd made progress thanks to her and Sienna's methods, but that was due to fear, not respect. The humans still didn't trust Faunus, and it wasn't like they could just eliminate racism.
Was she truly just addicted to the bloodshed and violence? She didn't know. There was always the rush of battle, to be sure, but that was different from reveling in bloodshed.
Truthfully, she'd been fighting for so long that she'd forgotten the reason why she even began fighting in the first place. All she had now was a scar, and that wasn't enough to satisfy her.
"...You carry on because it's the only thing you can do," she said after a moment's pause to collect her thoughts. "Now, leave me. I need to rest."
Jaune nodded, then stood up and stepped out of the room. Eve watched him go, then laid her head back down and closed her eyes. And yet, try as she might, she couldn't get rid of the empty feeling that had settled in her stomach.
What kept her going? She didn't know. Whatever it was, it must not have been important if she couldn't think of it.
At least, that was what she told herself as she drifted off to sleep.
Welcome, friends, to another chapter of this one. It's a bit soon since the last one, I know, but I'm trying to go for roughly a chapter every two weeks or so. Hopefully I can stick with that schedule until the story's completion, but we'll see. I do want to be more productive overall, however.
Speaking of which - apologies for not updating Plastered Paradox this week, for those of you who are reading that story. I was going through some pretty rough shit and I was not doing very well this week, so I didn't feel like working on that story very much at all. Unprofessional of me, I know, but sometimes you just need a break. I appreciate you all letting me have that, though - nobody was confronting me about missing an update. Not that I expected that or anything - you're all too good to me to do that - but still.
Anyway, that minor bit of unpleasantness aside, here's the next chapter. I do have to say thanks to everybody for the amazing reception the first chapter got - thank you all so much for the kind words, I'm so glad you all enjoyed that first chapter. This is a pairing that really interests me, because I am hero/villain trash and because female Adam Taurus is super fucking hot, and I'm happy to see I'm not the only one interested in seeing these two get together eventually. That being said, as this first chapter proves, it's going to be quite the road to get there. But it should be a fun ride, I think - I've got some interesting ideas to play with in regards to story progression.
Oh, and before I forget - as always, a huge thanks to Ickbard for helping with the story, as well as helping with a ton of other shit, both writing-related and not writing-related.
With all that said, I don't really have anything else. Thanks again for all the support on the first chapter. I hope you all also enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to see you next time!
Edit: Re-uploading this chapter to see if I can get around the issue where it's not appearing because of this dumbass site's bullshit spaghetti code that's been broken for well over a decade that they still refuse to fix. Let's see if this fixes it. Sorry for the problems, everyone - I swear it's this POS site and not me.
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