I read a lot of romance novels in my childhood, too many, my mom would say. They all ranged from action, slice of life, drama, sports, or whatever else caught my fancy. I loved to read them because of the simple pleasure of reading the feelings that the main character would go through when recognising his own emotions for either his childhood friend or the love interest. Or the build up for either one or the both of them to finally confess to one another what they have felt in their conscious for however long the story went on for up till that point.

The small little verbiage used to convey how their attraction grew to one another. How the miniscule words they spoke to one another always came back around somehow and made every little interaction into its own personal win to whatever character it impacted. Or the blushes. Or the hugs. Or the kisses.

Honestly, all of it really had me squealing or kicking my feet in the air at almost every turned page. The rejection part of it sucked though. Even if I had never had someone like that, at the time, I could feel their pain as the author dutifully and meticulously wrote out/drew that emotion on the person's face for the reader to truly understand the depth of that character's anguish. It was a fate that I immediately knew that I didn't want.

Because, there was someone that I liked.

Like… I really really liked.

Ya know… Liked liked.

The kind of like that had my heart fluttering and my stomach churning. The kind of like that had my head spinning and my knees weak. The kind of like that made me subconscious about my appearance. The kind of like that had left me a flushing mess just by the mere thought of holding hands. The kind of like that had me staring out the window of my mom's car, thinking about us and what we could be in the future.

The kind of like that had me scared what would happen if I confessed to her. The kind of like that made me anxious if she said she liked me back. The kind of like that had me petrified if she rejected me. The kind of like that had me terrified that when we got together, it wouldn't be all it's cracked up to be. The kind of like that made me fear what would happen if we were to get together and she broke up with me.

The kind of like that reminded me of all those romance stories I read as a child.

And when I somehow managed to gather the courage to confess my feelings for her. My heart had pounded so loud in my ears. I can still remember the expression on her face, one of shock, with pink dusted across her nose. Wide eyed, mouth gape slightly open. It was the first time I ever saw her like that and that had given me courage like no other. It filled me with a sense of giddiness that I had managed to do that to her.

It felt like I was in one of the many Mistralian Comics I read. On the rooftop of our private school, after our club activities were over, and the afternoon sun lit different parts of the features on her face which somehow made her even more beautiful than I ever thought possible. The wind had swept a little by, rustling her hair slightly as her fingers played with her school uniform and her teeth teased at her bottom lip. She looked to the side, obscuring her face with her bangs.

In the softest of whispers, caressed by the breeze straight to my ears, she gave me her answer.

"Yes. I would love to be your girlfriend."

My heart soared. My lungs froze. My shoulders trembled. A smile, so big, so wide, threatened to split my face in two.

"I'm glad."

I read a lot of romance novels growing up, too many, my mom would say. But the rest of my second year in that school was the happiest I've ever been in my life. Ripped straight out of some overly cheesy montage scene in a movie with ice cream dates where we shared a bowl together, movies were we held hands or leaned into one another, walks in the park under the city lights, taking turns writing song after song dedicated to one another, talks over our scrolls that would last up till late late at night.

It was a dream. It was one big fantasy come to life. It was everything I ever wanted. Everything that I ever needed.

It's a shame then… That I couldn't live in that fairy tale any longer.

"Huh?" Her stomach did somersaults in her body. Her hands felt clammy and her throat felt like it was constricting as if wrapped around by a snake.

"My parents found out that we were together…" Came the dreaded words once again. Spoken with a brokenness that reflected her heart shattering into a million pieces.

"I… I… I…" No matter how much she wished for the words to come out, they seemed trapped from some kind of invisible barrier that prevented it from escaping past her lips.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean for any of this to happen…" Whether she was oblivious to the brokenhearted girl's newly found speech impediment or just choosing to ignore it, the raven haired girl didn't know. She just stood there dumbly as the girl she longed for and been with for the better part of a year crashed the atmosphere around her shoulders. "I thought we were keeping it hidden, but it was seen straight through."

The rug felt like it was pulled from under her. She didn't know how she managed to stand up right. How she still managed to breathe. How her heart was still beating. She couldn't figure it out, Her mouth opened and closed still, unsure of what to say while her mind raced a mile a minute.

"I'll give you what little of the gifts that aren't destroyed back when I can." The girl continued on, her fingers teasing and playing at the hem of her school uniform skirt. "If there's anything else I can help you with, I'll try to do so within my abilities." A moment passes by. "I'm sorry…"

An audible gulp, followed by the ever encompassing void of silence as the young lady found her voice. "Can you… At least look at me when you say it." She hated the way her voice came out watery, hated it with such a burning passion as her sweaty hands clenched tightly into fists. Yellow eyes narrowed through glistening eyesight. "Look at me when you're breaking up with me because of your discriminatory family."

"What do you want me to say?" Still she didn't look at her, still her face was shadowed by her bangs, still did she look off to the side. "I'm sorry my family's racist?" Her shoulders tensed up. "You knew what you were getting into."

"Don't give me that." She spat, her sadness and sorrow giving way to frustration and anger. Molten lava left trails of fire down her cheeks. "I should know what I'm getting into? Well sorry for thinking you had a back bone!" The other girl flinched back at the words thrown at her and immediately, instead of taking any kind of pleasure of hurting her, she just felt like complete shit. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"I know…" There was a breath of a pause. The black haired girl's heart hammered loudly in her ears, both the ones where a normal human would be and the feline one atop of her head. Marking her ancestry as that of a faunus, a human with an animal trait and night vision. "I know you're angry… And I get why…" Her words grew softer and softer as her shoulders shook slightly. "I should have done more, maybe… But look at me."

The girl finally turned to face towards her, and when she did, it took her a minute. A solitary minute to place what it was that she was supposed to look at and when she did… All the faunus could do was let out a soft gasp and a choked sob. "Oh…" She croaked, feeling as if nails were scratching at her heart. "Oh… Weiss…"

"I tried… Blake." Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, said bitterly, sad tearful icy blue eyes staring into yellow. On her cheek, cleverly hidden away from someone who wouldn't be quite as acquainted with her face as she would be, was a faint purplish hue. "But I guess… I'm not nearly as strong or as brave as I thought I was…"

I don't know what I was expecting at the time. A relationship built on secrecy wasn't a relationship at all.

Ice cream dates where we shared a bowl together, but she had to wear a wig and keep her head down so as not to be found out. Movies where we held hands or leaned into one another, but the movies we watched were all terrible but that would mean that there wouldn't be a lot of people in the room. Walks in the park under the city lights, but the hood of her jacket was always up. Taking turns writing song after song dedicated to one another, but we'd have to be cautious about finding a room for us to be in together alone just to sing it to one another.

Talking over the scrolls was the only thing we could do without being scared of being found out. Where we could talk freely and openly. We would complain to one another about the people in our life. We would talk about what we would do when we got older. We would talk about our future. How we would have a house, maybe two or three kids (Weiss wanted boys). We would talk about our marriage, how it would go down, how her dad would have an aneurysm as soon as she handed Weiss off to me.

Those moments were the best moments. Cause that's when it felt so real. Looking back now, I don't think I was truly happy about how we had to compromise. There was always this small part of me that hated that I couldn't be proud of being someone's girlfriend. But I loved her.

I still do, as I look at the tears that streamed down her face in the gray and gloomy sky above. My heart still ached. My body wanted to move and console her, my arms itched to wrap around her thin body and hold her close to me. Because she was just sensitive like that. To others she may be prickly and cold. Prim and proper. But whenever she was around me, she allowed herself to open up and be vulnerable with me.

Blake Belladonna took one step towards her. Her arms began to raise in an attempt to grab hold of her girlfriend, only to stop as the white haired girl took one step back, shying away from her as she shook her head. There was no way to describe just how much that single act killed her.

"Please don't…" She said, her arms coming to cross around her abdomen. "If you do. I won't be able to do this. So please- hiccup- Please Blake just… Stay over there."

She froze where she was. The ears atop of her head flattened, her arms shook. Her breath labored. Her teeth clenched. Her eyes shut tight.

She wanted to run. To get away. To leave. She needed some air. She can't deal with this. She couldn't deal with this right now.

And yet… Despite the pain in her heart… There was a sort of relief too.

"I'm sorry Blake." Weiss's trembling voice came back to her, struck her through to her core. It woke her up and gave her something that was beginning to wane. "But… I'm breaking up with- "

She couldn't say that she didn't care. She would never. Because that would be a complete and utter lie. It would spit in the face of not only her feelings, but also the feelings of Weiss that they had built up over the past 6 months of the relationship. She needed to be honest with herself. She needed to be honest with her too.

Starting with this.

"You idiot, what are you doing?" Weiss exclaimed, shock running through her body as she felt the arms of her soon to be ex wrap around her. "Didn't you just hear what I said? How am I supposed to break up with you if you-"

"I love you, Weiss." The calmness in her voice belied the raging tempest beneath her breast. "I honestly and truthfully do." The heiress to the biggest supplier of Dust in Remnant went quiet at her words as her body went limp. "Nothing is going to take that away… I… I knew that this wasn't going to last… Some part of me knew that sooner or later, someone would blab…"

"Blake..?"

"I don't want this to end…" Her voice shook, but she held on strong regardless. "I don't want us to not be a thing anymore. Because, despite everything, I still had fun being with you." Weiss's arms wrapped around her then, holding onto her as her face rested in the crook of her neck.

Blake didn't comment on the warm wetness that started to soak her top.

"But I know that we have to… I'm sorry…" For not being human enough to be accepted by her parents.

"It's not fair…" Weiss choked out with her voice slightly muffled. "How are you the one being more mature about this than me…"

'I'm not… I'm barely holding myself together actually." The black haired cat faunus responded with a bitter chuckle. "I just… I just wanted to lessen the pain I know you're going through…" She held her tighter to her chest, placing her hand on the back of Weiss's head and placed her chin atop of it. "Weiss, it's ok. It's not your fault."

I felt something inside of me die.

Listening to her cries of sorrow as I tried to console her. It truly felt like the end of something special. All I can do is rub circles on her back with my thumb. Whispering over and over that things would be ok. That I didn't hate her. That I didn't blame her.

That I love her, but still understand that we couldn't be together at the moment.

As we stand there, I can feel the faint splashes of rain on my head and the tip of my nose. I turn my head up to the gloom above. My heart is heavy, yet my shoulders feel lighter.

I read a lot of romance novels as a kid… too many, my mom would say. And after trying to recreate those same moments and memories. After denying the uncomfortable truth that lay beneath the surface of murky water for so long, there was something in me that I could feel change. One feeling that wouldn't go away as the rain started to increase its crescendo.

Never again… I don't want to feel like this ever again…

Cause if this is the price to pay for being a faunus who falls in love with a human. Then I never want to fall in love with another human ever again.

X X X

5 Years Later

"Helloooooo, Remnant to Blake." There was a snapping in front of the girl's face that immediately knocked the newly turned 20 year old out of her thoughts.

"Can you not?" She grumbled, pushing her friend's hands out of the way. "I'm not a dog, Illia."

"No, not a dog." Ilia Amitola, Blake's childhood friend turned ex turned childhood friend once again, tsked at her with a waggle of her finger. The woman gave her a coy smile, metallic gray eyes glittering with mirth.

Ilia has brown hair that she has tied back in a ponytail that curls at the end like a chameleon's tail because in her words it's to "wear her heritage loud and proud". Her skin has dark spots on her arms, legs, stomach and face, chameleon scales as her faunus trait which goes hand and hand with her ability to change the color of her skin due to whatever emotion she feels or just whenever she wanted to cheat in hide and go seek when they were younger.

She wore a black crop top much like Blake is, that has their band logo of a spray painted heart with horns on either side of it and "Wild Hearts" written on the inside. For bottoms, she has on a pair of gray torn up jeans and black/white converse shoes with pink lettering on them. Hanging from her hip was several looped chains and from her neck is the same silver pendant of a tiger's paw, that Blake also has herself.

"But you are being an absentminded grumpy cat who's not paying attention when someone is introducing our new drummer to the band." Another one of Blake's friends and band members, Trifa Spinnet, gestured over to said "newest" member of the group who waved with a wink. "Ya know. The same position that you've been stressing over for the last 3 days."

Trifa is a silver haired spider Faunus with gray-blue eyes. She has pale skin and colored veins on her chest and arms due to her Faunus heritage which allows her to shoot out webs. No one in the friend group ever got the courage to ask how she managed to do that.

She wore a black sleeveless zip up jacket with the logo of their band on the left side over her breast and the same necklace as the other two friends. She has on a gray muscle shirt that shows off even more of her veins, a pair of black leather pants, and black combat boots. Her wrists were covered in different kinds of bracelets/wristbands too.

"I am not being grumpy." She grumbled, crossing her arms underneath her modest bust. "Just merely thinking."

"Ah… It's not necessarily her fault either…" Came the meek voice of the last member of their group who was scratching her cheek with an embarrassed look on her face when eyes were on her. "This was pretty much a last minute thing that I managed to put together." The woman let out a beleaguered sigh, the bunny ears atop of her head deflating with her upright figure.

Velvet Scarlatina, their "manager" of a sort, was a year older than them. She has long chocolate brown hair and tall brown bunny ears with dark brown eyes. She has on a brown leather jacket with a white sleeveless turtleneck underneath it that's tucked into a pair of high waisted blue jeans. She has on a pair of brown chelsea boots and slung over one shoulder is a light brown purse from the latest designer, Purada.

She's the one who had texted the group chat with exciting news that she found them a new drummer since their last one, Neon Katt, left the group due to creative differences. It was something that they all should have seen coming sooner or later with the way she kept talking about EDM music and her love for techno and trying to shift the group in a more electronic direction than any of them liked to.

The ensuing argument wasn't anything catastrophic, but to say that to quit a week out from their debut at the Garage was something that none of them were happy about. There was an excuse that she had given, but Blake didn't care too much to remember it. She was just pissed that they now had to scrounge for a new drummer and teach them the three songs needed in a week's time.

Which brings it back to the new situation that the lead vocalist/guitarist finds herself in with the others right now in one of the few local cafes in Vale that was owned by a faunus who wouldn't give them a suspicious look when they all walked in. "Yeah and we thank you for that Vel." Blake nodded sincerely, knowing in their heart of hearts that without her, they wouldn't have gotten anywhere if they kept on down this path of wanting to be musicians.

Clearing her throat, Blake turned to look at the blonde haired woman who was sitting there patiently while they had talked which already raised her opinion of the girl slightly. "Sorry about that, I wasn't trying to ignore you or anything." She decided to play it nice for now just to get a feel for her.

"Nah, ain't no need to worry." The blonde waved it away casually. "I'm the outsider here, so just let me know when you're ready to talk."

Nodding along at what she said, the black haired faunus caught the eyes of the other girls at the circular table that they had managed to procure for this meeting and they all looked back at her with a nod. Well, not like we have any other choice if we want to make the deadline. She sighed, before focusing back onto the girl.

"Alright then, my name is Blake Belladonna." She said, gesturing to herself before she did the same with her other friends. "This is Ilia Amitola, our guitarist." Who waved. "This is Trifa Spinnet, our bassist." Who threw up a peace sign with the most bored look on her face. "And you already know Velvet, who's our manager- slash- social media expert." Who gave a soft 'hello' and a smile.

"Yo, nice to meet ya." The woman then leaned back in her chair, a prosthetic arm thrown over the back of it while the other finger gunned at the black haired cat Faunus. She aimed a swooning smile, one that would knock the socks off anyone else and gave a flirtatious wink that had Blake blinking slowly at.

"Name's Yang Xiao Long. And I think I'd make a purrrfect fit with your band."