Show Me How You Smile

by LongSean22

Ilia Amitola; a girl who’d lived a life full of anger and tragedy, barely managing to keep herself from succumbing to the same hate so many other faunus had. Meanwhile, Carmella Lindt had only ever wanted to help people and defend what was important to her, but lacked the means to do so. Two faunus on a collision course, a pair of souls, each one meant to complete the other.

3. Chapter 3

A/N- It's been forever. Hope at least a couple of you guys are still around out there. To be fair, I WANTED to write this next chapter, but a Pokemon happened. Anyway, let's go save Haven Academy!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The fractured moon always made Ilia feel uneasy. There was just something about it, an object so big and heavy, but also broken and fragile looking, hanging over all of Remnant as if it would come crumbling down at any moment. On nights like tonight though, when the moon was full, the unease Ilia felt was cranked up to eleven. The jagged edges of the hole torn in the moon's surfaces almost looking like teeth. It was like there was a huge gaping maw in the sky, ready to bite down on the planet it orbited. Then there was the fact that some people were convinced that the moon looked like it was getting closer as years passed...

Fortunately, Ilia had more to worry about tonight than the fate of the damaged celestial body above, as the chameleon faunus' eyes were locked onto the White fang soldiers she was spying on through a pair of binoculars. She brought a finger to her ear, activating the communicator tucked inside.

"They're here," she said in a low whisper, confirming that they did in fact have the right night.

"What are they doing?" Blake's voice crackled back form the other end .

"It's tough to tell from here, I need to get closer."

"Okay, be careful, Ilia." the cat faunus replied, her worried tone coming through clear despite that static on the line.

The pony-tailed teen smirked, "Always."

She'd known the risks, that's why she'd volunteered for this job in the first place.

(Several minutes earlier)

It turned out, sneaking an entire battalion of faunus into Mistral was easier than one might think. They'd spent most of the day aboard the Pride, plotting and making the final preparations for foiling the White Fangs attack. They knew that so many faunus all entering the kingdom at once would arouse suspicion, so it was just a matter of entering the kingdom in smaller groups, which was odd, but they figured it wouldn't be enough to set off any alarms and warn the White Fang members already in the city.

So now here they were, about fifty or so faunus hiding out in the woods surrounding the academy. Blake, Sun, Ghira and Ilia all huddled together while Kali was off checking in on the other faunus. All that was left was to send someone in as a lookout to scout the situation at the academy, and Ilia had just nominated herself.

It just made sense, one person would go in silently, report the situation back via radio to the rest of the militia, who would then move in, and Ilia was by far the stealthiest of the group. Blake might have been a good second choices, but her reptilian friend had a few... advantages in the sneaking department that the cat eared faunus didn't share. Besides Blake had taken up a much more important job as the head of this operation, her parents stepping back to more of a support role and letting their daughter run the show. Ilia could see the proud glances Kali and Ghira shot the cat girl every once in a while ever since the night she'd given that speech that had rallied the people of Menagerie, and Ilia would be lying if she said she didn't feel the same sense of pride in her old friend. However, the pony tailed girl found herself a little distracted at the moment as her blue eyes continued to scan the crowd of faunus looking for someone in particular.

It wasn't a big deal or anything, but... well, once Ilia had finished her strategy meeting this morning with the Belladonna's she'd rushed back to her cabin, expecting to find a still resting rabbit faunus waiting for her, but instead only found her own empty bed. The note she'd left was gone, as was most of the tea she'd made, so the girl had probably awakened feeling better and returned to her own room. That was for the best really, less of a chance to have to answer a bunch of awkward questions about how the rabbit girl had ended up in the chameleon faunus' bed, and it wasn't like Ilia was expecting a 'thank you' or anything for what she'd done, but the situation was so bizarre she'd at least expected the long eared girl to track her down to say something about it. It was just odd was all, she hadn't seen that girl all day long. Ilia was worried she'd upset her and unintentionally crossed some kind of line in her actions. She hadn't meant to make anyone uncomfortable, Ilia had only wanted to help, but the more the lizard girl thought about it, the more paranoid she became. Should she have-

"Ilia?"

The chameleon girl jumped at her name being called, turning away from the crowd of faunus to Blake. "Yeah, um, sorry, what did you say?"

The raven haired girl gave Ilia a skeptical look. "I... just asked if you were ready to head out."

Embarrassed at being caught daydreaming, Ilia nodded solemnly. "I'm ready," she said, hardening her focus. The mission was riding on her now, she couldn't afford to be distracted.

"Be safe, Ilia," Ghira said, placing a giant hand on the younger faunus' shoulder, the chieftain had to practically hunch over in order to do so. "If you get into trouble don't hesitate to radio us for help." Ilia smiled up at the man who'd honestly been like a second father to her. She'd missed Ghira, even if he was a bit of a worry wart sometimes.

"Are you sure we should send her in alone?" Sun suddenly asked, "I mean, I could always tag along too, I can be stealthy!" Ghira, Blake, and Ilia all gave the monkey faunus a doubtful look. "Well... I mean, I could try, right?"

"One person will be harder to detect, and Ilia's the best person for the job, Sun," Blake explained. Ilia couldn't resist smirking at the compliment, and also maybe at the frustrated look on Sun's face, "and no offense to your... um... stealth abilities, but Ilia has an edge that others don't."

Before Sun could even get the question out, Ilia raised her arm's and shifted her entire body black in a pose that said, 'That's why.'

The tailed boy huffed playfully. "Whatever, I can totally still see you by the way..."

The chameleon faunus grinned mischievously. "Ok then, turn around for a second."

Sun looked confused, but complied, turning his body one hundred and eighty degrees before returning to his original position and finding only an empty spot where Ilia had once stood. He looked around the forest clearing confused for a moment, even spinning again in a complete circle, and still he couldn't figure out where 'lizard girl' had gone. He hadn't looked away that long, not long enough for her to run to the tree's for sure, and if she'd jumped above he definitely would have heard her at least.

"Uhh... where'd she-"

"Here," Ilia whispered suddenly into Sun's ear making him leap about a foot off the ground in surprise, flailing his arms at the reappearing chameleon faunus.

"WOAH!" he shouted, "When did- How did-?" Sun was baffled, how had he missed Ilia when she was standing right beside him?

"My semblance," Ilia explained, "It lets me-"

"YOU CAN TURN INVISIBLE!?" Sun practically yelled, proving just how stealthy he really was.

"It's not invisibility," Blake chimed in, having a lot of experience with her friends abilities, "it's more like a... perception filter.'

Sun scrunched up his face, clearly even more lost now. "A what-tion filter?"

"People don't notice me," Ilia clarified, a hint of sadness in her voice as she looked to Blake out the corner of her eye.

It was funny really, even her semblance seemed to be against her when it came to getting Blake's attention back in the day. How her special little gift worked was a bit difficult to explain. It was like going into a dark room with someone, and even though you can't hear or see them, you know they're there. You feel their presence, it was a kind of sixth sense that most people had, and Ilia's semblance seemed to override that sense. People just...weren't inclined to look in her direction, even when she was standing right next to them. It wasn't much, but when combined with her chameleon-like ability to change colors as she wished it made her well suited for sneaking into places she wasn't supposed to. It wasn't totally flawless, there were ways she could still be noticed while it was active. For example, if Ilia made a noise or bumped into something, then of course someone would be able to locate her instantly. The White Fang had made good use of this skill over the years, sharpening her abilities for their warped desires. Tonight though, for the first time in a long time, her semblance would serve a noble purpose, and maybe even be able to help save Haven Academy.

"Everyone else is ready," Kali said, walking over to join the rest of her family. "I should hurry to warn the Mistral Police Department so they'll be ready to apprehend the White Fang members."

"Right, I should get going too," Ilia said, "I'll radio once I get closer to the CCT plaza."

Ghira nodded in affirmation to both of them. "We all know our roles tonight. If we can successfully thwart this attack it'll change everything about how the people of Mistral view our kind. I'm hoping we can end things peacefully, but if it does come to violence do your best to pacify our opposition. There's been enough bloodshed, and at the end of the day these misguided people are still a part of our race. We can't build a better future for our people if we're willing to callously snuff out the voices of those who do not agree with us." Ghira looked to his wife and daughter, "But above all else, please be careful."

The three of them embraced for a moment, enjoying the calm before the storm. Ilia had already started to leave, but stopped at the edge of the clearing, looking back at the hugging family. Once there was a time she would have felt welcome in that tender display of affection, as a part of that family, but... Ilia didn't feel like she was there yet. She didn't deserve it, not after all the chameleon faunus had done, but tonight was the first step in making things right.

Just as Ilia was about to head off, she heard someone loudly clearing their throat to her left. She turned to see Sun standing there with his arms spread wide and looking at Ilia expectantly. Ilia gave the monkey boy a deadpan expression, then rolled her eyes, pulled out Lightning Lash and fired off it's extending blade so it wrapped around a nearby tree's branch, then she pulled and launched herself off into the night.

Sun stood there awkwardly before scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, not a hugger, probably should have expected that..."

(Present)

Swinging from tree to tree with her whip blade, Ilia made it to the plaza quickly and quietly, stopping just out of earshot from the faunus patrolling. She settled on a high tree branch and surveyed the objective, her skin a midnight blue to hide her among the darkness. White Fang members were moving busily around Haven's campus, carrying metal boxes about the size of a small suitcase, carefully passing them between each other as they brought the devices to the CCT tower in the center of the plaza where they were hefted up to the faunus scaling the sides of the structure. Ilia recognized the devices almost immediately as bombs.

The chameleon girls blood went cold. They really were going to destroy another CCT, just like they had at Beacon. This was bad, losing one tower had brought the world to the brink of collapse, losing another might just push it over the edge.

Ilia had rationalized away a lot of the terrible things the Fang had done over the years she was a member. Things like theft, kidnapping, and even murder, she'd always told herself it's been for the greater good, and she'd been wrong, but this... this was just terrorism, plain and simple. This wasn't for the faunus, it wouldn't help people see them as equal to humans, this was an act where the only possible outcome would be chaos for the sake of chaos. How had things come to this? Had she really been so ignorant as to not see just how corrupt and downright evil the White Fang had truly become?

No, she'd known what she was doing was wrong, but then why'd she go along with it for so long?

Because it felt good...

Ignoring the voice in her head, Ilia contacted Blake as promised to let her know what she'd found, "Blake, the White Fang's planted bombs all over the tower, and on the supports surrounding it."

There was a beat of silence on the other end as Blake presumably was taking in what she'd just heard, coming to terms with the worst possible scenario. "How many bombs? Can you tell what kind?" the cat faunus asked.

"Lots," Ilia replied, "I count at least ten on the side I can see, more on the struts around the tower. I... recognize the design, it's the same ones we- I mean, they usually use for demolition." The camouflaged teen winced at her slip of the tongue, but Blake didn't seem to react, at least as far as she could tell, so she continued. "Good news is I should be able to disarm them easy enough, just have to sneak a little bit-"

"Once the charges are set, move back to perimeter watch!"

Ilia's heart stopped at the sound of a familiar voice in the courtyard. Oh gods, no...

"Tonight, Haven Falls."

There was no mistaking it. That voice had haunted Ilia's nightmares for over a year now. With a trembling hand she reached up to activate her communicator. "Blake," she croaked out, her throat having gone dry, "Adam's here."

Sure enough, there he was. The red hair, the blade at his hip, that mask, that horrible, horrible mask. Adam Taurus stood there in the plaza, casually ordering around the White Fang. The scars on Ilia's back lit up with a fiery pain, she looked down to see her fingers and hands starting to turn yellow as a result of the fear building inside the young faunus at seeing him again. Blake still hadn't responded, Ilia wondered what was going through her friends head right now after hearing the news. They'd both known there was a good chance Adam would be here. He'd been the mastermind behind the assault on Beacon after all, so of course he'd want to be on site to get credit for this atrocity as well. Still though, Ilia had prayed he wouldn't be here.

Traumatic memories of the last time the two of them had crossed paths played like a horror movie in Ilia's mind. Her hands, bound and strung up above her head, Adam's face twisted into a menacing scowl as he screamed at her for answers, and the twisting of her stomach as he withdrew his blade to get said answers out of the younger faunus.

The fear was overpowering now, and yet, somewhere, deep inside said fear gave way to something much worse; HATE. A burning, red anger started building off the fear inside Ilia as she stared at Adam. The chameleon girl had spent the last year of her life in constant terror because of this man. He'd made Ilia feel weak and worthless. What right did he have to make her feel that way? To make anyone he deemed "unworthy" feel that way?

The bull faunus' list of victims was growing everyday. Blake, Ilia, even Sienna Khan, all of them had suffered just because of this monsters ambition. Remnant would be a better place without him, and no one would argue that. Maybe that's why fate had brought Ilia here, to end this despicable faunus' reign once and for all. This was her chance to bring her nightmares to a close and get the revenge the chameleon girl had been too afraid to even dream about until now. Ilia hadn't noticed, but slowly her skin had been shifting to crimson in anger as her hand slowly reached for Lighting Lash's handle.

Yes, she could finish this here and now. Her abilities, that the White Fang had been so proud to exploit back in the day, they would be what brought down their maniacal leader, permanently. Ilia could sneak down there undetected, right up behind Adam, and with one quick thrust of her blade she would-

"It doesn't matter."

Blake's sudden and surprising response shook Ilia from her vengeful fantasies. What!? It didn't matter that the personification of their grief was standing right in front of her?

"What are you talking about?" Ilia asked in disbelief.

"We're here to save Haven, if we try and make a move on Adam now, he might detonate the bombs and all of this will be for nothing," Blake reasoned.

Ilia was at a loss for words, did her friend really intend to just let Adam go? "Blake, are you serious!?" the pony-tailed faunus said sharply, "After everything he's done, you're just-"

"I'm not!" the cat faunus snapped back cutting off Ilia. The two were silent for a moment before Blake came back, her tone softened now, "Ilia, I know you're angry, I am too, but we can't risk the safety of everyone just for our own revenge. That's not why we're here."

As much as Ilia wanted to dispute the point, she knew her cat eared friend was right. If she rushed in with barely a thought this whole operation would fail. There was more at risk here than just a few faunus' lives. If that tower fell it would be disastrous for the entire world. Besides, did she really think she had what it took to kill someone? Of course not. That was always the one line she'd refused to cross, she knew there was no coming back from that. But the way she'd felt for a moment there, seeing Adam again after all this time, it had been... unsettling. Maybe that line wasn't as far away as she may have thought.

It was then Ilia noticed the red creeping up her arms, so she took a deep, calming breath to reign her emotions in and soon her skin resumed it's darker, inconspicuous tone. She was so stupid, letting her anger get the better of her like that, but who could blame her? This was Adam they were talking about. Then again, Blake had suffered just as much -if not more- at the horned faunus' hands and yet she was able to momentarily put that behind her in the name of the mission. Why couldn't Ilia manage to do the same?

...Because Blake's a better person than you...

The chameleon girl clenched her fist tightly, again trying to ignore the unpleasant, but often true, voice in her head.

"Please Ilia, just take care of the explosives," Blake pleaded in her friends ear, "once you do that we'll move in to defend the school."

Ilia sighed quietly. She was still angry, maybe she always would be? But too much was riding on her right now to give in to it. "Okay," she said in a whisper.

"Thank you," Blake came back, "I promise, after tonight Adam will get what's coming to him, one way or another."

Ilia took one final look at her former mentor as he barked out orders to the White Fang members under his command, all of them still oblivious to the camouflaged girl watching them. She took another deep breath before springing into action. A couple of White Fang passed underneath the tree Ilia was perched in, probably going to keep lookout like their leader had said. The pony-tailed teen briefly considered taking them out, but that was a job for the militia, she had bigger fish to fry. With a few quick and silent leaps she finally reached the courtyard. She landed in a roll on the ornate wooden roof of the building nearest the tower, changing her skin tone to match the slightly darker blue of the wood beneath her. She crept low as she tip-toed across the top of the building, observing and counting at least eight faunus patrolling the CCT, not counting Adam, with probably more of them waiting back in the woods. A few of them were right next to the structure Ilia was peaking over, but her semblance made sure they never even thought she might be there.

The best way to the tower and the bombs would be across the thick communication wires running from the building to the CCT itself, a simple matter for someone as nimble as the lizard faunus. She could run about halfway and then jump off onto one of the struts supporting the tower, then start defusing the bombs from there. Ilia waited for a nearby patrol to wander away, and then like a bolt from a crossbow, she shot off the roof, sprinting across the wire without a sound. Then, without hesitation she leapt off onto the curved edge of the strut, trying her best to muffle the grunt made as she landed, her aura absorbing most of the fall, but it was still far enough to affect her. Ilia stayed crouched motionless for a moment, changing her color yet again to match the deep maroon of the support. She waited to see if their was any sound of alarm, but heard nothing, so she got to work.

There were bombs planted all over this strut, as well as a few of the others. The chameleon girl crept over to the nearest one, she almost scoffed at the sight of the explosive when she saw it. All these years and the White Fang was still using the same old, outdated tech, not that she was necessarily complaining, it just made her job easier. She withdrew Lightning Lash from her hip and used it's pointed tip to gently pry the cover off the bomb. From there all Ilia had to do was pull three wires in the proper order; white, yellow, and then red. As soon as the final wire was pulled, the ominous red light on the device fizzled out as the bomb was disarmed. With a smirk of self satisfaction, Ilia re-closed the cover and made her way to the next explosive.

Defusing the rest of the bombs on the strut was child's play for the nimble teen and soon she made her way to the next support, then the next, until finally all that remained were the explosives on the tower proper. There were faunus watching from the balcony on the lower section of the CCT, luckily there were no bombs on that level though. With another quick leap and silent landing, Ilia was on the tower right above the unaware faunus patrolling under her and continued her job, having to try and be much quieter with her work now with the White Fang so close. The lower bombs weren't a problem, neither were the higher ones thanks to the chameleon girls innate climbing abilities and non-existent fear of heights, but the one near the top of the tower was a problem. It was probably the most dangerous and the one likely to do the greatest amount damage because if the antennae itself was destroyed the tower itself would basically be useless.

There were little to no handholds on the side of the CCT, but Ilia traveled across the structure like it was nothing as she made her way up to the final bomb. One might ask why the White Fang had planted so many explosives when they could have probably done the job with one, but the radical group had never done things halfway, and weren't exactly notorious for their subtlety.

Ilia shifted her skin to a solid white as she reached the top section of the tower. Lighter colors were harder, especially since she couldn't exactly change the tone of her suit, but if she worked quickly it wouldn't matter. Like she had several dozen times now, the faunus teen began the disarming process, while also being aware of a pair of White Fang members that had moved up next to the tower and were talking among themselves. They seemed as oblivious as the others, chatting about the weather in Mistral or something as equally uninteresting as Ilia found them to be more of an annoying distraction than a threat. The final bomb opened, the lizard girl began removing the wires, first white, then yellow, and finally-

"What are you idiots doing?"

Adam's voice shouted below Ilia, making her freeze in place with her hand on the last wire. She heard his two cronies stammer out an excuse or seven before Adam cut them off, "I told you to go back to perimeter watch, not stand around by the tower. Get back to work. I won't let my greatest victory be ruined because of your laziness."

Ilia let go of the wire, turning her body so she was hanging onto the tower with one arm so she could look down on Adam with spite. That was all that really mattered to him, wasn't it? Not the Fang or the faunus, or even the people he deemed worthy of keeping close. No, everything was about him, getting revenge for the injustices HE had suffered, making sure HE was victorious, that HE was remembered as the hero.

The two faunus scurried off, leaving Adam alone as he looked over the courtyard. "Though, it's not like anyone could stop me even if they wanted to," he muttered under his breath just loud enough for Ilia to hear the smug smirk in his voice. This just made Ilia's anger and frustration grow. With her free hand, she reached for her weapon.

That's right, the dark voice in her ear encouraged. Blake doesn't know what she's talking about. The only way to end this nightmare is to stop Adam, permanently.

For the first time in weeks, Ilia actually found herself agreeing with that twisted side of her. It would be all too easy, to just jump off this building onto Adam. From this height, his aura wouldn't count for anything against the force of her fall and she could skewer Adam easily with her whip-blade. She was the only one who could do this, Blake could never make a choice like this, after all, she wasn't like Ilia.

However, it was that thought that shook the chameleon girl back into reality. She was reminded of her friends, and Ghira's, words, about how this couldn't be about revenge. If they just went around killing whoever they wanted whenever they wanted, that would make them just as bad as the White Fang was now. If they really wanted to change the way the faunus were viewed then they had to be better than this. That meant Adam needed to face justice for his crimes.

Ilia closed her eyes and sighed under her breath as she re-holstered her weapon. It was hard, but deep down the wayward faunus wanted to be better than this too. She hung there a while longer as she watched Adam walk away. Ilia vowed that they'd take him down for everything he'd put her through, but also that they'd do it the right way.

Unfortunately, Ilia was so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn't notice the piece of stone she'd been dangling from start to crumble and then suddenly break. With a soundless gasp, the teenage faunus found herself falling.

Ilia grasped wildly at the side of the tower for anything to latch back on. Thankfully, she was able to quickly find a handhold on a small outcropping only a few feet below where she'd been hanging from a second ago. Covered in a sudden panic induced sweat, hanging one handed off the side of the CCT, the chameleon girl fought to control her breathing, the entire operation had almost just fallen apart because of her, but she'd managed to catch herself. Just as Ilia was about to let out a sigh of relief, she saw the piece of stone she'd loosened fall past her head towards the ground.

The piece was small, but the "thud" it made when it hit one of the lower roofs of the tower reverberated through the silent night. It hit the ground shortly after, rolling to a stop near Adam's feet. The horned faunus paused, then slowly turned to the rubble below him, then he looked up at the CCT.

Ilia felt her chest tighten, she went completely still, her fingers starting to ache as they were the only thing supporting her now. She knew her semblance did a lot to help keep her hidden, but now that someone had reason to suspect she was there, she didn't know how long she would remain incognito. The lizard faunus could practically feel Adam's mask covered eyes scanning every inch of the tower, she knew it was only a matter of time before-

BOOM!

The building on the north end of the courtyard suddenly exploded getting the attention of Adam, Ilia, and all the White Fang in attendance. The horned faunus ran off towards the ear shattering blast as the dangling teen just stared in surprise. It looked like the entirety of the entryway to Haven's main building had just blown open, but there was no sign of any fire or smoke or any of the usual telltale signs of the explosion that Ilia was positive she'd just heard.

Then, suddenly from the pile of wood and debris, a mountain of a man rose to his feet. Shockingly, despite having just been thrown through a wall by some unseen destructive force, the man stood without so much as a stumble, like he was merely inconvenienced by what had just happened to him.

Just when Ilia became sure the scene before her couldn't get any stranger, the giant man reached into pouches strapped to his thighs and pulled out what appeared to be two fire dust crystals. Then to the chameleon faunus' horror, stabbed both of them into his own biceps. The man let out a roar that shook all of Haven, Ilia couldn't tell if it was out of pain or anger, perhaps both, either way the sheer presence of this man was intimidating.

What the hell was going on at this school tonight? Was someone else attacking the academy? What did this mean for the plan?

The plan...

THE BOMB! She'd never finished defusing the last one! Blake and the other faunus from Menagerie would be here any second and someone down there in that courtyard still had a detonator wired to blow the CCT to pieces!

Ilia looked up the tower to where the final bomb remained. Her arms were exhausted from hanging so long, the space between her and the destination seemed infinity further than before, but she had to make it. Thanks to the distraction in the courtyard right now, she at least didn't need to be subtle anymore. So the young faunus pulled out Lighting Lash, pointed it upwards and fired it's pointed tip, anchoring it into the wall next to her target. With another pull of the trigger, Ilia quickly rocketed up side of the tower, snatching the final wire from the bomb as she passed it.

Her job finally done, the exhausted faunus used her weapon once more to lower herself to the ground where she collapsed against the tower, desperately trying to catch her breath. That had been way more complicated than it needed to be. Her shoulders felt like they would have popped out of their sockets if she'd had to hold on for even one second longer.

Unfortunately, as much as Ilia wanted and needed to rest, her night wasn't over yet. The bombs had been neutralized, now it was the White Fang's turn.

---

Carmella bounced her left leg anxiously as she leaned against a pretty uncomfortable tree waiting for the battle to start. She looked down at the "stun spear" she, as well as the other members of the militia, had been given. She'd spun the weapon in her hands a few times to try and get used to it's weight when she'd gotten it, but now it laid next to her shield against the tree she was leaning on. The hastily painted golden wolf's head on the shield gleamed under a ray of moonlight that had managed to cut through the thick forests branches, a stark reminder of what awaited the faunus teen later tonight.

All around Carm, the faunus militia sat quietly. There were about fifty or so of them in this group, and the rabbit girl could guess exactly what was on each and every one of their minds right now; This was it.

Everything they'd trained for these last weeks, it all came down to tonight. Carmella couldn't remember ever feeling so nervous and/or excited at the same time in her whole life. The idea of what was about to happen hadn't really had a chance to set in yet, mainly because she'd spent all day trying to avoid-

It was then that the long eared girl saw a unnaturally curly pony-tail move between the trees. Ilia stepped into the small clearing where the Belladonna's were preparing for the upcoming battle. After exchanging words with the chieftains daughter, Ilia seemed to begin looking off, scanning the crowd of faunus, looking for someone. Carmella immediately darted around to the opposite side of the tree she'd been leaning on, earning her a few odd looks from the faunus around her. After a moment, she cautiously poked her head out from the hiding place to see the spot covered girl had gone back to talking with the chieftains family.

The rabbit girl sighed in relief, but also with a hint of frustration. Hiding behind a tree like this, what was she? Five? The situation was beyond complicated at this point. Carm really WANTED to talk to Ilia, having never properly thanked her for taking care of the seasick rabbit faunus back on the boat, but after her talk with Mata, Carmella wasn't so sure she should. Not that she wasn't insanely grateful for what the pony-tailed girl had done for her, it was just... Mata had told her some things about Ilia that were concerning to say the least. Had it been anyone else that'd told her she wouldn't have bothered even listening, but she trusted Mata and knew he wasn't the type to make stuff like this up.

So now Carm knew what apparently everyone else in the militia did; that Ilia used to be with the White Fang, the same White Fang that the people of Menagerie -including Carmella herself- had been training to stop at Haven. Apparently the spot covered girl had been a member as recently as a couple weeks ago, going as far as to openly speak out against the Belladonna's themselves at a press conference. That wasn't all however, Ilia had also been a part of the assault on the chieftain's home, attempted to kill Ghira and his family, or so the rumors went. Sure, Carmella didn't exactly know the Belladonna's personally, but her brother Phyll had been there that night, fighting alongside the chieftains personal guard against the White Fang assassin's. The rabbit girl didn't know what she would have done if anything had happened to Phyll, her brother meant so much to her, and Ilia had been a part of that attack.

At first, Carmella didn't even believe that someone who'd go out of there way to help a stranger would be capable of being a part of something like that, or at least she didn't want to. But she'd seen Ilia there that night, though at the time Carm didn't know why, and that meant the rabbit girl had to investigate further. She'd spent all morning asking the other faunus around the Pride and was surprised to find that there stories all seemed to line up with what Mata had overheard, which looked pretty incriminating for Ilia.

So what did that make Ilia then? A criminal? Exactly the kind of person Carmella had promised her dad she would stay away from? Or... something worse? Honestly, the long eared faunus didn't know how to feel about the mysterious girl now. She wasn't really angry, what right did she have to be? She hardly even knew Ilia to begin with, so it wasn't like she felt betrayed or anything. At then end of the day, she supposed she was just... confused.

If Ilia was supposed to be some kind of "villain", as many had put it, then why'd she help Carm like she did? She'd scooped a barely conscious rabbit girl off the floor -when anyone else would have probably just kept walking- and taken care of her, even letting her rest in the spotted girl's own bed. Carmella didn't feel like it was an exaggeration to say that it was probably one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for her. The version of Ilia that everyone else seemed to know was just completely different from the one Carm had met.

So I guess you could say this whole "hide-and-seek" thing was a kind of... reconnaissance by Carmella into the kind of person Ilia really was. She had to make sure she wasn't dangerous or anything, that's all, Carm just wanted to get a better read on this girl. It wasn't even remotely weird. And it definitely didn't look like she was borderline stalking Ilia or anything. Nope. Definitely not.

Speaking of the girl that Carm was almost certainly stalking at this point, Ilia then zipped off into the forest using what looked liked some kind of whip-sword that made the rabbit teens eyes sparkle widely. "That is so freaking cool," Carmella said aloud to herself earning more weird looks from the faunus around her.

With Ilia gone Carmella returned to her former post, trying to get comfortable against the tree while settling the butterflies in her stomach, the upcoming battle still weighing heavy on the young faunus' mind. She looked around once more for Mata, hoping a familiar face would put her at ease, but apparently the ram faunus had been put in the other group. The plan to defend Haven required the militia to split in two so they could surround the White Fang, one approached from the east and the other from the west. Once they'd sprung their little surprise interference they'd spread out making a barrier to trap the radical faunus and keep any of their members from escaping. It was a simple plan, but it seemed solid, even more so if they could get the help of the Mistral Police Department.

Despite how solid the plan might seem, Carmella couldn't help but still feel nervous for some reason. She'd trained hard, harder than ever before in her life for this. She understood what the White Fang was capable of, and she'd accepted the risk that she might get hurt. Yet, despite this, as the moment drew near the long eared girl could already feel her knees shaking.

It's alright, she thought to herself, it'll be just like sparring... with people who will be trying to kill you... and who have guns... guns they will shoot to kill you...

Carm groaned loudly, resorting to slapping herself a few times in an effort to pump herself up. It didn't work, the only results were a stinging sensation in both her cheeks and the few remaining faunus around her slowly starting to back away from the bizarrely behaving rabbit girl.

She knew she shouldn't be worrying. After all, it wasn't like she was doing this alone, everyone else here was probably just as nervous as she was, they were all just really, really good at hiding it... probably... Yeah, it'd all be okay, she just needed a few minutes to collect her-

"Alright you guys! We're moving out!" Carm felt her whole body tense up at the sound of Sun Wukong's voice as he quickly began leading the faunus militia through the woods towards Haven.

Oh god, oh god, oh god, it's happening, panic started to overwhelm Carmella, I'm not ready! What was I thinking!? I can't-

Then Carm looked down at the old White Fang's symbol painted on her shield. She'd learned a little about the faunus civil rights group back in school, how they used to stand up for their people, how they'd made sure humanity kept their promises after the Great War, to treat faunus as equals. They were the good guys once, fighting for a downtrodden people who wanted nothing more than to exist happily in the world, but somewhere down the line they changed. It was like they kind of... gave up, choosing to take a more violent approach to their cause. The story of the White Fang's fall always made the rabbit faunus a little sad, they were supposed to be the best of her kind, but now their kind was forced to stand against them.

The long eared girl thought back to the speech the Belladonna's daughter had given the night of the fire, about how doing nothing and staying silent in the face of injustice let other people act and speak for you. Carmella definitely didn't want a group resembling what the White Fang had become speaking for her or deciding what the rest of the world thought of the faunus, so that meant she had to act, right? Not just for her family or herself, but for the future of all her kind. That was why she was here, and she had to remember that.

Carmella straightened her posture, picked up her weapon and shield and hurried off to catch up with the rest of her group.

It was a short walk through the woods to Haven Academy, with Sun leading the pack. Their was a bit of excitement when they'd run into a couple of White Fang members on patrol, but their monkey tail leader, as well as a few of the faunus at the front of the group, were able to knock them out nice and quietly before an alarm could be sounded. The best course of action the militia found was to leave the two rouge faunus tied to a nearby tree where they could be picked up by the authorities later.

Unfortunately, due to Carmella's little panic attack earlier, she'd been at the back of the line and thereby missed all of the action, but she did manage to get a good look at the two out cold, masked faunus as she walked past. The sight served as another grim reminder of how real all of this was, but the rabbit girl's resolve had already been hardened, and this time she didn't allow any of the panic to set in, she just kept moving.

Eventually they arrived at Haven, Carm could barely resist gawking at the sheer size of the school, the CCT itself was probably the tallest man made structure she'd seen in her life. This was the kind of place the rabbit girl had always dreamed of going, attending classes and training to become a huntress herself someday. It was hard, but the long eared teen had to quickly remind herself that she wasn't here as a sightseer, they had a job to do.

Even though she still found herself at the back of the group, Carm's long, extra set of ears were able to make out voices in the courtyard as they made their approach. She couldn't quite hear what they were saying, until she heard Sun suddenly shout out, "That's why she didn't come alone!" After that, their were more words she couldn't quite hear, but they sounded excited.

Getting frustrated, Carmella began trying to squeeze past the people in front of her to make her way closer to the conversation in the center of the plaza. She got about halfway when suddenly the night lit up and a loud beeping filled the air that almost had the young faunus pulling her ears down at the sound. From behind the school, three airships of Mistralian design rose, their engines whirring as they pointed there searchlights down into Haven's courtyard.

"Adam Taurus," a voice over one of the ships PA systems boomed above, "this is the Mistral Police Force! Lower you weapons and surrender peacefully!" Carm stared upwards, awestruck but also smiling happily at the fact the police had actually come to help them, or rather, humanity had come to help the faunus.

The rabbit eared girl finally managed to make her way to the front of the group to see what was going on. There were a bunch of White Fang goons in the center of the plaza in their usual armor and masks, all identical except one. The man had fiery red hair, swept back with a pair of horns sticking out and a sheathed blade at his hip. Also his mask was smaller than the rest, only covering his eyes with red curved marks on it than resembled the ones commonly seen on Grimm.

"How!? How did you do this!?" Carmella looked across the courtyard, curious who the red haired faunus was yelling at, to see the chieftains daughter Blake standing there. He sounded angry, but there was also a barely contained panic underneath that the rabbit girl picked up on.

"Adam," Blake replied, naming the red and black colored man, "it's over."

Adam Taurus... the name definitely sounded familiar to Carm, but too much was going on for her to really wrack her brain on the subject at the moment. The rabbit girl looked back and forth between Blake and Adam, she'd never considered herself an expert on such things, but she could sense a history between these two.

Before she could even begin to ascertain what that history was, Adam reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device. "Then it's over for all of us."

Carmella's golden eyes went wide in fear. She'd seen enough action movies to know what a detonator looked like. There was no way to prevent it, no one could get there in time to stop him. As Adam's thumb pressed down on the trigger, Carm shut her eyes tightly and braced herself as best she could for what was coming. She thought about how she'd never see her family again. How she'd promised her dad she'd be safe, but now she was going to die thousands of miles away from-

Wow. That explosion sure was taking it's sweet time, wasn't it?

"What are you trying to do? Get us all killed?"

At the sound of the unfamiliar voice in place of what should have been an earth shattering "kaboom," Carm cracked an eyelid open. She saw Adam grabbing one of his subordinates by his collar and screaming at him, but the rabbit girl was still recovering from her entire life flashing before her eyes to really hear it.

She was.. alive? How? What had happened? Was there no bomb after all?

"We sent someone to confirm your explosives," Blake said, both confirming Carmella's fears and calming them at the same time, "and once we did she disarmed them."

Wait. She? Could it be? Was it even possible? Carmella had only seen one person dart off ahead of the rest, vanishing into the night alone...

Suddenly, as if appearing from nowhere, a figure walked out of the shadows onto the lower level of the CCT tower, a handful of wires in hand and a badass looking scowl on her face.

Two thoughts crossed the young rabbit girls mind then. First; That it should be illegal for anyone to look as cool as Ilia did right now, and second; That the spotted girl had just saved her yet again, along with every other faunus at Haven that night.

---

Looking down on Adam Taurus was a new perspective for Ilia, but one she could definitely get used to. She proudly held out the handful of wires she'd ripped out of the bull faunus' precious bombs, turning them into nothing more than ugly metal additions to the side if the CCT tower. Even from this distance the chameleon girl could tell Adam was seething up at her, enraged that someone he'd cast aside as unworthy had managed to ruin his plans. Blake had been right, this was so much more satisfying than stooping to his level. Granted it wasn't everything that Adam deserved, but it was a damn fine start.

"I told you, Adam," Ilia heard her cat eared friend say, "it's over." The pony tailed faunus smiled proudly at Blake. Her friend had come a long way from the shy bookworm hiding behind Ghira when they'd first met all those years ago. Now she'd managed to turn a bunch of reluctant faunus into an army and helped lead an attack to save an entire kingdom.

Adam's growl of rage brought Ilia out of her reverie as he suddenly charged at Blake, his hand going to his blade. Ilia's eyes went wide. How had they not planned for this? Of course Blake would be the first target Adam would lash out at in frustration. Now her friend was alone, there was no one there to help and no way to get there in time to protect her. Ilia reached out futilely, about to call out Blake's name just as Adam reached his target.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the enraged bull faunus swung, slicing Blake in two...

... or rather, he sliced the shadow clone Blake had left in her place, as the real cat girl appeared at Adam's side, her hands clasped tightly together above her head. In an instant, Blake brought both her entwined fists down on the still mid swing faunus' head, sending Adam to the ground, hard.

Ilia stared in disbelief, her arm still halfway outstretched. She watched as Adam fell, the man who'd haunted her thoughts for over a year now, was brought down by her best friend in one mighty blow. It was at that moment Ilia realized what Adam really was. He wasn't some unbeatable supervillain, or a monster that couldn't be stopped, and he damned sure wasn't the unflappable voice of the faunus. No, he was just a man, a faunus, one twisted by humanities cruelty into a weapon of rage and destruction, like her. He was fallible, and in a way, almost pitiable. Now, everyone saw what he really was, as the White Fang members in the plaza began to exchange looks of doubt, their all powerful leader brought down by a teenage girl's single strike.

Their stories weren't all that different, Ilia supposed, they'd both lost plenty and had used the pain of those loses to justify a crusade against the humans. The only difference was Ilia had managed to realize where the path she was on lead her before it was too late. She'd had friends and family that could pull her back, Adam hadn't, and instead was much more adept at pushing others away than the chameleon girl had ever been, which she was thankful for in a way. Now it was time for Ilia and the rest of the faunus of Menagerie to prove just how fallible Adam really was by stopping her former mentor here and now.

However, the red haired bull faunus wasn't about to give up without a fight. "KILL THEM!" he roared as he pushed himself up off the ground.

Things immediately went to hell. The White Fang began firing indiscriminately at the militia, but thankfully the shields they carried, as well as the training they'd all received, allowed them to block most of the shots. The faunus charged their masked brethren and the Battle for Haven officially began.

Ilia leapt off the steps of the CCT and into the action, whipping out Lighting Lash and with a quick swing disarming several of the White Fang with an electrical strike from her whip. She followed it up with a few quick hits, sending the wayward faunus to the ground, unconscious. All around her, members of her race where fighting. A few of the more daring ones Ilia had helped train ran straight at there opposition and started beating down on them with there stun spears, while the rest hung back acting as a distraction for the White Fang. The -almost late- Mistral Police rappelled down from their airships and began also attacking the radical faunus group alongside the militia. To top everything off, Sun, Blake, Ghira, and now Ilia herself were fighting as well, sending entire groups of White Fang flying as they tore through their numbers.

It looked like things would be over quick, but then a handful more White Fang came busting out of the treeline around the plaza, joining the fray, but still the militia outnumbered them at least three to one. This was turning into a war of experience versus numbers and if that was the case it could go either way. Right now though, the militia seemed to have the upper hand so Ilia decided to instead focus on disarming the White Fang with guns as those weapon were the only real advantage they had against them at this point. Things were off to a hectic start, but overall they seemed to be going well, which in Ilia's experience meant they were about to take a turn for the worse.

The big man that'd exploded out of the side of Haven Academy's main building hadn't moved a muscle since his bizarre dust injection. Ilia made sure to keep at least one eye on him, the only unknown in this battle so far. He didn't look like a faunus, but then again who was Ilia to assume, his clothes were torn and tattered and he wore a mask of calm in the face of the skirmish in front of him. Who was he? Why was he here, tonight of all nights? His menacing presence weighted heavy on the chameleon girls mind.

Suddenly, there was movement inside the school as a white flash shone briefly before a... something came flying out, stabbing into the giant of a mans lower back. Ilia stopped fighting to stare in disbelief as the huge human grunted in pain as he was impaled, but shockingly didn't fall, if anything he looked more annoyed than anything by this development. Then, in the blink of an eye, he was immediately pulled back into the giant hole in the side of the school.

This was quickly becoming one of the strangest nights of the young lizard faunus' life. She looked to her left to see Blake there, also staring at the bizarre sight, but her expression was different from the one Ilia wore. It was one of surprise, but also recognition, and maybe just a tiny bit of dread. Did Blake know something about what had just happened? Her friends eyes were locked onto Haven's destroyed entrance as she seemed oblivious to the battle surrounding them. Unfortunately, Ilia wasn't the only one who'd noticed her friend paralyzed state, and from behind her, Adam rose to his feet gripping his swords hilt tightly with his teeth clenched as he began rushing at Blake again.

Ilia's feet moved without thinking and she began sprinting over to intercept, Lightning Lash already crackling with energy. She swung her whip out, managing to snag Adam's wrist before he could draw Wilt, and sending electricity coursing through him. The bull faunus' yell of pain snapped Blake out of her stupor and she turned back in time to see Ilia's foot slamming into the masked swordsman's midsection, sending Adam rolling across the courtyard several feet.

The chameleon girl landed in a a crouch, putting herself between Blake and Adam and glared at the bull faunus protectively. "Blake!" she shouted over her shoulder, not taking her eyes off the man before her, "go figure out what that was," she said referring to the glowing harpoon that seemed to spirit away the mountain of a human that had been standing there only seconds ago.

"Ilia, I-"

Adam was back on his feet and charged with a roar at the pony tailed girl, swinging his red sword at her. Ilia managed to get her whip-blade up in time to block and now found her self face to face with her former "friend". The bull faunus bared his teeth in fury as he pressed her sword against the spotted teen and Ilia glared right back even though it was quickly becoming obvious she was outclassed in strength. Ilia was using every drop of adrenaline in her body to keep her footing.

The lizard girl looked back over her shoulder at her cat eared friend. "Blake! Go!" she shouted, "I've got this."

Blake gave Ilia a hesitant look, but then nodded before disappearing into Haven's main building. Her friend now out of sight, the chameleon girl felt her resolve waver. 'I've got this?' what was she thinking!? Adam was going to absolutely destroy her! She knew exactly how strong he was, she'd seen the wake of bodies he'd left in his path firsthand. What made her think she even stood a chance in this fight?

"I should have killed you back in Vale," Adam hissed at her.

Ilia's eyes flickered with fear as the painful memories of what she'd been through at this mans hands came back yet again and the scars that crisscrossed across her body flared up in pain, but this time, with the pain came anger. He'd tried to break her, and maybe he had in a way, but there was enough of the old Ilia left in her to want to make sure he never put anyone else through what she'd experienced.

"You'll wish you had," the now red eyed Ilia said in a low voice.

With a yell, the enraged chameleon girl summoned strength she didn't even knew she had to shove Adam back and plant another kick into his abdomen. The bull faunus growled like a wounded animal as he leapt back and with a swing, launched a crimson wave of energy at Ilia. The spotted girl jumped and twisted in mid-air to dodge, she could feel the heat from the attack as it just barely passed her, tearing up the courtyard until it finally hit the wall behind her where it left a huge gash in the stone.

Adam didn't let up for a second, and before both Ilia's feet even hit the ground he'd moved in and delivered three quick slashes on the still off balance lizard faunus. The relentlessness of her opponent meant Ilia had no choice but to try and deflect his blows, her panic growing with each clash of their weapons. She knew how his semblance worked, or at least had a pretty good idea after having witnessed it enough times. It wasn't obvious, and Adam definitely didn't share any information with anyone about it, not even among his own troops, but from what Ilia had managed to gather it had something to do with absorbing and releasing kinetic energy. Which meant the longer a fight went on, the more dangerous he became. Every time her steel met his, Ilia knew she was giving Adam more ammo to use against her.

She couldn't let the doubt sink in. Ilia had to be smart about this, keep Adam's focus on her and off the militia members fighting nearby, he'd tear through them like tissue paper if he had the chance. She knew she was never going to be able to overpower Adam, but she just might be able to out-think him.

Ilia twisted her whip in the air in front of her and began a quick rotation with her arm, almost creating a barrier of twirling electricity and forcing the bull faunus to back off for a moment. The chameleon girl spun her arm faster and faster as she slowly began walking towards Adam and moving the wall of thrashing metal and energy Lightning Lash was making towards him.

The swordsman didn't look too eager to approach at first, but then gave Ilia a dark smile as he re-sheathed his weapon. The chameleon girl didn't even dare to hope he was surrendering. Sure enough, the telltale red marks on his mask and clothes started to glow and his body crackled with energy before he dashed straight into the storm Ilia was creating. The younger faunus was surprised by this, but then realized this could be the chance she'd been waiting for. It looked like Adam had finally made a mistake, let his anger get the better of him like she knew he would and this was Ilia's chance to take advantage.

She should have known it wouldn't be that easy.

Just as her whip blade was about to make contact, something appeared at Adam's side. It looked like a shadowy copy of himself, jet black except for the burning red of his hair and mask. The clone knocked away the strike before disappearing into dust as Adam stepped a little closer. Ilia felt panic swell inside her as she started to try and swing even faster, her shoulder starting to hurt from the constant rotation. This just made the copies appear quicker, each lash from her weapon being deflected effortlessly as Adam got even closer.

Had the bull faunus really gotten so much energy from just the few times he'd made contact with Ilia's weapon? The thought that even with all of the fear and doubt she'd felt in deciding to face this monster, she'd still somehow managed underestimate Adam's power and ability horrified the lizard girl. She watched as the red haired, horned man got closer and closer, her attacks only slowing him down ever so slightly. He still hadn't even fully withdrawn his red blade as it just barely peaked out of Blush at his hip.

His blade...

Ilia's mind raced as she managed to put together a plausible, but desperate strategy. It was a big risk, but if she could pull this off, then it would certainly turn the tide of their fight in her favor. She stopped her assault, switching Lighting Lash into it's rigid, pointed sword form, giving Adam the opportunity to close the remaining distance between them.

This is gonna hurt... she thought to herself as the two fighters finally reached one another. Wilt exploded out of its sheath, eager for blood and quicker than the blink of an eye. Ilia waited until the last second before she broke her stance and went into a deep roll. She grit her teeth as she felt the sting of Adam's sword cutting into her shoulder. Her aura held up, probably thanks to the bull faunus expending all the energy he'd built up deflecting her earlier attacks, but still he left a long cut across Ilia's arm. She felt warm blood start to drip down from the wound, but she didn't care. What was one more scar this monster left on her body to her? Especially if this worked. A pull on Lightning Lash proved the risk had been worth it. Adam felt the pull as well, his sword suddenly seeming to try and leap out of his hands. He looked to Wilt, shocked to see Ilia's whip was wrapped around the blade.

The wounded chameleon girl planted her feet firmly on the ground. All those years she'd seen Adam fight, he'd never fought without his sword, hell he'd never even let the thing out of his sight. This lead to the theory; What if he needed it to "conduct" the energy he used in his semblance? It was a rough hypothesis at best, but Adam would kill her regardless, so why not give it a shot?

Ilia pulled as hard as she could, trying to rip Wilt right out of Adam's hands. The bull faunus was quicker though and re-tightened his grip on the weapon with both hands now, his reaction giving Ilia the feeling she'd been right about his dependency on it. The two engaged in a brief game of tug-of-war, but despite being caught off guard at first, it was still clear Adam was stronger than the nearly exhausted chameleon girl, but Ilia had an answer for this. She pulled the trigger on Lightning Lash, sending electricity surging into Adam's sword and then into the bull faunus' arm... or at least that was the plan, which things rarely go according to. As the electric dust was poured into Wilt, the weapon glowed bright red, brighter than Ilia had ever seen.

Adam's smirk told Ilia all she needed to know about the mistake she'd just made, apparently it wasn't just physical attacks that he could absorb, but energy based one as well, and she'd just filled up his tank.

With a savage pull, the bull faunus wrenched his blade free, nearly pulling the pony-tailed girl to the ground with the force. Ilia stumbled a bit, then looked up just in time to see a torrent of red energy flowing from Adam as he swung his sword downward and a humongous wave of crimson overtook the young chameleon girls body. All Ilia could think to do in the instant she had to prepare was to bring her arms up in front of her face to brace herself.

Her aura didn't hold up long in the face of such a brutal attack, but long enough to keep her alive at least. As soon as it fell, a searing, unbearable pain covered Ilia's entire body as she was thrown back. Before she hit the ground, the only sensation the faunus teen was aware of was Lighting Lash falling from her hand.

Somehow, despite the agony, Ilia managed to barely stay conscious after the attack, as her back and head slammed against the unforgiving pavement beneath her. Every bit of her hurt, but she could in fact confirm she was alive, somehow. Through sheer willpower, Ilia managed to open her eyes to see her weapon lying on the ground nearby, she instinctively reached out for it, her fingers just grazing it's curved hilt before a red and black boot stomped down on her hand.

"Well, doesn't this feel familiar," Adam's voice was muffled, like it was being heard underwater. Ilia briefly wondered if maybe she had a concussion, though she had a feeling that would soon be the least of her problems, "You, at my mercy, abandoned by your so-called friend. It's all so nostalgic, don't you agree, Ilia?"

Despite her current state, the injured chameleon girl still managed a glare up at the man gloating over her. In response, the bull faunus unsheathed Wilt and pressed the blade to her throat. Ilia swallowed hard as she felt the still warm metal against her skin.

"You chose the wrong side, Ilia," Adam continued to taunt the younger faunus, "Throwing your life away for a bunch of traitors and cowards? Pathetic."

He wasn't wrong, but the chameleon girl would never regret that choice, the choice to stand with her friends... her family. She'd done terrible things to the Belladonna's, to Blake herself, and they'd forgiven her, the least Ilia could do in return was be willing to lay down her own life for them.

Between labored breaths the wounded teen gave Adam her response, "No...you... pathetic... alone..."

The masked faunus raised his sword above his head slowly, "Once I'm through with you, I'll parade your lifeless body all across Anima," Adam said with a smile. "You'll serve as a reminder of what happens to those who stand in the way of my destiny."

Ilia wished she had the strength to roll her eyes right now. She'd spent years fighting for Adam's so called "destiny" for the faunus. She was just so tired of hearing about it now, she was tired of all of this, all this fighting. Maybe it was the head injury talking, but she just didn't see the point anymore. In the end what happened to her didn't matter really, what was one faunus' life in comparison to her entire race? If she died here, at the hands of this madman, then so what? The White Fang was done for after tonight, best case scenario they'd be divided, to the point of collapse even. The job was done, and she could rest easy knowing she'd done her part.

Ilia closed her eyes, content to just let it end. There was a yell of exertion as Adam brought his sword down aiming for the girls chest, and then, silence.

There was nothing. The chameleon girls consciousness seemed to almost be floating away now. It was odd, for some reason Ilia found her mind drifting to thoughts of a certain rabbit eared girl of all people. There'd just been something about her... Yeah, Ilia definitely had a concussion if these were her final thoughts.

"Mr. Taurus," a booming voice made Ilia's eyes shoot open. She was alive, and above her, next to Adam stood a mountain of a man with his clawed fingers wrapped tightly around the bull faunus' sword arm, halting the lizard girls execution. "I'd like to have a word about how you've treated my daughter," Ghira Belladonna said with a stern expression.

Before Adam could react, Ghira tightened his grip. There was a sickening crunch and the bull faunus let out a growl of pain as he reached for Blush at his hip. Seeing this, Ilia managed to pull her hand out from under the masked man's boot, grab Lighting Lash, and jabbed it into Adam's leg, then pulled the trigger. Electricity flowed through the bull faunus as his body stuttered, stopping his hand just short of his sheath-gun. Ghira however, didn't even flinch in response, and then proceeded to fling the younger faunus across the battlefield with one hand like a black and red horned discus. Adam hit the ground with a grunt a good twenty yards from the chieftain and Ilia, and didn't appear to be in any hurry to get back up, at least not at the moment.

Ghira gave the bull faunus another look of contempt before turning and offering Ilia one of his giant hands. "Are you alright, Ilia?" he asked gently.

In that moment, the chameleon girl was reminded of the first time she'd met Ghira. She was fresh off the boat in Menagerie, after losing everything and basically being deported from Atlas. She'd been treated like a problem child who'd committed an "unprovoked assault" on her fellow classmates, the world as she knew it had turned it's back on her. She hadn't expected much when she'd arrived at the faunus colony, but there Ghira was, waiting for her just like she'd been told he would be. He hadn't seen a delinquent stepping off that boat, he saw a kid, scared and alone with no one to turn to, and just like right now, he'd offered her his hand.

Ilia didn't have many memories of her real father, the years had caused most of them to fade, leaving only a precious few. But as far as surrogate dad's go, Ilia felt like she could have done a lot worse than Ghira.

The lizard girl reached up, taking the larger faunus' hand and was hoisted up to her feet like she weighed nothing. She was still a little dizzy, but thanks to Ghira's steady grip she quickly regained her composure. "Thanks," she said with a nervous smile.

Ghira smiled fondly back, putting his hand on the younger faunus shoulder and nodding. There were a lot of things Ilia wanted to tell him right now, as well as about fifty or so apologies she owed the man, but all that would have to wait as suddenly even more White Fang members came out of the woods and joined the fray.

The chameleon girl sighed, between the Menagerie militia and the MPD, what chance did these faunus think they stood at this point? Then again, Adam had always had a knack for inspiring the downtrodden, convincing them to become willing to throw there very lives away for the cause, or rather, his cause.

"Look's like this fight isn't over quite yet," Ghira said with disdain, the diplomatic faunus had clearly seen enough violence for one evening.

"Then let's finish it," Blake said, suddenly appearing at Ilia's side, having returned from her investigation inside Haven.

She noticed the cut on her lizard friends shoulder and Ilia could immediately see the guilt start to form in the cat girls eyes. "I'm okay," the spotted teen said quickly, trying to ease her old friends conscience. "What was going on in there?" she asked Blake, still curious as to what she'd seen earlier.

The cat eared girl opened her mouth, but seemed hesitant to speak. "It was... nothing to worry about," she non-answered. "We need to focus on the White Fang for now." Ilia narrowed her eyes at the response, but ultimately decided to trust Blake for now. After all, that was what had gotten her this far.

"Ilia, you should rest," Ghira said with concern, "your aura is-"

"It's fine," the pony-tailed girl said giving the older faunus a sharp look filled with conviction.

It wasn't a total lie, Ilia was able to stand at least, but Adam's attack had taken a toll on her. Her aura was gone, which always made things trickier, and every inch of her body was sore, not to even mention the head ache -and hopefully not concussion- from her impact on the ground. Her vision was a little hazy still, but getting better, the nausea however... but she was still vertical, and that meant she'd keep fighting.

Across the courtyard, Adam was slowly starting to get to his feet as well. Ilia brought up Lighting Lash, but Blake held a hand out in front of her. "You two," she said referring to her friend and father, "protect the militia." Then she looked to Adam with determination, "It's time for me to finally face him. I'm ready."

Ghira didn't look thrilled at the idea, but the fire in his daughters eyes was enough to convince him. "Okay... just be safe, both of you," he said referring to Ilia as well, before hurrying away.

The chameleon faunus stayed a second longer, "Hey, Blake?" the cat girl glanced to Ilia, "Kick his ass." Blake smirked before darting off towards the recovering bull faunus.

Alone now, Ilia took a moment to breathe, inhaling deeply, clearing the last remaining cobwebs in her mind before she too set out to secure Haven.

---

Soooo it turns out fighting in an actual battle was waaaaaay more different from one on one sparring than I thought. Who would have guessed? Carm thought to herself as she surveyed the chaos going on around her.

She spotted a White Fang grunt with their back to her taking pot shots at militia members and the rabbit girl rushed towards them, her shock spear held up above her head. Then, for like the billionth times, another militia member came out of nowhere and cut her off, bashing the unsuspecting masked faunus across the back of their head. There just weren't enough goons to go around, the faunus from Menagerie outnumbered the White Fang too much.

After all the training and excitement leading up to this, it didn't look like Carm was even going to get the chance to show what she'd learned. To say the long eared faunus was feeling a little frustrated would be an understatement. Granted, she didn't WANT to actually hurt anyone, but this was her first and probably last chance at fighting for a cause as important as this one. After this, her days would go back to being filled with picking turnips and sitting at the market stall all day. Was this really the kind of story she'd be able to brag to her grand-kids about? The time the faunus fought for their right to choose who spoke for them and she had a lovely view of the action as she stood and watched?

All of this just felt wrong, not at all like the young faunus had expected, and she didn't just mean her increasingly small role in this battle. Carmella looked down at the spear and shield she carried. These weapons, they just felt... off, like they were slowing her down or something. Not that she had any right to complain or anything, they might just be a bunch of rushed together hunks of scrap metal, but they were HER hunks of scrap metal, the first real weapon she'd ever held. They made Carm feel like she was more than just some farmers daughter, like even she might be able to rise up and be like the heroes she'd always read about. Still though, something about them felt-

A sudden explosion of red energy on the other side of the battle brought Carmella back to reality. Nice work, carrot brain, she chided herself inwardly. Pretty sure the first rule of combat is don't space out in the middle of a practical war zone. For all her bravado and eagerness, the young rabbit girl had to remind herself to be cautious, after all, she hadn't even figured out how to activate her-

"Hey, kid!" Carmella straightened up at the yell she assumed was directed at her. A Mistral police officer rushed up, weapon in hand. "You here with the rest of these-" the officer stopped, almost seeming to catch herself mid speech, "I mean- You're here with the Menagerie militia, right?"

Carm nodded dumbly, caught off guard by the person suddenly addressing her like she knew what she was doing. "Well then, quit daydreaming and help us out!" the female officer snipped, making the faunus' long ears sink in embarrassment. "We got a few of the White Fang cornered, we need a posse to round up any stragglers. C'mon!" the officer said before rushing off again.

The rabbit girl instinctively followed, her heavy shield swinging on her arm as she tried to keep up. All around the fight raged on, but it was clearly not going in the Fang's favor. Already groups of them had given up, surrounded by the militia and the MPD, with searchlights shining down from the airships circling overhead. There were a few holdouts though, faunus that would rather go out in a blaze of glory, or make a run for it, rather than surrender.

After a short jog, Carmella and the officer leading her joined up with a few others, planning to form a barrier between the fleeing White Fang and their chance at escape. That's when she saw her.

The rabbit girl let out a barely audible "eep" as Ilia appeared at the front of the group and began speaking with the MPD officer leading the newly formed posse. Carmella didn't really pay attention to what they were saying, she was too busy staring at Ilia. The last time she'd seen her was when the spot covered girl revealed herself as the one that had disarmed the bombs that threatened Haven's CCT tower, and it looked like the night had been especially rough for her.

She looked "Exhausted, but in like, a cool badass kind of way," is how Carm would put it. She was covered in sweat, her long, curled pony tail was just barely being held back by the band supporting it at this point. There was a cloth or something wrapped around her shoulder and the rabbit faunus could see blood starting to leak through. All that, combined with Ilia's slouching, kind of lopsided, stance made it clear she'd seen hell tonight.

The pony-tailed girl hadn't noticed the rabbit faunus yet, and Carmella was kind of okay with that. She still wasn't sure how to feel about Ilia after what she'd heard from Mata and the rest of the faunus. This girl was supposed to be dangerous... but she'd also saved every faunus here from an explosive fiery death earlier. Carm just couldn't get a read on this girl yet, so she decided to remain out of sight for now.

A few yards away, a trio of White Fang members made a beeline out of the courtyard. Ilia and the officer went to intercept, flocked by group they'd gathered, Carm included. Somehow, when they stopped in front of the three faunus, Carmella found herself right at the front of the pack, next to Ilia. Ignoring how that managed to happen, the rabbit girl did her best to look intimidating, holding her spear and shield in a pose that she hoped said, "Stop right there! I totally didn't just learn how to use these things less than a week ago! Please take me seriously! I'm very scary!"

The tactic seemed to work -then again, it might've had something to do with the several other armed people behind Carm right now- as the two of the Fang members set their weapons on the ground and raised their hands above their heads. The rabbit girls chest swelled with pride at the sight, finally feeling like she'd at least managed to help a little this evening. However, one of the masked men was still armed, and all that pride the young faunus felt went out the window when he raised his gun and pointed the barrel right between Carmella's wide open, golden colored irises.

Shield, shield, shield! Raise your stupid shield! the rabbit girl screamed to her body, but she just stood there frozen, fear tightly gripping her every muscle. Despite all that training with her brother, and the militia, despite every part of her that had always wanted to be this ass-kicking ally of justice, at the end of the day she was just a teenager. Not to mention, she was a teenager that had yet to unlock their aura.

Some might call her crazy for even signing up for all this without her manifestation of soul protecting her, but the call to action and adventure had been too sweet to resist. It'd just never happened for her, no matter how hard she trained, or got beaten up doing so, her aura had just never appeared. Of course the militia had asked about it when she'd signed up, and yeah, she'd lied. Thankfully, with so may new recruits, there was no easy or quick way to check to see if she had an aura or not. What did it matter if she was careful, Carm could fight, surely that would be enough, or at least that was what she'd thought.

Now she was going to pay the price for her foolishness and deception. One single bullet aimed directly at the head of a stupid girl who should have known her place and stayed home on the farm. That's how this cautionary tale would end.

It turned out Carmella was wrong about that last part, as a blur of a person leapt in front of her before the masked man could pull the trigger. As the long, curled, pony-tail zipped past, the rabbit girl knew exactly who it was as Ilia swung her weapon through the air, it's whip like blade extending out and striking the White Fang members wrist, knocking the gun out of his hand.

Carm could only continue to stare in shock as the nimble girl jumped at the man, who was easily a head taller than her, and dropped him to the concrete below, holding him in a savage looking arm-bar. The man beneath her, despite his clear size and weight advantage, struggled as wildly he could with one arm free, but was unable to escape the hold Ilia had on him and eventually stopped resisting.

The rabbit faunus' arms hung loosely at her sides, all of it had happened so fast that her mind was still trying to catch up. This made three times Ilia had saved Carmella in the last twenty four hours. There were names for people like that; they called them heroes.

Were the rumors about Ilia true? Who cared at this point, not Carm, not anymore. She felt ashamed that she'd let other people's prejudice affect her own judgement of another persons morality. The pony-tailed faunus had more than proved what kind of person she was in the rabbit girls eyes, and Carmella was mad at herself for having taken so long to see it. Ilia had done a lot for her, and Carm had done nothing in return, but at the very least she knew where to start.

Carmella smiled softly as her heroine tightly gripped the masked man in place, waiting while the MPD secured his accomplices. There was something the young faunus had been wanting to tell Ilia all day long, and she wasn't about to put it off another second.

"Thank you."

Carmella hoped that the sincere gratitude came through in her voice. It felt like such a small, insignificant gesture in the face of everything Ilia had done for her, for all the faunus here tonight, but they owed her their thanks, and Carmella was happy to be at the front of the line to give it.

The pony-tailed girl turned her head at Carm's voice, giving the rabbit faunus a front row seat to the first smile she'd ever seen grace Ilia's face. There was a swelling feeling in Carmella's chest as she found herself lost in the simple yet breathtaking curve of the darker skinned girls lips. Neither faunus could tell what the other was thinking, but it was undeniable that a connection of sorts was made between the two in that moment.

However the moment wasn't appreciated by all, as the White Fang grunt under Ilia suddenly summoned enough strength to wrestle his arm free and clocked Ilia in the head with his elbow. The blow was able to send the already quite exhausted faunus girl rolling off the big man.

Someone shouted "Watch out!" and Carmella saw the glint of a knife as the Fang soldier pulled a small, sharp looking blade out of his boot. He reached over, looking ready to plunge the knife into Ilia's chest, but was stopped halfway and suddenly started convulsing from electricity surging through him as he was slammed back to the ground by the end of a stun spear.

The man's now smoking body went still. Carm's mouth hung open in awe of the display of reaction time and speed, even more so considering she was the one holding the spear currently pinning the White Fang grunt down. Ilia stared wide eyed at Carmella, looking almost as surprised as she was.

"Not bad, kid," the MPD officer said, lightly slapping the rabbit girl on the back, snapping her out of the trance she was in.

The Mistral police, as well as the other faunus, finished restraining the White Fang members before carting them off. Carmella remained behind, the reality of what she'd managed to do was still sinking in.

Ilia got to her feet beside the rabbit girl and the two of them just kind of stared at each other. All of a sudden Carmella felt a little flustered. Ilia was just so... cool and capable, and Carm was just... Carm, at the end of the day, there was nothing nearly as special about her. The spotted girl coughed awkwardly before finally speaking, "... uh... thanks," she said scratching the back of her head sheepishly.

"Sure! No Problem!" Carmella practically shouted for some reason. Embarrassed, she tried again at a more suitable decibel for the distance the two were standing from each other. "... I mean, I kinda owed you one... or two, right?"

The pony-tailed girl let out a tiny chuckle at that. "Well, we can just call it even now, if you want."

"Yeah! Uh... Even... Stevens?" as soon as the words left Carmella's mouth she immediately wished she could suck them back in, duct tape her mouth shut, and then go live in a hole in the ground forever.

OH MY GOD! WHY DID I SAY THAT!? Carm thought to herself in disbelief. At least act like you've talked to a girl before! Granted the rabbit faunus never really considered herself the smoothest talker, but come on! She'd been around cute girls before, why was talking to this one in particular so hard?

Miraculously, instead of turning around, walking away and making a mental note to never speak to Carmella again, like any rational person would after the verbal diarrhea the rabbit girl had just expelled, Ilia just let out another tired laugh, though this one seemed to be more directed at Carm than with her.

Whatever! I'll take it! The rabbit girl had only heard Ilia's laugh twice now, but had already decided that she really liked it. Okay, she thinks your a dork, but that's fine, dorks can be cute, in a dorky sort of way... there's no reason you can't save this first meeting! Just introduce yourself and don't, y'know, fall on you face while doing so.

"So, I'm-"

"Kid!" the MPD officer from earlier yelled as she wrestled a pair of cuffs onto another White Fang member. "What are you doing"! Get over here, we need help!"

Oh, right, the life or death struggle of their people was still going on. Carmella looked at Ilia regretfully, "Sorry, I gotta-"

"It's fine," Ilia interrupted with a sad smile, "I should probably go check up on my friends too."

The rabbit eared girl reluctantly nodded in understanding. "Yeah... maybe I'll see you later?" It sucked, but there were more important things going on here than the two of them right now. Carm just hoped she'd get another chance to see Ilia before she had to return home.

The pony-tailed girl looked conflicted for a moment before answering, "Yeah... sure..."

With one final smile, Carmella took off in the direction of the officer still calling out to her. Unbeknownst to the rabbit girl, Ilia watched her as she left, her bright, shining blue eyes watching sadly, until she finally tore her gaze away and went off in the opposite direction.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N- Yeah, that's all you get this time kids. This chapter did not want to get written, and I'm not just blaming my incessant need for shiny Pokemon.

God, the notebook I wrote this in wanted to die so badly while I was typing this. The pages all started falling out and I don't even know.

THANKS FIVE STAR!

Anyway, got some action in this chapter. Ilia vs. Adam was kind if a spur the moment idea I had, to kind of explain some of the gaps between episodes in the final episodes of Volume 5. Why did it take Adam an whole episode to stand up after Blake slapped him down? Also Ghira got a good hit in on the bull boy, which was therapeutic. I originally had a LOT more backstory between Ilia and Ghira that I had to cut out because having a twelve paragraph cutaway in the middle of a battle seemed like a tone-killer. But maybe I'll use those ideas later, give them their own little side chapter if I feel like it.

So yeah! Our girls actually met and had a conversation... I mean, kinda. But I'm laying the groundwork here! Patience! If I wanted to have them instantly start making out! I could have! I have the power here! THAT STORY IS ON MY OTHER ACCOUNT!

I mean- wait, what?