Chapter Seventeen

Unnatural Selection

/-\ Blake Belladonna /-\

It was only two days after I'd talked to Yang when Vahlen could meet with me. I can't say I was surprised, but I was a bit disappointed. I'd talked with her before a few times – mainly because she was the one supervising my physicals – but other than that, we were practically strangers. Yet I was walking towards her office in the Research Labs, ready to open up about the same topic which had claimed so many days of my attention already.

The Security personnel stopped me right outside the research wing. They made sure I had a valid reason to be here, made sure I wasn't carrying any weapons, and even had their psion make sure I wasn't mind controlled; all standard procedures that I'd been through before. I was, naturally, cleared to enter and – given I wasn't going to RND proper – I wouldn't need to be escorted. I passed through the door, entering the big block of offices that housed the various research leads, along with Vahlen's.

I headed towards her office, passing one of the researchers who was so deep in thought he nearly bumped into me. I knocked on the wooden door, the in-set window covered up with a blanket. "Gottverdammt," I heard her say inside, likely to herself. "Eine minute!" Papers rustled around inside and computer keys clacked. Eventually, I heard footsteps march towards the door shortly before it swung open. "Didn't you notice the curtain?! What have I told you people about-" she cut herself off, finally looking up at me. She studied my face for a moment before glancing at her phone. "Ah, forgive me; ze time must have slipped away, Specialist Belladonna."

I hummed. "Must have, yeah."

"Indeed," she said, stepping back into her office. "Come in and have a seat. Please close ze door behind you." I did so, entering her office proper. In stark contrast to Bradford's office, Vahlen's was decorated by several picture frames – mostly of Vahlen herself at varying ages with equally varied backdrops. The room itself was a cool blue, a single green stripe painted on the walls just below the ceiling. Her desk was wooden in place of Bradford's metal, but it clearly wasn't anything fancy either; oak with a darker stain applied. On one side, she took a seat in her rolling chair while I sat in one of the folding chairs on the other side. She quickly took a sip of a drink – coffee by smell, the heathen – and then set her mug down out of my view, obscured by one of her three computer monitors. "Now," she began. "I understand you wish to discuss ze genetic modification proposal? Priv- sorry, Specialist Xiao Long did not elaborate much."

"That's… okay," I muttered. "I've been thinking on it and… well, I know you want your answer soon, but… I'm really having trouble with the ethical problems it presents."

She sighed. "I feared zis might happen. Specialist Belladonna, you must understand zat we are in a war for our very survival. As much as I myself regret the necessity to play ze role of ze crazy German scientist, I will play it all ze same if it means my people can freely see another sunrise."

I raised an eyebrow. "So creating entirely new races of people is okay?" I asked. "Or, with my case, it's just okay to transform someone into a race they not only weren't born as, but also have completely no cultural context of?"

She looked away for just a moment, taking another sip of her coffee. "...We had decided – Bradford and I – to deal with ze… dubious ethics of that nature… after ze war had been won," she said. In a flash, she turned one of the monitors around. With a few keystrokes, the screen now displayed about a dozen files, all named by a series of 6 numbers and a pair of letters at the end. "Zis… is a record of all our soldiers who have underwent genetic modification. We took samples of their DNA before augmentation in hopes we could restore zem afterwar-"

"In hopes," I interrupted.

"Yes. In hopes," she said. "We informed zem zat we didn't know how to change zem back if necessary. We informed zem of ze risks. I won't open zese files for you to peruse, however, we did not augment anyone who did not fully understand nor fully consent to ze procedure."

"I don't know how that's supposed to help with my concerns, Doctor."

She turned the monitor back around. "I am telling you zat plans are being drawn up. With ze war, we simply do not have ze resources to change someone back; at least not a foolproof method zat would assure no harm to ze patient. We are not monsters, Specialist, we are simply ze underdog in a fight bigger zan all of us."

"But it still doesn't tell me if they're even Faunus!" I shouted. "Yeah, they'd have the ears and the nightvision just like me, but they haven't ever experienced what it's like to be one. They've never had to check for signs that banned them from restaurants because of things they were born with, they never had to endure the looks complete strangers gave them on the street, and most of all, they never had to deal with people who believe the old myths about them attracting monsters for just existing," I said. "At the end of the day, can someone who chose to be a Faunus, really relate to someone who was born a Faunus?"

She stayed silent for a moment, clearly contemplating my words. "So what if zey don't relate?"

I blinked. "...what…" I muttered. "They would be Faunus; genetically, at least."

"Genetically," she agreed. "But what about ethnically? And does zat even matter?"

"Ethically? How can someone ethically relate? I don't understand what you mean."

She rolled her eyes. "Ugh, it's like trying to have a political discussion with an American…" she muttered. She turned the screen around again, this time it was displaying a map. "Let me give you an example. Here are two countries of our world; Germany – my home – and Austria." The two countries highlighted. "For hundreds of years, zey were part of ze same country. Even to zis day, zey speak ze same language, share many customs, intermarry, so on and so forth. Genetically, ze Austrians are not so different from Germans. However, in ze aftermath of our Second World War, zey were forced to remain separate countries. Overtime, things have… drifted. Some traditions died out in Germany but stayed alive in Austria and vice versa. Over time, Austrians began to see themselves as Austrians instead of Germans. So despite sharing so much, neither side wishes to reunify – even if it weren't still illegal by international treaty."

I opened my mouth to say-

She held up a hand. "It was a vast oversimplification of history, Specialist. I do not have time to explain ze entire several thousand year history of my country today."

"That's… not what I was going to say," I said. "I just… I still don't really understand."

She sighed. "Both groups share an ancestry and most of their culture. However, zey both agree zey are different people groups. Ergo, they are ethnically different, as ethnicity is a combination of heritage, culture, lived experiences, and many other things. Yet despite zis fact, zere is next to no tension between ze Germans and ze Austrians. We acknowledge zat zere are differences, we simply also acknowledge zat zey are not worth killing each other over."

I opened my mouth, but quickly shut it again. I didn't know anywhere near enough Earth history or culture to understand any context of what she was saying, but the idea of simply living together in peace was… well, that was the entire point of the White Fang, right? The original point – the true point. "...You really think they could just be their own thing? Err, their own people?"

She gave a firm nod. "I think it would be more than likely zat zey would not fight – or, at least, zat zey wouldn't start a fight."

Having been around the soldiers of XCOM for quite some time now, I actually couldn't help but agree. "In that case, what about the implications of just creating one of those out of thin air?"

"As I said; moral questions of zat caliber are… best left until we win. And we will win. We have to."

Begrudgingly, I gave a single nod. "...you're putting off the search for Remnant until then too," I said. "I… understand, though. Back home… people had the Grimm to worry about – at least outside the kingdoms. They were always knocking at the gate and everyone had to pitch in to keep the walls up. Even if it meant we wouldn't get everything we wanted."

She nodded back. "Zen you understand ze importance of zis. We need every weapon and tool we can get, Specialist Belladonna. You are quite aware of the advantages your nightvision and sharp hearing could provide."

I sat there and thought. The entire future of my people here rested on this decision alone. Even if part of me had already given up on seeing my home ever again, I still held out hope that I could one day. But Vahlen was right; they needed every option available. It didn't make the call any easier. Even after all the explanations by Vahlen, I still felt like I was a traitor to my people.

Here, the so-called Princess of Menagerie was, giving permission for Humans to become Faunus.

Half of Kuo Kuana would probably want to exile me. The other half… worse. I didn't know which camp my parents would be in – probably the latter, given how I'd already treated them over the years. So after agreeing to the program and giving my one and only condition to her – just who was to be the first augmented – I strode back to my room.

Sleep didn't really come that night.

/-\ Yang Xiao Long /-\

The first thing that struck me about the gene tank was just how average it looked from the outside. A yellow-ish glass tube and some metal bits on the end, that was it. As my tank rolled towards me, I saw two others beside it, completely stationary and occupied by other soldiers.

A hand gripped mine and I looked to my side to see my mother. "You don't have to do this, you know."

"Nope," I agreed. "But it'll make me better at my job. If having those ears means I can save someone I otherwise wouldn't… I'd take it a million times over. Even if it's just the one person." I offered a brief smile. "Plus, they're cute as hell."

She frowned. "I really can't talk you out of this, can I?"

"What was your first clue?"

"Would ze patient please step into ze genetic modification chamber?" the intercom asked.

I nodded, taking a deep breath. "That's my cue," I said. "I'll see you tomorrow, mom."

She rubbed my hand one more time. "I… I just want you to know that I love you. In case something happens."

"Nothing will," I said. "But… yeah, I love you too. And Ruby, and Qrow, and Penny, and… and Dad." I pulled away, stepping towards the chamber. My metal boots clanked on the floor with every step. I still had no idea why we had to wear this armor for gene mods – it was heavier than our combat armor for crying out loud! But it was policy, apparently.

Within a few moments, the pod slid down over me and locked into place. The anesthetics kicked in as it began to fill with fluid. Every breath became more and more work, my eyelids getting heavier with each passing nanosecond. I felt hoses clamp into ports on my back about the same time the liquid reached my waist. The last thing I saw before I passed out was my mother's face.

I didn't really dream like I usually did; it was more a series of vague sensations all around me. I felt a few needle pricks, stubbed my toe once, smelled lavender, tasted chicken, and about a dozen other sensations over the course of what felt like fifteen minutes. There would rarely be more than one sensation at a time, often one would stop and another would immediately start.

Then, after the last sensation had left – a slight pinch in my elbow – I noticed that the inside of my eyelids actually looked like something, rather than just being amorphous darkness. I could also hear the whirring of machinery around me, as if I'd put my ear right up to a set of grinding gears. Then another sensation took over – air against the top of my head, where there had only been liquid before. Once the water got below my chin, I suddenly gasped for breath, as if I was a half-second away from drowning and never knew it.

I hacked up more and more gene goop from my lungs, falling to my knees once the liquid no longer supported me. Finally, I opened my eyes and saw the same sight that stood before me only twenty minutes ago. The gene lab stood empty, devoid of any personnel except those observing from above. I could hear the three scientists conversing amongst themselves, though the words were so distorted I couldn't make them out.

Finally, I staggered to my feet, muscles feeling like I hadn't used them in a couple years. The hoses attached to my back clicked, falling to the ground as I stood. Slowly, I worked out the stiffness in my… everywhere – rolling my neck, doing chicken legs, a couple twists, wrapping my hand around my head-

I froze as I felt the ears atop my head being crushed during that last stretch.

Slowly, I moved my hand, instead simply feeling my scalp. There were two ears, not unlike a cat's, perched right where they very much were not just an hour ago. I let out a short giggle as I poked and prodded at them – the procedure had worked.

"IF ZE PATIENT WOULD-"

I yelped, covering my new ears as the intercom assaulted them.

"...Apologies," Vahlen whispered through the intercom. "Would ze Patient please proceed to ze recovery room?"

"YEAH, I CAN DO THAT," I said at normal talking volume. I made my way to the main lab's exit, groaning. This is gonna take some getting used to. Each of my steps sounded like hammers on steel instead of the noticeable but forgettable clanking they once were.

The door buzzed with electricity, servos whirring and metal grinding as it opened. Visually, the steel block was much the same as before, but clearly not audibly the same. On the other side sat a room painted white with a bed and several pieces of medical equipment. Blake also stood there, right beside one of the scientists.

What followed was some frankly boring checkups – making sure everything was working properly. Thankfully, as time went on, I started to get used to my newfound hearing. The post-op took two hours. Two hours of checking my pulse repeatedly, same with blood pressure, examining both sets of ears, testing reflexes, and various other tests that I couldn't begin to understand what they had to do with my new parts. At some point, someone handed me a mirror and I saw myself for the first time after the tube. My ears were bigger than Blake's, a little less pointy, and – thankfully – blonde; we'd been a little afraid my natural hair color wouldn't apply to them, instead using Blake's midnight black coloration. On the up-side, it no longer seemed like everyone was screaming in my face by the end of it all. At least something got better.

The thing that didn't get better was Blake's odd look she was giving me the entire time. Once the docs finally released me, she grabbed my arm and shepherded me off towards her room. As we got further away from the noisier sections of the base, I began to hear things I'd never even thought about before; an animal scratching its way through one of the walls, some bugs skittering underfoot… Blake's heartbeat thumping along in her chest.

After making our way through the entirely average-looking hallway of creepy sounds, we finally arrived back at her dorm. She only unhanded me after the door whirred closed. "Alright, what's up?" I asked. "I know everyone's still on-shift, but it doesn't take a genius to know they'll wanna see me when they get off."

"Y- yeah, I know," she said. "Look, I just- do you feel… different? I know they went over everything physically, I just…" She started motioning around with her hands. "I don't know how to phrase it."

"I think I got what you mean. I uhh, don't feel any different; no sudden urge to say uwu."

She gave me a flat look. "Yang, please take this seriously."

"Okay, okay. Well, I feel about the same, besides all of the weird shit I can hear now. How do you even deal with that? Hearing, like, bugs and things everywhere?"

She shrugged. "You just tune it out," she said. "On the bright side, you'll know what restaurants are sketchier than they look. On the not-so-bright side… bugs are everywhere. I mean everywhere. Word of advice, if you keep those ears after the war for whatever reason, get good at making up excuses for why you and your friends shouldn't eat at places."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I keep them?"

"It's-" She sighed. "It's not exactly normal here to be anything other than Human, right? Aren't you worried you'll attract undue attention?"

"I mean, I can just wear a beanie like you did, but I won't need to do that. Remember, Harvard security footage went viral – the cat's outta the bag on this one."

Blake groaned, plopping down at her table. "I had this whole thing planned out and we were gonna blitz through it."

"Huh?" I muttered.

She motioned for me to sit down across from her. "Just… c'mere. We've got a lot to cover." I did so and only now did I realize her table was full of papers and notebooks full of her neat and tidy cursive… that I couldn't read.

I could, however, tell that the papers all collectively displayed a giant hand-drawn map. There were four landmasses; two big ones around the center, two smaller ones in the north, and a small one in the south. A handful of cities were labeled but, again, I couldn't actually read the cursive it was written in. "So, uhh, what's this?"

"Well… it's been a few days since I agreed to let yo- let someone be augmented and I've been thinking since then. If you're going to be a Faunus, you should at least understand the barebones history of our people."

"Our-" I cut myself off, looking back at the map. "Wait, is this Remnant?"

"It is. At least, it's supposed to be; I had to draw it from memory and it doesn't look right, somehow," she said. "...Couldn't you read the title? It says 'The World of Remnant' right at the top."

"Uhh, no, I can't read cursive."

She threw her head back and let out a long and depressing groan. "Godsdamnit, I'm such an idiot. The other you can't either, why would I just assume you could? Well, I guess all these are useless now," she said, gesturing to the notebooks.

I looked at the stack; it was probably as tall as all my textbooks for the year combined. "That's barebones?"

"Not in the slightest. None of them are full, but I was going to give them to you for further reading if you wanted. They've got just about everything I know of our history."

"You can still give 'em to Vahlen; she'd probably find them interesting."

"If she had time to read them, yeah," she said. "Well, there's at least one thing we can go over before we start. I, umm… need to clarify something."

She was quiet for an uncomfortably long time. "Umm, go ahead?" I said.

"It's… awkward," she said, before pointing to the smaller landmass in the south. "This is… Menagerie, the Faunus Chiefdom. And no, naming the nation of Faunus as menagerie didn't go over well, but that's not what I need to tell you."

"I don't even know what a men-jeery is, so, uhh, okay?"

"Menageries are places to keep exotic animals," she deadpanned. "But anyway, Menagerie, being a chiefdom, has a chief," she said and I nodded in understanding. "He's… um… Ghira Belladonna."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh-kay? What's that got to do with-" I blinked. "Wait, isn't that your last name too? Belladonna?" She nodded. "...Any relation?"

She glanced away. "He's, umm… my Dad."

"He's your-" I cut myself off. "Wait, is that why you never talk about anything before Beacon? Did you grow up in a palace or something and you were just super rich? Holy shit, I just realized you're an actual real-life princess! Woah, yeah, I wouldn't tell anybody that either. Why'd you give that up to be a huntress, though? Oh wait! You're always on about how it's a huntress's job to protect people, so you just wanted to protect your subjects, didn't you? Make their lives just a little bit safer. That's… that's like something out of a story – a cool one, I mean! Being a warrior princess who puts herself in front of her people – that's badass!"

She simply stared at me as I went on and on, her eyes wide but blank. When I finally finished, she took a moment to respond. "I… Umm… I… guess I was rich compared to everyone else in Menagerie. I didn't live in a palace, though; a big house, sure, but nobody in the right mind would've called it that." Her ears pulled back slightly. "Look, Yang, I'm- I'm flattered that you think so highly of me, but it's just not accurate. I… I don't think I'm ready to go into detail, but… I made mistakes earlier in life – bad ones. A huntress's job is to save people, yes, but that wasn't my only motivation."

I crossed my arms. "I think you don't give yourself enough credit," I said. She didn't respond, simply frowning at me. "Blake, I've known you for months now. Sure, you're a bit secretive and you're really good at sneaking up on people, but you're not a bad person. Whatever those mistakes were? They don't matter now. You're here at XCOM with us, helping throw those alien bastards back to Mars or wherever they came from."

Again, she looked away, gaze trailing to the table in front of us. I reached out, cupping one of her hands with my own. "Hey," I said. "Y'know, I like to think I'm pretty okay at reading people. I might miss stuff like crushes or whatever, but basics like if someone's a good person or not? I've got that down. And lemmie tell ya, you're setting off exactly zero of my asshole sensors." A stray thought passed through my mind just as the words left my mouth; Pyrrha didn't either. I quashed it – what were the chances of something like that happening twice? "So what if you've made mistakes. I have, Ruby has, J- Jaune did… what matters now is what you do in the future. And to me, it looks like you're gonna be one hell of a warrior princess."

She gave a single chuckle. "Really stuck on that image, aren't you?" she asked before a loud sigh left her lips. "...Fine. I… I'm still not ready to talk about it, but I'll… think about what you said."

"Well, I can't really do better than that, Blakey."

"Yeah… I guess not. Now, what we actually came here for… we've still got an hour before the others get off-shift and I wanna cover at least the basics today. Does that sound like a plan?"

"Hell yeah!" I shouted. "Y'know, I just realized something. You actually got me excited for history. I don't think that's ever happened before."

"The other you wasn't too enthused about it either," she said.

And so we delved into the history of Remnant; just surface-level things and mostly centered around the Faunus for obvious reasons. We covered things like their Great War, the settling of Menagerie, and the Revolution. All of them were pretty far in the past, but it still felt way different from listening to boring lectures on my own world's history.

Still, there wasn't infinite time to work with and we eventually parted ways. A few people on the way back to my own dorm did stare a bit – I couldn't blame them. Before now, there was only a single catgirl in the base, but now there was another. On the way, however, I couldn't help but think of Jaune again. I hadn't in a few days – my longest stretch so far – and I just… I wanted to know what he'd think of all this. Would he have followed me here too? Would he be out there with me on the strike missions, risking his life for our planet, or would he be back at home, protecting his family?

I was pulled from my thoughts only a few steps from my dorm – one of the base staff gave me a paper envelope of all things. Upon questioning, he said he was told to give it to me by Bradford himself before walking away. I stared after his retreating form, still confused, but eventually just shrugged and went into my dorm. After a few minutes of searching for a knife of any kind, I simply gave up and started ripping it open with my hands. In doing so, I happened to glance at the return address.

Jaune's address.

I froze for a few moments, staring at the simple impossibility this envelope represented. Then, with renewed vigor, I tore into it, revealing a single piece of paper inside.

Yang, it read.

We have just been informed of Jaune's death. A strange man delivered the news, some money for funeral costs, and his body.

There were several lines scribbled out after that sentence. The whole letter was dotted in crinkly spots – places that had been wet before.

I'm sorry, that was not fair. Nobody could have known. The man said we only have fifteen minutes to write this. I just want to let you know that we do not blame you. He told us what happened. No one could have known. I just wish my baby boy was safe. They won't tell us where you are or what you're doing, just that you're alive. I hope you can come home safely when this is all over. You're a wonderful young woman, Yang. I wish I could say more, but I have to go.

Be safe,

Honeydew Arc

By the end of the letter, I couldn't help my shaking hands. Gingerly, I set the letter down on the table and stared at the empty bunk beds opposite me. They became blurrier and blurrier as my eyes filled.

I don't know how long it was until Ruby finally came home, but I did know I was a complete mess by the time she did.

(A/N) And now the parents know what happened to Jaune, at least in the broadest of terms. Funnily enough, I actually did write out Honeydew basically cussing out Yang and blaming her for Jaune's death, but then I realized that this really wouldn't help Yang's character go the direction I wanted it to, so I had her cross it out and write what she did later.

Beyond that, the Catgirl Transmutation Ritual is complete! The condition has spread! I was about to say I'd never seen a fic where a non-Faunus became a Faunus, but then I remembered A Traveling Spirit by Helljumper206. It's a good story, though likely abandoned. I don't think I ripped it off from him, but at the same time, maybe this scene wouldn't exist without that work because Subconscious Influence is very much a thing in Human psychology. Regardless, the contexts are very different and I'm at least shouting him out, even though this story isn't as big as that one. But hey, if ya like Halo/RWBY crossovers, give it a whirl. He has other good stuff too that's not abandoned; he's even in my Discord as well. Join code here, btw: 3jf9w8u

Anyways, we have another review!

Maglad said: "Well that was a spoiler. Now we know Earth and Remnant will meet at some point. I assume we'll have the gate to thank for it (from the gatekeeper mission) but I'm curious about if xcom will have possession of the temple ship by then. It'd be interesting if they pop up just in time to blast Monstra out of the sky.

And for the love of Monty, please don't character assassinate gen. Ironwood like they did in canon. I think that was the moment the show lost its charm to me, and to think that they had to come up with a bullshit excuse that we only heard about later in an offhandedly manner from an interview truly killed my faith in what they did with Mounty's legacy.

Anyway, i think kitty-ears Yang will be purrrfect. Blake and Yang, sitting on a tree, purriii~ing!"

Ooooh boy, you've come to the right place concerning Ironwood. I do still have funni plans for him, but I will not be going down the same road that MaK did with his character. I've said it before (though maybe not here) but imo, it felt like he made a legitimate point in V7, then MaK saw that not absolutely everyone in the community hated his guts and cracked open the dictator documentaries for tips on how to make Ironwood a proper fascist… even though that term wouldn't exist on Remnant due to the lack of symbolism between Fasces (a bundle of sticks, sometimes with an axe head) and Authority that, in our timeline, was established with the Roman Republic (maybe even Kingdom, which, yes, was also a thing before the Republic) and later Roman Empire.

Anyways, that's about all I had for this week, have fun and, if you read this within a couple hours of posting, hopefully you got to see the Northern Lights that are on tonight! Which, funnily enough, is what I'm about to go do; never seen 'em before because I live at a latitude that's just high enough for them to be possible, but also still low enough for them to be very, very rare.