Note: All right, time for Chapter 69. In Poison, Chapter 69 was an extra silly, raunchy, HILARIOUS time! It was a huge fun time for everyone, and I'm super happy to be doing it again! I can't wait to tell you so many fun jokes, play around with characters, maybe do some smut, some fourth wall breaks and... wait, what's that? This isn't a joke chapter? But then, what are we... I'm sorry? This chapter is going to be about WHAT!?

Oh no...

Weiss did not find Velvet in her bedroom. She searched up and down the villa, each second delay stretched into a lifetime. When she couldn't find her within the villa's bounds, she had an irrational fear that Velvet had run off… as if she had somehow known the truth coming for her and chose to abandon them rather than face the consequences. The thought lasted only a moment. Weiss spotted Velvet wandering along the shoreline, camera in hand, snapping photographs of the waves as they crashed upon her shins. Weiss pursed her lips and strode across the hot sand. She raised her hand to shield her eyes from the blazing sun, rays nipping at the pads of her fingers.

Velvet did not see Weiss until she introduced herself, and upon the heiress's simple greeting, Velvet jumped, pulling her face away from the camera with a small blush.

"Oh, Weiss! I didn't hear you coming," she smiled in blissful ignorance.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you," Weiss lied.

"That's all right. I just realized I hadn't been taking any good photos over the vacation, and there are only a few days left. Can you believe it? It's flown by so quickly."

"Wish it could last forever?"

"I don't know about that," Velvet shrugged. She pressed the camera against her eye, trying to take one last photo of the seagulls flying in the distance. "At some point, we have to come back to reality, don't we? I just want to appreciate the moment while we have it."

Weiss let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah…" She looked out upon the waves. She heard the distant cawing of the birds and saw them circle around something lurking beneath the water. She gave Velvet another few seconds to enjoy the beach. Everyone deserved that. "I wanted to speak with you about something important."

Velvet lowered her camera once more. "Is everything okay?"

Weiss didn't mince her words. "No. It isn't."

Velvet was taken aback by Weiss's bluntness, disbelieving her at first, then reducing to a shudder. She frowned, lowering her camera by her side. "Did… I do something wrong?" She thought worriedly about what would trigger Weiss. Had she said something offensive? Trespassed unwillingly? No, it must have been her nights with Yatsu causing a disturbance. That must have upset her neighbors. She became flustered just thinking about it, though Weiss was quick to cut off her concerns before they spiraled further.

"I'm not sure, to be honest," she confessed. "But I need to ask you a few things if that's all right. About your family."

"My… family?" Velvet said, her voice lowering to barely more than a whisper. She shifted her weight awkwardly. Her shoulders slumped.

"Yes," Weiss explained carefully. "I was just on a call with my sister. You remember we told you that the SDC is trying to stop using Faunus labor?"

"Hard to forget," Velvet stated, tapping her forehead. Of course. Her Semblance. Photographic memory. Weiss wasn't sure how it worked; if Velvet had to actively store her experiences, or if they were constantly swirling around in her head. Either way, it meant she couldn't hide, no matter how much she may have wanted to later.

"Well, she and Sienna agreed to loan Faunus workers to farms in Vale in order to help get them out of their contracts. It's… slightly convoluted, but that's what they want to do."

The color drained from Velvet's face. "And… the farm they wanted to send Faunus to was…"

"Yours," Weiss said coldly.

"Oh no." Velvet turned away and muttered something under her breath. Weiss continued.

"Sienna acted like it was a death sentence."

"It might be."

"Why?"

"It's… I don't really want to talk about it," Velvet admitted. "My family is cruel, Weiss. Perhaps you understand, coming from Atlasian royalty. They take innocent souls and grind them into the dirt, break down their spirits, and bleed out whatever's left over. Most Faunus don't make it ten years on a Scarlatina farm. Many don't make it five."

"When you say they don't make it, you mean they—"

"Can we talk about something else? Please?" Velvet asked quickly. "I'd really not talk about my family being horrible on vacation. It's… it's very dark."

Weiss pursed her lips. A lingering silence overtook her, and as it stretched through the seconds, Velvet's polite exterior burned away into something more brittle. "I don't think we can, unfortunately."

Velvet shuddered. "Why?"

"Because I need to know what they did," Weiss said sternly, "and what you did."

There was a flash of dread behind Velvet's eyes, quickly snuffed behind her poise.

"What does that mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything."

"It means something."

"Why don't you start by telling me what goes on at your family's farms, and then we—"

"No, no, hold on," Velvet shook her head. "Really, what did you mean by that? Are you accusing me of something?"

Weiss absolutely was accusing her of something, but she needed to be tactful. She probably shouldn't have said anything yet, but her nerves were getting to her. She was acting under pressure, after all.

"I'm not trying to suggest anything," she said calmly. "I'm simply… speaking from experience. My family's treatment of the Faunus likely isn't better than yours. I never made their decisions for them, but I was complicit in them. I accepted them. I've been trying to reconcile with that guilt for months. I was just wondering if maybe you were the same."

Velvet pouted. "You weren't complicit in anything, Weiss. You were a child. Everything was out of your control, and the rest of it… you didn't know any better. Let's not live in the past."

"I agree. We can't," Weiss countered. "But we can't move on unless we come to terms with what happened."

"And why are you acting like something happened? Projecting, maybe?" Velvet asked more pointedly. Weiss had never seen Velvet mad. Even back at the shelter, when she was at her most intolerable, Velvet was nothing but sincere and polite to her. But the activist's posture was shifting, and Weiss was not expecting the accusations to come flying back at her. She considered pulling out the big guns—the indisputable proof brought by her Astral revelation. Would Velvet ever believe something like that, even with everything she had seen? Weiss kept her argument grounded, now on the defensive.

"I'm just pointing out the obvious," she stated. "You said Faunus on your farms don't live past five years. You lived with them most of your childhood. You've had to have seen things, and like you said a long time ago, people are products of their circumstances. Is it really unusual for me to assume there might be something more there?"

"And I'll ask for a third time… what is something?" Velvet's pout turned to a full sneer, and the activist became furious, jutting her finger toward Weiss accusingly. "Even if there was a thing—and there isn't—it's rather rude of you to make drama out of it when it doesn't exist. I don't go asking you about all the dumb things you might have done in your past, because I recognize that you have grown. It is abundantly obvious to me that you are a decent person, and it should be clear as day to you that I am a decent person. It you want me to talk about my family's horror story, here it is: they are terrible, cruel, and shameful people who take advantage of innocent people, and pride themselves off ruining lives. I want nothing to do with them, and I've wanted nothing to do with them for a very long time. I'd suggest you tell your sister to find a different business to sell Faunus too, and then never discuss this again. Now, I think I would like to go inside now." Velvet hissed, forced kindness grinding out of her throat. "It was nice speaking with you."

Velvet treaded toward the manner, circling around Weiss—only to be suddenly grabbed by the arm and forced still. Velvet was stunned, not expecting the physical display. She was more stunned by Weiss's expression, a sudden fury that made her prideful rebellion look like a pitiful temper tantrum. Velvet was fortunate enough to never be on the bad side of Team RWBY and its icy princess. That had changed.

"Listen," Weiss said forcefully. "I understand that you don't want to discuss this, but don't you ever fucking lie to me again. I know you did something. I'm not stupid, and you can act as belligerent as you want, but I can see the guilt pouring out of you. I don't even care what you actually did. I doubt you'd even come close to matching half of the bullshit that Blake's done, and I can tolerate her. But my team is built on trust. That's what kept us alive through everything we've been through. If we are going to be working together, I expect you not to keep secrets from me. That is something I can't tolerate. Do you understand me?" Velvet didn't have time to respond before Weiss released her from her grasp and pointed to the villa. "I have a Faunus on my team. She has seen things I couldn't imagine, and if we're talking tolerance… she has none. You can try to keep hiding from me, but you will never be able to hide from her. And if she finds out what you've done, and that you've been covering it up, you're going to wish you were working on one of your farms. So, for your sake, and for her sake, for the sake of our teams, I need you to tell me the truth."

Velvet became very still. Weiss stood up straight, crossed her arms, and tapped her foot, waiting impatiently for the answer. For all of her conviction, she still didn't know what she was expecting to hear. The Reveler's words confounded her. They spoke of torture and death, but these events took place in Vale in the past decade. Velvet's stories of mass Faunus death must have been twisted from a childhood memory. There were laws protecting Faunus, supervisions and codes enshrined by the Kingdom, and a modern press system and fighters for social justice eager to expose abuses at any level; even if they were flimsy and often intangible, how far could the Scarlatinas bend the rules? Truly, how evil could they be?

Weiss would soon wish she didn't know the answer.

"I… I don't want to talk about this," Velvet insisted, speaking in hushed tones.

"I know."

"You're acting quite mean."

"I don't think you have the authority to decide that."

Velvet turned toward the villa as if sensing the judging minds inside. Were there others watching her right now? Was this all some elaborate game on Weiss's part to expose her? She didn't like any of this, and she certainly didn't understand why this was happening now, thrust upon her without any time to prepare. The memories Weiss summoned were now swirling violently in her head like a vortex, unrestrained and living in hyper-vivid detail. She should have just left the conversation now; dismissed Weiss's concerns and acted like she was unreasonable. She could have told Coco or Ruby about these allegations and had them shut down. But those memories… that guilt…

The greatest curse in the world was remembering everyone she ever hurt.

"I don't… I was a child, you know?" Velvet said, the emotion drained from her words. "I've disowned my family since then. I don't want anything to do with them at all."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me," Weiss claimed. "You just have to be honest."

Velvet sighed. She looked out toward the ocean. "It's funny. I was just thinking… you ever hear of fish Faunus?"

"Can't say that I have."

"Because they don't exist," said Velvet. "But the Faunus who helped nurse me, they'd tell me stories. Long ago, they'd say, when Faunus were still being created, there were those born with gills and scales. Their traits rendered it impossible to live on land, so they swam to the bottom of the ocean and made their kingdom there. While the Faunus on land were subjugated, enslaved, and had their homes taken from them, the Faunus under the sea thrived. Away from Humans, away from war, they lived in peace, building a vast civilization under the sea. Faunus Utopia, untouchable… pure… just out of sight. Some of them realized it was a fantasy, but other Faunus told me how they longed to see it someday. They said, all of their work would be worth it because they'd save and save and one day see heaven at the bottom of the sea. It meant more to them than their homeland. Can you imagine that? Having lost so much that the purely imaginary can become the only thing giving your life meaning?" Velvet held her tongue, waiting for a response that never came. "They've searched for other Faunus out there, but they aren't real. They can't be. We know that now. A Faunus couldn't shed their lungs fast enough to avoid drowning, even with gills, and the pressure is too much for anything to withstand. A fish Faunus would be some mangled half-thing, caught between two worlds that both rejected it. There are reasons no one's ever found anything. It turns out even Faunus like to play pretend sometimes. I suppose we all have to grow up eventually…"

Velvet lowered herself onto the sand, crossing her legs, eyes still glued to crashing waves. "Our farms were controlled by my father and my uncle. They're cruel men. I think they care less about making money than they do with finding ways to exploit it. My father realized was that it was cheaper to work a Faunus to death and buy a replacement than it was to protect them. It's the reason why they are so eager to buy Faunus from your sister at any price—they always need new labor. The thing about wealth is that the rules stop applying to you very quickly. You know that better than anyone. Our farms were a massive supplier to all of Vale, and the Kingdom was more than willing to turn a blind eye to their practices. The Faunus who were misfortunate to wind up there were forced to sign away their rights—and it was easy. My family employed many types of Faunus, but their preferred breed was the rabbits. Rabbit Faunus have smaller stomachs and require less food, and they can work for longer hours without tiring. Their sleep schedules are stagnated, and they can work when other Faunus can't. The laws protecting Faunus are fragile like that. Things like food, proper shelter, medical attention, even shade on hot summer days; one stroke of a pen, and they were all given away. They were paid of course, but only in scraps. And for the ignorant ones, that was enough. They thought as long as they worked hard, and suffered just enough, one day they could go somewhere else. But it never quite ended up like that.

"The key tool of punishment my uncle implemented was the quota. It wasn't enough to profit. He needed a certain number of grains planted per person, enough weeds picked on a certain day. Those who didn't meet his desires were subjected to punishments. If they failed a daily quota, it would be something as simple as a beating. A week's failure would result in whipping. I used to see them often, but I never thought anything of them. They sheltered me, made me think it was normal. Worse, really: I thought it was right. These people had hurt our business, they had failed us. But it was the yearly punishments that let my uncle express his cruelty. They weren't so much punishments as they were spectacles. He would invite his friends, some of them so powerful that their presence would never be acknowledged. It would be a yearly event, held every march—a culling of the most useless Faunus, a chance to hold absolute power over someone's life. The Faunus would be so desperate to avoid punishment that they'd agree to his whims. He would come up with these… these horrible games. Father never let me attend these until I was a certain age. I was fourteen when he decided I should participate."

Velvet closed her eyes. "That year, crops were bad. There was a blight that ruined the haul. It wasn't the Faunus's fault, but my uncle was furious. There were too many Faunus to punish, so they decided to target their anger towards those who meant the most. Seasoned workers. Family men—fathers. There were around thirty of Faunus selected for that year's punishment. Most of them were rabbit Faunus. It served as his… inspiration, you see. We would instill fear into them to motivate them into action, but we'd also give them a… chance to escape. It wasn't fun if there wasn't a chance to escape."

"I'm not following," Weiss said quietly. "What did they do?"

Velvet pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them close. Her breaths were shaky.

"We made a sport out of it," Velvet explained. "We hunted rabbits."

The Scarlatina estate.

A manor of dark oak and lumbering form that cast a shadow over a dull land, stripped a hundred paces around the perimeter. Skies wrapped in a thin film of grey. The ground wet with morning dew, each thin strip of green grass clumped and weighted down by heavy air. Slow wind, barely lapping at skin. The air smelled of damp wood and the husky filth of dried blood. Outside the grass, an endless forest; a canopy of leaves so thick and branches so tight that the world turned to shadow within their grasp.

Twelve men. Their suits grey and prim, tightly buttoned up at the waist. Mustaches laced with cigarette ash. Bolt action rifles strapped to their backs. They steadied themselves on horseback, studs, and mares of muddy brown that impatiently stomping the ground. Nearby, servants, preparing additional weapons, wiping their heavy brows of sweat. Black hounds circled the horses' feet; two played with each other, biting and barking up on hind legs, releasing pent-up aggression.

On the ground: thirty men. Clothes tattered, heads ensnared in burlap sacks, hands bound in rough ropes behind their backs. Beneath, in the shadow, their blue and bruised faces were matted with congealed blood. The morning mist collected on the sacks and weighed them down. They shivered under the cool morning. Their rabbit ears were bent down and tied around their heads, some tips sticking out beneath the cloth.

On the back of her father's horse, fourteen-year-old Velvet Scarlatina took in every last detail. Her shaking hands gripped a pistol that was too large for her. She shrugged her shoulders and pulled her suede coat tighter over herself. She heard whimpering beneath the sacks, but they were drowned out by the sound of the dogs.

The rules of the game were simple. The Faunus would rush off into the woods and hide. After five minutes, the hunters would give chase. After sixty minutes, whoever was left alive would be allowed to return to work. Velvet's father scratched his nose. One of the other men on horseback coughed. A Faunus, exhausted, fell to his knees, and two servants forcibly hoisted him upright.

Velvet's uncle retrieved a stopwatch from his waistcoat. He announced the game's beginning, and the methodical click of the timer began. One by one, the Faunus were stripped of their sacks and pushed forward. Those who were attentive took off sprinting. Some pleaded. At least two fell down again. The servants prodded them. They screamed in agony as sticks were jutted into their wounds.

Velvet buried her face into her father's coat. He was as still as a rock as the panicked screams overtook the estate.

Five minutes passed in the blink of an eye. Most had scampered away. Only a few remained, played with by the servants. Velvet felt the horse buck beneath her as a chorus of whinnying took over her senses. Together, she, her father, and the horse sprinted off into the woods. She heard two cracks of thunder behind her, and the proud hollering of men.

The stampede of horses shook the earth as they road through the darkened wood. The dogs raced ahead of them, barking wildly after the fresh scent. Slowly, the other horses broke off into other paths in the darkness. She heard more screaming, more thunder. More cheers. The many shadows rapidly passed over her face as the woods became her entire world. She soon didn't see anything at all. She focused on the sound of her father's heartbeat, clinging to him for dear life, pistol still in hand.

They passed into a clearing. Velvet looked left. She saw a Faunus she recognized once. He limped into the open, trying to build up speed. A dog cut through the shrubs like a sheer and tackled him, biting away at his face. His screams turned to gargles as the dog mauled his throat. One of her father's friends approached him on horseback. Velvet saw him dismount, then turned away. Her father retreated back into the shadow.

Velvet wasn't sure how much time passed. Everything was a blur. The trunks of the trees blended into a single, breathing mass. The gunshots became as regular as a metronome. Eventually, the horse came to a stop. Velvet looked at the ground in front of her. Thick bramble blocked their path, too dense for the horse to pass through. Her father dismounted, and she hesitantly followed behind him. He pushed the gun deeper into her hands.

"Keep an eye out," he instructed her. "If you see something, yell for me, and I'll come. Stay safe."

Velvet nodded wordlessly. Her father took off into the shadows. She nervously stepped over the bramble and continued deeper into the wood. She thought of all the times she played hide and seek, stowing away in broom closets, under beds, anywhere her thin frame could squeeze into. She was never very good at playing the seeker. Especially now, surrounded by shadow, clutching a gun she barely knew how to use to her chest. She heard a snapping in the distance, but couldn't tell if it was her mind playing tricks on her. She took one step at a time through the mud.

She wandered aimlessly, the gunshots becoming less common. The commotion seemed to fade away. She thought of staying in the forest forever. She thought of the trees reaching out and consuming her. She tried to whistle to steady herself, but her throat was too dry.

Then, in the corner of her eye, she saw it. A flicker of movement. A shadow amongst shadows.

Her instincts took over. She raised the gun and fired into the pitch-black. The gun kicked itself out of her hands she heard a scream in pain. She quickly picked up the gun, hot on her fingers. She held it with her sleeves as she chased after the sound. Even a few yards away, she was nearly lost—until she saw the blood splashed against a decayed tree trunk. She followed its trail, until she came across a fallen tree. She saw a body shuddering in the muck.

She recognized the figure—a large, muscular Faunus that was one of her father's best workers. Early to the fields and last to leave. A man that commanded respect among his peers. She saw him now, weeping, clothes filthy, fur stained with something dark and terrible, pressing the thick of his palms into his thigh. Blood poured out of the wound. He hissed, white teeth and white eyes standing out against the world of black. He noticed her, and his anger softened.

"Miss… Miss Velvet?"

His accent was thick and broken.

"Please… Miss Velvet… please…"

Velvet stood there, unmoving, eyes wide and face barren.

"You have to… I need your help, Miss Velvet…"

She stared soullessly through him.

"I'm a good man. A good man. I done nothing wrong at all. I don't understand."

She looked down at the gun in her hands, as if it were some foreign, unexplainable thing.

"I been good to you, Miss Velvet. Remember? Remember how good I been?"

"Please—"

A twig snapped in the distance. A dog howled. They snapped their heads toward the noise. They were coming. Velvet looked back at the man. He held a trembling finger to his lips.

Velvet looked back into the distance. The man shook his head. He held back his pain. He whispered.

"No… please, Miss…"

Velvet closed her eyes. Her gut took over her actions. She cried out.

"Father! Father, over here!"

They descended.