//------------------------------// // Chapter 48. // Story: Embrace of Light and Dark // by Knight of Crows //------------------------------// Cassiel POV (S5 E3) Everything is coming together so far. All that's really left to do is deal with the White Fang in Menagerie and see how recruiting Neo goes in another day or two. Blake doesn't need to know what else is going on, I'll deal with that and any consequences later. For now though, we just do what needs to be done, we've got just under two months to prepare, and I can easily transport everyone if I need to. I'll go tomorrow, today though, I'll see what needs to be done here. Ghira has everything put together for his speech to address everything going on as well as Adam's plans, now he just needs to deliver it. The crowd has for the most part listened and recorded his speech in silence. He's addressed the splinter group, Adam's involvement in The Fall, his plans for a coup, how the information was obtained, basically all the bases he could. The crowd looked me like I was insane when he brought up me saving Sienna and recruiting the White Fang in defending Haven. "I think it's time that the Faunus showed the world that we are equals! Time that we snuff out this splinter group, perhaps even restore the White Fang to what it once was! To do this, I think the answer is clear:-" Okay, I'm taking over now before he says something stupid. I tapped his shoulder to get his attention. "Let me take over, do you really think they'll just do it? You might have power and influence, but I'm pretty sure I know people better." I whispered. He took a moment to think. "Very well..." He stepped off the stage and I stepped up to the microphone. "To undo years of Hate is an impossible task, one the White Fang sought to do initially. The only things that can combat Hatred are time and effort. Now, as I've said to the Albains and Sienna herself, the White Fang is now likely the most wanted terrorist organization across the globe. The Fall did not benefit their cause, and it certainly did nothing for the Faunus, who are now likely shunned at best, or accused of being murderers at worst. The only thing the White Fang can do to prove it had nothing to do with The Fall is defend Haven, the only thing the Faunus can do is prove that the White Fang neither represents nor speaks for the Faunus." I said, the crowd seems to be understanding the meaning of my words. "Many of you may not think The Fall or the attack on Haven will affect you, but you couldn't be any more wrong. Adam, before I literally ripped out his heart and reduced the body to nothing, and his little splinter group are all doing worse to humans than humans have ever done to Faunus. People fear the unknown, this always leads to distrust, hate, then violence, the primal need to be superior. It's basic human, and after The Fall, I'd expect Faunus nature as well." I really expecting someone to interrupt me. I continued after taking a moment to catch my breath. "When I confronted Adam with Blake, I was nearly killed by him. I laid there bleeding out as he preached about justice to the very girl he called 'his darling', how he would destroy everything she loved, then watched as he hurt her then cut off a teammate's arm when she intervened. His group led Grimm into the school as he and his men shot and cut down everyone indiscriminately! He tried to kill someone he claimed to love simply because she didn't want to become a murderer and left the White Fang, and he did all this with a smile on his face! Someone I know who was a victim long before The Fall once said that the White Fang was 'pure evil, nothing but liars, thieves, and murderers'. How do the actions of Adam and his splinter group not prove such? How would it not have been an undeniable fact had I not killed him and stopped his coup?" I asked, the crowd murmured as I continued. "If this attack on Haven succeeds, a target will officially be placed on the backs of every Faunus. History will repeat itself, and Faunus will be left worse off before the Great War. You have everything to gain that Faunus have been striving for for countless years and you have a lot more to lose. Ghira wishes to propose that the people of Menagerie join in the defense of Haven," The crowd had mixed reactions. "and while I would like to believe it's unnecessary thanks to Sienna. No offense for what I'm about to say, but it would only benefit the Faunus if the so called 'animals' from an island that is essentially called a zoo in the dictionary came in defense of Haven." A few of them looked at me in disbelief that I actually said that. "I don't want history to repeat itself. Until The Fall, the Faunus had been nothing but good to me. I have my own reasons for wanting to repay that kind-" "Traitors!" Ah! There it is! Also, bitch! A member of the crowd threw a robe above her, it was Ilia. "Cowards..." Bitch! Who do you think you're talking to??!! "After everything the humans have done to us, everything they've put us through, you're asking us to help them?!" She's pissed, and pushing the wrong buttons. "Sienna seems to agree it'll be better in the long run. Besides, it isn't just Faunus that get treated unfairly." I reasoned. "Where was their help when the Dust companies treated our people like slaves?! Where was their help when kingdoms hunted Faunus just for being who they are?! Where was my help when my parents were killed in a Dust mine?! Where?!" I pulled out Lionheart and summoned Exile as wingblades (still works somehow) before shooting near her, causing the crowd to move away from her. "Clearly what I said went in one ear, got angry, then decibed it looked better with bombs on it's chest!" I turned to Blake. "Turn away, I don't want you to see this." I unzipped my cloak, pulled down my hood, removed my mask, and let my cloak hang down my waist as I showed my bare torso to Ilia to prove a point, scars, emblem, and all. "Humans have done the exact same thing to each other countless times, and you're not the only one made to suffer because of human cruelty and greed! I watched my parents get murdered by a fellow human! I watched that human defile my mother's corpse as I hid in a closet! I watched him kill my grandparents, kidnap my sister, nearly kill me, and I saw what he did to her a week after the incident! And that was just the beginning of my 7 year Hell!" I shouted as I stepped forward, around the stand. "You can't possibly unde-" I interrupted her by shooting near her again. "'Where was the help of humans when the Faunus needed it'? I could ask the same of Faunus when I needed it! Don't pull that shit with me. I may never have been a victim of discrimination in any way, but I understand perfectly. I also understand just what a man who's heart is filled with spite and malice can do when given power thanks to Adam!" "He fights for-" I shot near her again, interrupting her. "He fought for his people? I can tell you he didn't care for equality, he just wanted the world to suffer! How can you, or anyone in the White Fang say that when he used monsters to help another human destroy Beacon while he and his men slaughtered everyone not wearing the same emblem with smiles on their faces??!!" "They were all necessary sacrifices!" Ooohohohohooo... She went there. "Then by all means, feel free to explain to me in a way I can understand how the following were all 'necessary sacrifices' to help your cause:" I extended a finger for each one. "Destroying a school that is basically designed to train heroes/ monster slayers and the capital city of Vale while using Grimm in the process. Murdering humans and Faunus indiscriminately or getting them killed by Grimm during the Fall. Working with Roman Torchwick. Plotting to kill Sienna and blame a human Huntsman. Plotting to do Haven what he did to Beacon. How does any of that help your so called 'cause'?" I started walking towards her. "It's not a cause! It's not justice! It's not a revolution! It's a war that you are trying to start! Something humans specialize in incase you haven't noticed! Look at fucking Atlas for proof!" "Then it's a war you humans drove us to..." She swiped at me with her whip-sword. "Barrier!" I blocked her and just as I was about to pursue her, she escaped into the crowd and into the trees further out. "After her!" A guard shouted. I put the rest of my attire back on and turned around. I saw that the Belladonas were looking right at me. Ghira looked at me with sympathy, Kali looked horrified, and Blake, despite hearing what I went through before, still looked heartbroken. "You didn't look away, did you?" I asked. Her ears fell forward as she walked up to me, wrapping her arms around me. Seriously, where were people like her when I needed them? "I couldn't... How could I turn away from that?" She asked with a shaky voice. I tried to think of a response, but I couldn't, so I just wrapped an arm around her and reached behind her ears with the other. (S5 E5) Blake and I got up early, it was her idea to go around Menagerie to try to recruit people. I would've preferred to put a few signs up and wait awhile for people to sign up and potentially lure out White Fang traitors, but she wanted actual work instead of a stakeout. Neither of us were very successful, not that my people skills are exactly up to the task. After several hours, we found ourselves by the aquatic market. I was expecting wooden walkways with stalls and shops, but I wasn't expecting any to be in the water. I didn't even know there were aquatic Faunus until this morning. "I wasn't expecting much, but I'm more surprised that we didn't even get one to join. You don't think it's because I'm human, do you?" I asked Blake after taking a sip from the coconut she bought us before we sat down at one of the tables. She shook her head. "No, it's not because you're a human." She answered. "It's because we're asking Faunus that were born here to leave their homes to help save another part of the world. As for the Faunus that weren't born here, they came to Menagerie to escape the hardships of where they came from. They just want to be left alone, yet here we are asking both to put the rest of the world before themselves." "Fair enough, can't say I blame them. Still, we at least have Sienna backing us up." She leaned forward in her seat. "You said it yourself, one way or another, whatever happens at Haven is going to affect them anyway. If Adam's followers get their way, it's only going to make things worse for the Faunus." Her ears fell forward a little. "... Sorry if this isn't a question you want to answer, but was Adam different when you first met him?" She looked away, towards the water below us. "*sigh* No... I just didn't see him for what he was until much later." She answered. "When I first met him, he was crying, Cassiel. I believed he was crying that the Faunus killed during the last raid he went on were his friends, but I didn't find out until later that he was crying because they couldn't kill more humans." "I don't think that's what the one guy meant when he said 'men cry not for themselves, but for their fallen comrades'. Crying because more humans weren't killed, I thought I was fucked up." I commented before taking another sip. "Can I ask you an odd question?" She asked. "Go ahead." I answered. "Have you ever met someone and thought to yourself, 'they are the personification of this word'?" She asked. "Can't say I have." "Okay, well, I remember getting to know Ruby and thinking 'this girl is the embodiment of purity'." I thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I can see it." Though I would think valor instead. "After a while, I saw Weiss as 'defiance'. And Yang was 'strength'." She continued. "What am I then?" I asked. "Hehe... The jury's still out on that one. At first, I thought you were 'restraint', then I thought you were 'discontempt', then for a moment, 'vengeance'." She answered. "Say what you will, but I'm tired of having things taken from me, of seeing things I care about getting hurt." I commented. "Cassiel, when you saved me and Yang, I could almost feel what you were feeling towards Adam. I could almost feel your Hate, your Rage, your Bloodlust, but you were in complete control of yourself, and for a moment, I was scared." She looked me in the eye with guilt on her face. "I'm sorry for scaring you like that." I apologized. She shook her head. "Don't be, I know that wasn't your intent. When you came back, you were still the teammate I knew for months. When you arrived at the safe zone, you were hurt again, and still you helped defend it from Grimm. Cassiel, when I look at you, I think of you as the personification of 'perseverance'. You don't stop until you've seen it through." I would have thought something closer to relentless. "I was expecting something else, but I'll take it." "To give more details about my answer, I first thought of Adam as 'justice', then I thought of him as 'passion'. I didn't see him for what he truly was for a while yet. He was 'spite'. Not 'hate', not 'rage', 'spite'. He wanted nothing more than for the world to suffer as he did, and he would have stopped at nothing until he got what he wanted. His way of thinking is dangerously contagious, that's what worries me about Ilia. She's not like Adam, not yet at least, but I don't know how long that will last." "She won't fall nearly as far as he did. I saw his face, Blake, SDC branded over his left eye. It's safe to assume he was born into subjugation, probably lost his family at a young age too. As Ilia asked back then, 'where was the humans help when he needed it'? She had no one else to turn to, the White Fang is as much her family as team RWBY is to me. Adam? He rose above everything humans did to him, but the price for his revenge wasn't worth it. Then again, it's not like he had much to lose besides you." I looked Blake in the eyes. "Maybe you might have been able to save him, to stop him from becoming a monster, but if he truly loved you as much as his delusional self thought he did, he would've put you before his revenge. As horrible as this might sound given the implications, I'm glad he made that choice. So back to Ilia, we'll have to face her eventually, what are you going to do?" I asked. "I'm going to try to help her, I still think of her as a friend, I can't just give up on her." She answered. "I guess I made the right choice when I fought her that night, though if it's just me and her, I won't make any promises about sparing her a second time. If you're there and she looks like she's about to kill you, I'm choosing you over her." "It won't come to that!" "I doubt it will, you're stronger than she is, but she'll be fighting to kill, you won't. You'll be the one holding back, not her, and that's what worries me." She reached across the table and placed her hand over mine. "She's my responsibility, and I'll see it through. I promise you that." She said, determined. I trust that she will.