RWBY: Dark/From Shadows

Blake ran her hand through her ebony hair, pulling it back to reveal her piercing amber eyes. She briefly glanced into the mirror, catching a glimpse of the rare sight. She scoffed, feeling uneasy and incomplete without her mask. She was naked without it now; it had almost become a substitution for her real face. Her ears twitched in disgust… her black, pointed cat ears that rested on the top of her head. She stretched out her hand and grabbed the bone-white mask off of the table, quickly pulling back and placing it on her face. She glanced into the mirror again, and this time she felt complete.

As Blake stared at the animal in the mirror, the tent’s flaps rustled, and a familiar figure stepped in. She was wearing her intricate, angular mask and black uniform, her dark skin and brown hair almost blending in with the shadows of the tent. Blending was what she was best at, after all.

“Blake,” Ilia said, “it’s time.”

Blake sighed in a mix of frustration and hesitance, letting the thought sink in. She was finally about to do something she had planned for some time. And nothing was going to stop her. Not this time. Blake looked over to Ilia with a gaze of content.

“Okay,” she replied.

Adam Taurus sat at his desk, hastily writing on a piece of paper. He payed little attention to his handwriting or spelling, quickly jotting down the notes. As he scribbled his letter, his trusty Lieutenant pushed his way into the leader’s tent.

“Sir, the members are gathered and are prepared to march,” he said. Adam looked over to his friend out of the corner of his eye, barely able to make him out through the narrow gaps of his mask.

“Good,” Adam replied. “Do we have enough picket signs for everyone?”

The Lieutenant nodded. “Too many, in fact. Some are doubling up.”

Adam chuckled slightly. “Well, the more the merrier I suppose.”

The Lieutenant stood still for a moment, then spoke again. “Miss Belladonna insisted that she bring her weapon to the protest.”

Adam sighed and looked back down to his writing. “Blake may be a little more extreme than some of us, but she wants the same thing we do. So far, she hasn’t had the need to use it. Let’s keep it that way.”

The Lieutenant nodded, then walked back outside. Adam closed his tired eyes and shook his head. He reached up and pushed his mask into place, stood up, and walked out of the tent, leaving his letter unfinished.

The group of assembled White Fang members was sufficiently large. The numerous Faunus were all wearing white masks, holding picket signs, and chattering amongst themselves. In front of them was a set of three small wooden platforms, with the leftmost one being the shortest and the center platform being taller than the other two. The Lieutenant stood on the shortest platform, looking over the conversing group. Blake walked over to the platforms and, with a quick, cat-like leap, hopped on top of the rightmost platform. She immediately directed her masked gaze to Ilia, who stood in front of her pedestal looking up at her. Blake nodded to her.

Adam emerged from his tent, briefly looked over the crowd, then made his way to the platforms and swiftly jumped onto the center one. His second-in-command, Blake, turned her attention to him.

“Running late again, I see.”

“Oh, give me a break, Blake. I know for a fact you got here only just before I did.”

Adam’s gaze traveled to Blake. Sheathed on her back was her bladed weapon, colored in a black as dark as Blake’s own ebony hair.

Adam sighed and turned his gaze back to the crowd. “Must you carry that thing to a protest?”

Blake fidgeted, but did not look at Adam. “You never know… when you might need it.”

Adam decided that now was not the time to argue. He looked down to the Lieutenant and nodded. The Lieutenant nodded back, then loudly clapped his hands twice. The chattering slowly quieted down, and all masked eyes turned to face their leaders.

“Brothers and sisters of the White Fang,” Adam said in a loud, booming voice, “today will be the next step in our fight for equality. Today, we will march upon the streets of Vale, and make it known that Faunus will not be treated as animals any longer!”

Scattered clapping and cheering arose from the audience. Ilia kept her eyes focused on Blake.

“After today, we will embark on our greatest challenge yet: the Schnee Dust Company!” Adam announced.

Some of the cheers turned into murmurs and gasps, with some of the members glancing at each other.

Adam realized the lack of enthusiasm for the new mission. “Yes, the SDC has been one of our biggest threats in this quest. But they continue to use Faunus for slave labor, and subject them to the cruelest of tortures and deaths. After Vale, we will go to Atlas. We will march the the Schnee’s doorstep. And we will let them know that the White Fang demands liberation!”

Small cheers and a few claps arose, but the crowd remained unsure.

Adam sighed again. “Yes, I know it is dangerous. But it is necessary. It is okay to be afraid...”

This was not the moment Blake had planned, but it was the perfect opportunity. She quickly glanced to Ilia and nodded. Ilia rapidly spun around and walked into the crowd. Blake turned her gaze to Adam.

“But what if we didn’t have to be?” Blake shouted, interrupting Adam. The crowd’s heads turned to face her, as did a confused Adam.

“Blake, what are you doing?” Adam asked in a loud whisper.

“What if we did not have to be afraid? What if we could make the SDC, nay, the human race afraid of us?”

The crowd murmured, and Adam’s face began to turn red under his mask.

“Blake!” Adam continued in his loud whisper. “Can we do this another time?”

“No!” Blake shouted at Adam, catching him off-guard. “For too long we’ve waited! Our hearts are with you, High Leader Taurus, but your methods are no longer adequate!”

Blake turned to the crowd. “It is time for the White Fang to become what we were meant to be! It is time for us to prove ourselves, not as sniveling protestors, but as fierce warriors! I know, no, you all know that Faunus are the dominant species of this planet. We're better than humans. We have everything humans have and more. Humans shouldn’t just fear the Faunus, they should serve the Faunus!”

Agreements and claps rose from the audience. Adam glanced around, trying to figure out what to do.

Blake nodded. “Imagine it: a Faunus-controlled Remnant. Our brothers and sisters no longer subjected to torture and death at the hands of real monsters! All Faunus, living in a utopian paradise where we reign supreme, and humans grovel out our feet!”

More cheers rose from the crowd. The Lieutenant hopped down from his pedestal and began trying to control the crowd.

Blake smirked. “From shadows, we’ll descend upon the world, take back what they stole!” She raised her voice to compensate for the growing approval. “From shadows, we’ll reclaim our destiny! Set our future free! And we... will... rise!”

Most of the crowd was shouting their approvals and clapping now. Adam could take no more and grabbed Blake’s shoulders, turning her to face him.

“Blake, stop this!” he shouted. “Think about what you’re doing!”

Blake shrugged him off. “I have, Adam. For a long time, I have thought about it. Our people suffer, and what do you do? Rally. Protest. Argue. Well no more. Your methods aren’t getting us anywhere. We need to fight.”

Adam shook his head. “I want equality! I want peace! If you do this, you are no better than they are!”

Blake scoffed. “What you want is impossible! But I understand. You’re so naïve, Adam. You don’t realize how this world works.”

Blake turned back to the crowd, ignoring Adam. “So rise, brothers and sisters of the White Fang! Pick a side: my methods, which will bring us the respect and power we so rightfully deserve, or the methods of Adam Taurus, which lead us nowhere and have us march on the SDC with nothing but signs and harsh words!”

Ilia heard her cue, and shouted from within the crowd, “Hail High Leader Belladonna!”

“Hail, High Leader Belladonna!” Most of the crowd repeated the call, raising their fists in the air. “No!” the Lieutenant suddenly shouted. He reached out and grabbed Ilia by her shirt. “Stop this now, or there will be judgement!”

Ilia sneered. “If you are not with us, you are against us.” she said. “You are a traitor to the Faunus race! You’d rather we continue to grovel at the feet of humans than take our place in the world!”

A large portion of the crowd booed and some hands reached out and pulled the Lieutenant off of Ilia.

“You are not White Fang!” Ilia snapped. “You are not a Faunus! You are... a human.”

With that insult, the crowd reached out and grabbed the Lieutenant. When a select few individuals stumbled forward to help him or intervene, they were grabbed as well. The hands threw the former members to the ground, the Lieutenant punching and kicking as he went down. The crowd swarmed those on the ground and began to claw and strike, until Blake could not even see the defectors on the ground. All she could hear were their shouts and pleas as the crowd beat them.

Blake turned to Adam, who was staring in shock and horror at the ordeal. “It’s your choice, Adam.” Her voice was gruff and serious. “You can join us, and help us liberate out people, or...” She pulled her blade off of her back and pointed it at her former leader. “...you can die with the rest of them.”

As Adam stared at her in terror, she lowered her weapon slightly and whispered to him. “Join us, Adam. You’d be an irreplaceable asset. You can’t save our people if you’re dead. No matter how it may seem, I do genuinely respect you. You gave me this opportunity. If you joined us, you’d be kept in the highest ranks of the White Fang. You would be given the power to help us end this as soon as possible. Please do it, Adam.” She looked through the narrow eyeholes of his mask. “For me.”

Adam’s mind raced as he considered her proposal, all while hearing the dying screams of his fellow White Fang members as they fell to the crowd, the Lieutenant’s yells being cut off with the loud sound of a crack. What he wanted to do was jump into the mob and allow them to let him join his fallen comrades, but he realized that, in order to restore the White Fang to what it was, he had to remain alive. He was the best chance at a peaceful White Fang. He would be lying to Blake, to the world, and to himself, but he could figure something out.

Adam dropped his hands to his sides and looked down at Blake’s boots. “You’re right,” he said. “We can’t change minds with bark and no bite. If peace is to come, it must be in a Faunus-controlled Remnant.”

Blake’s mouth morphed into a genuine smile of satisfaction and relief. “I knew you would make the right call, Adam. I will see to it that no harm comes to you.” She lowered her weapon. “When it started, all we wanted was a chance to live our lives. Now, in darkness, we’ll be taking everything we want, and we will rise.”

Adam nodded as Blake looked out on the new White Fang.

“We’ll rise.”

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