Chapter Text
It was past midnight in Menagerie, the silver moon and its shattered fragments a shining beacon of light against the endless, pitch black sky. For a Human, this level of darkness was impossible to see through, but for a Faunus such as Blake, her nearly perfect sight in the dark made it very difficult for anyone or anything to be able to catch her off guard.
She stood silently against the palace’s inner walls, the stone pressing hard against her back. She watched closely for any kind of movement in the dark, listened intently to any sort of noise. But she could only see the various fluttering trees littering the lawn of grass in front of her, and she could only hear the whistling wind passing by as well as the faint voices and footsteps of the royal guards standing watch, out in the distance.
Blake’s amber eyes began flickering back and forth. She had been waiting for seven minutes now. Where was Ilia?
“Right here,” said a voice -- Ilia’s -- and Blake jumped from her spot against the corner of the wall, eyes wide as she stared at Ilia’s impassive and detached face.
“Oh,” Blake blinked, surprised. She had not realized she had asked out loud.
“Okay, follow me, stay alert, and keep your head down,” Ilia whispered, already turning around and making her way across the grass, her figure barely noticeable in the darkness, her boots not uttering even a single sound on the ground.
Blake quickly followed, trying to mask the noises her own boots and clothes made. “W-wait,” she mumbled, hurrying her pace to stay as close as possible behind Ilia. “How did I not hear you? Or even notice you?”
Ilia did not respond, deciding to crouch behind one of the many wooden wheelbarrows scattered throughout the palace’s lush, landscape gardens instead. Both girls watched, dead silent, as two royal guards passed by in front of them, on their nightly routine of guarding the palace, inattentive to the two hidden silhouettes a few feet away from them. Ilia stayed unresponsive for seconds longer, watching carefully as the royal guards turned a corner, before grabbing Blake’s hand and pulling her forward.
“Practice.” Was her answer.
*
Blake had tried to sneak out a few times in the past, but never had she succeeded.
Her room was guarded every hour of every day, the palace had posts of royal guards standing watch outside as protection, and her multiple nursemaids watched her every move until she had turned thirteen -- not needing to be looked after any longer.
Blake, Princess of Menagerie of House Belladonna, had never been outside her palace’s walls except for royal parades with her parents, King Ghira and Queen Kali, around Menagerie’s capital city, Kuo Kuana, during the kingdom’s special holidays and celebrations. They were her favorite days as a child. She always felt warm when her people clapped for them, shouting happiness and joy each time Blake waved at them from her embellished purple and gold palanquin. She was supposed to be the future queen of Menagerie and all the Faunus, and Blake understood that ever since she learned how to read and write. She was supposed to protect her people and the Faunus, always reaching higher for the betterment of her people.
But each year that she grew older, Blake began noticing a pattern. The Faunus were not treated equally to Humans, instead, her people were often traded underground and overseas and enslaved. The four other kingdoms -- Vale, Mistral, Vacuo, and especially Atlas -- did little to stop it from happening. It angered Blake’s heart each time her parents’ and the royal council’s pleads to the other kingdoms in taking larger strides to achieve long-lasting equality fell on deaf ears.
She had barely turned thirteen, but Blake was ready to do anything in her power to bring attention to the increasing void and imbalance between Humans and Faunus. A void that should never exist in the first place.
*
“Where are we, Ilia?” Blake questioned, warily looking around the dark cobblestone streets and rundown buildings and houses around them.
They were able to escape the palace unnoticed, thank the Brothers, but now Blake found herself in the middle of an abandoned area in the outskirts of Kuo Kuana alongside Ilia.
Ilia was familiar with most of everything outside her palace’s walls since she had that certain degree of freedom that Blake did not. And even though Blake had found herself trusting of Ilia, she could not help but start to feel anxiety pool inside her stomach. Two fifteen-year-old girls, one the literal Princess of Menagerie, were out in the middle of the night, in a shady area without informing anyone of where they had gone to. If anything were to go wrong, well…
“We just have to find a tiny red X marked on one of these doors…” Ilia muttered, beginning to approach one of the building’s doors to check just that. “That’s how the White Fang makes sure no unwanted visitors are able to interrupt their meetings.”
Blake nodded, pulling her black shawl closer around her face before quickly following behind her.
Blake had met Ilia last year, when her uncle, Lord Amitola, had been promoted to the Head Trainer of the Royal Guards. Ilia and Blake had instantly bonded over their shared anger of Faunus enslavement and discrimination.
Ilia had shown her how she was a chameleon Faunus which gave her the ability to pass off as Human if she only hid her abilities to change the color of her skin, hair, and eyes.
Blake had listened, mouth shut, as Ilia recounted to her the time her family lived in Mantle, a main city in Atlas. They were poor and worked in the mines. But her parents were somehow able to secure her a spot in one of Mantle’s rare noble schools to receive a proper education as a proper lady with other fellow Human noble young girls.
But only if Ilia could pretend that she was Human.
Blake watched as Ilia shook her head and told her how for a few months, she actually enjoyed pretending to be Human, she enjoyed not needing to worry about her Faunus lineage and the prejudicial treatment that always came with it. Blake had watched as Ilia trembled with sudden pure fury when she had learned that there had been a cave-in in the mines -- where much of the workforce was made up by Faunus, which included her parents, and how her supposed Human friends snickered and laughed when they found out about the accident too.
“I lost control,” Ilia jerked her head to the right and met Blake’s widened eyes. “Every inch of me turned blue as I wept. And suddenly, all the girls that I’d laughed and played with…were scared of me.”
She whispered the last part, eyes lifeless as she stared past Blake’s own eyes, lost in her own pain. In that moment, Blake had understood everything. Her people, the Faunus, were in pain. And she needed to fix that. Immediately.
After her parents’ death, Ilia’s uncle came for her and moved her with him to Menagerie, to Kuo Kuana -- the safe haven for all Faunus.
Blake had learned about a new Faunus organization -- the White Fang -- that had begun appearing in the streets of Menagerie through Ilia. The White Fang was seeking to improve relations between the Humans and the Faunus, and Blake was instantly interested to meet with them. She wanted to learn about their ideas, their goals, and their ambitions.
Ilia had used her sources to find out about a White Fang initiation and meeting taking place in Kuo Kuana later that week, and both her and Blake, under the disguise of nighttime, conjured up a plan to visit the meeting together.
“Is it this?” Blake called out to Ilia, staring at a tiny red X scratched on the side of one of the bigger building’s doors.
Ilia came over and inspected it too. After a few seconds, she nodded, looking up to meet Blake’s stare. “Yes.”
They stared at each other for a long time, silent as they both contemplated entering or not.
But Blake reminded herself that she was the future queen of Menagerie. She had a duty or a responsibility to her people. Blake’s lips thinned. Her eyes hardened. She had made her choice way before this moment.
“Let’s go in.”
*
Her eyes were drawn to him first.
He seemed powerful, with an aura that demanded attention and deference. He spoke with a loud, charismatic voice, and he moved across the room in captivating strides. His deep violent red hair shined under the candlelight, and his Faunus trait -- two reddish-black horns -- caused his shadow behind him to seem larger than normal, almost menacing in a way.
He introduced himself to everyone in the meeting as Adam Taurus. Him, along with three other older Faunus -- Sienna Khan, Corsac Albain, and Fennec Albain -- were the leaders of the upcoming White Fang.
Blake listened throughout the night, standing quietly in the shadowed back corner of the room, as they explained their main goal: for Faunus to finally live in an equal world alongside Humans. She nodded along to everything they had said, and from the corner of her eye, she could see the rest of the thirty Faunus who had gathered were also agreeing.
Then Sienna asked who had wanted to join them, and almost everybody raised their hand.
Blake watched, her heart skipping a beat, as Ilia raised her hand as well and walked over to the leaders to sign herself as a new member to the White Fang.
Blake stayed behind; teeth clenched. Even if she wanted to be a part of this, how could she possibly? She was a princess; it was a miracle she even sneaked out of the palace unnoticed. She could also never reveal her real identity to Sienna or to anyone else here for her own safety. What could she possibly provide to the White Fang when she could not even leave her own home?
But then she sensed his gaze. Her head snapped up, eyes immediately locked into his.
Adam wore a Grimm mask, something he had told everyone in the meeting would be their symbol -- as Faunus who donned the faces of monsters when humanity saw them as such. The white and red mask covered his eyes and forehead, making it hard for Blake to identify the direction of his stare. But even though it masked whatever he was directly looking at, Blake knew deep in her soul he was looking specifically at her.
A shiver ran down her spine, and Blake heard the warning bells sound off inside her head.
But even so, she found herself walking over to him.
*
She was sneaking out each month now. And no one knew.
Well, no one except for Ilia.
She would always find a way to visit Blake and report to her about the new ideas and agendas being considered back in the White Fang. Blake would always listen intently in order to be well-informed the next time she was able to attend a new meeting.
The White Fang was becoming a bigger part of her life, and Blake did not know what to do.
She knew that the high-ranking leaders, Adam specifically, were probably starting to get suspicious.
Although Blake had signed herself to be an official member of the organization, unlike Ilia, she was not able to complete assigned tasks given to all first-year members. Her excuses of only being able to attend a meeting once or twice a month had been working for over six months now, but Blake knew that sooner or later, she would be questioned over her absent flexibility. Maybe she would even be let go because she was never able to fully help them. And that scared Blake the most.
For over six months, the fifteen-year-old Faunus princess had been learning more and more about Faunus inequality happening outside her kingdom than what her own royal advisors and parents decided to openly disclose to her. The ruling family in Atlas for example, the Schnee family or House Schnee, earned bags and bags of lien in the mining industry by using Faunus labor and exploitation. And Mistral’s underground networks were full of illegal Faunus enslavement taking place.
This angered Blake, and she would always return to the palace with a more troubled heart than the previous day.
Besides learning about the incidents of Faunus discrimination happening outside her world, Blake was also developing an unexpected, more complicated relationship with Adam.
He was her superior as a high-ranking member in the White Fang. He was also her mentor since he was in charge of teaching all first-year members how to fight, and Blake would hold her breath each time he would grab her waist and correct her stance, feeling the hard planes of his gloved hands and the intense gaze behind his Grimm mask.
It was becoming too much, and Ilia had called her out on it one day in practice.
“Um, Blake…”
Blake hummed, indicating she was listening as she recounted Adam’s words inside her head.
One.Two.Three…throw!
Blake repeated the hand motions Adam had taught her previously that night and watched with tight eyes as the knife flew out of her hand and landed a little to the side of the wooden practice target.
Almost! Blake shouted internally.
“-- I don’t want to assume, but…Blake …”
One.Two…
“…Blake…!”
And Thre --
“Princess!”
Ilia harshly whispered the last word, almost making Blake miss the throw entirely.
“Ilia!” Blake glared at her friend, swiveling around just to be met with an Ilia who was clearly angry if her changing red skin suggested anything other.
“I’m sorry, but you weren’t listening to me!”
Blake glared at Ilia once more before walking over towards the wooden practice target to retrieve her throwing knives.
“Still, we both know you should never call me that here,” Blake mumbled. “Even if no one is with us in the room, we should still be careful--”
“What’s going on with you and Adam?” Ilia interrupted, crossing her arms.
Blake stood still, looking at her friend in disbelief before shaking her head. “What? Nothing. He is our mentor--”
“Oh, we both know he’s much more than that with you,”
Blake stayed quiet for a minute, slowly picking up the knives.
“Blake, don’t think I haven’t noticed the secret looks you two share! Or…or h-how you stare at him all the time! Not only is he our superior, but he’s also four years older than you! Not to mention, he doesn’t know you’re…you know, you …so why--”
“Ilia, please ,” Blake sighed. “Leave it alone.”
Blake watched as Ilia closed her mouth, brow furrowing. It was clear she wanted to keep on discussing this with her, but Blake returned to her training with hardened eyes.
*
He was angry.
Blake watched quietly as Adam paced back and forth in front of her, muttering and spewing curses as the setting sun caused the sky to bleed red behind them.
Apparently, the Schnee family had turned a blind eye when a whole group of Faunus workers had been buried alive in a cave-in in the Mantle mines. Some of the Faunus workers had been children, approximately seven to eleven years old. Sienna’s associates in Atlas had relied to her this information, and when she had decided to share it to everyone in the meeting, Adam had suddenly stood up and stormed out, causing everyone to stare at his retreating back in bewilderment.
But Blake had followed him, understanding why he was so furious.
Adam cursed once more before grabbing his Grimm mask and throwing it to the ground. The scarred Schnee Dust Company brandmark across his left eye shined brighter under the crimson light, and Blake felt sympathy squeeze her heart.
“…Adam…” She whispered. He had told her months ago that he had worked in those same Mantle mines under the Schnees when he was younger. And when he had tried to lead an uprising, they had immediately stopped it and branded him and the other conspiring Faunus as a result.
“The Schnees deserve to die, Arryn.”
Arryn had become her fake name for over a year now, and Blake had become accustomed to being addressed as such by everyone in the White Fang. Still, it caught Blake off her guard for quick second and she quickly blinked to hide the confusion that had probably swam across her face.
But if Adam noticed he did not show because he stared plainly at her with his right icy-blue eye and continued. “They all deserve to die. The people who treat Faunus like them deserve to die. The Humans deserve to die.”
Blake hesitated for a moment before taking the four steps needed to stand in front of him.
“There will be justice for them, I promise,” She hesitated again, wondering if he was mad enough to reject her touch. “But, not with violence,”
She took his gloved hands, waiting with a pounding heart.
He stared at her for a long time, slowly looking at their joined hands. Seconds passed, and then he clicked his tongue, jerking his hands away. Blake could do nothing but pull her hands back to her sides.
“And how, my love? If not with force, how do you propose those Faunus will get justice? How do we stop the Schnees? How?”
She stood silent for a moment, eyes unfocused, thinking.
He was right, in a way. The White Fang was barely reaching six-hundred followers, they needed financial support but had none, and their voice was very small if not nonexistent outside Kuo Kuana and Menagerie. How could they get justice?
You are the Princess of Menagerie.
She bit her lip.
You are the Princess of Menagerie , and the Faunus are hurting .
“I am the princess!”
She blurted, looking up to meet Adam’s confused stare.
“What?”
Blake trembled, feeling suddenly exposed. “I am the princess,” she repeated. “I…I…am Princess Blake Belladonna.”
Silence.
His face was painted with disbelief, looking up and down at her ragged dark dress (which was a disguise) and her messy black hair.
She knew he did not believe it, so she scrambled to prove herself.
“I joined the White Fang under the name Arryn as a disguise. For my own safety, Adam. I swear to you I only lied to you and the rest of the leaders as a safety measure, and not because I wanted to. I am Princess Blake of Menagerie, and if you do not believe me, ask Ilia -- she works in the palace, and she was the one who told me about the White Fang in the first place…”
He was still looking at her like she had grown two heads.
“…a-and I wanted to meet with you! I wanted to meet with the White Fang to learn about their ideas! It pains me to see my people treated this way, and I wanted to help, so I continued to stay here…”
He took a step closer to her, roughly grabbing her chin and tilting her head up so she could see his dangerous eyes flash. “Do you really think I believe that? Who are you, really?”
“No, Adam!” Blake shook her head. “I am telling the truth! Why do you think I only come to the meetings once a month? Because I possibly cannot!”
They held each other’s stare for a long time, and even though Blake felt herself losing the battle between them, she hoped he could see the honesty written plainly across her face.
“I promise you, Adam,” Blake whispered, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. “I am Princess Blake Belladonna. And I want to help the White Fang.”