Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Blake Belladonna was a girl with a lot of problems.

As she boarded the transport to Beacon Academy Blake tried fruitlessly to get her body to relax, despite being accepted there was the ever present fear that a Huntsman would be waiting to arrest her the moment she set foot in the school.

That was one of the downsides of being a part of an active terrorist cell she supposed. Using her real name had been a gamble but Blake would rather try to appeal to Headmaster Ozpin’s almost notorious sense of second chances than assume she could outsmart one of the premiere Huntsman Academies with a disguise meant to fool baseline Atlesian facial recognition.

Once the airship took off Blake stalked to a relatively unoccupied corner, even if she doubted that another student would spontaneously attack her she had learned not to give her back to anyone without a very good reason.

After finding a seat she reached into one of her bags and pulled out a book, The Man with Two Souls had an interesting enough plot but the writing tended towards being dull. It was the perfect book to pretend to read while observing others.

It was instinct at this point, the White Fang was no stranger to internal disagreements and those could often turn violent in the lawless and Grimm infested land outside of the kingdoms. Knowing who was a threat to whom was important, especially under the command of Blake’s former… partner.

The first thing her eyes searched for were her fellow faunus, the amount of hostility directed at them was always a decent metric for calculating just how disgusting the humans present could be. Despite the handful of faunus on the airship nobody was being vocally abhorrent at the very least, however, Blake caught a few glares sent the way of a girl with rabbit ears and another with some kind of bovine tail to name a few.

All of that was somewhat par for the course when it came to Vale, vitriolic hate had died down in recent years but the systemic challenges faunus faced were still heavily entrenched in the cultural zeitgeist.

Blake’s eyes did linger on a few of the humans around her. The first two were a pair, a redheaded girl with a grenade launcher and a boy who couldn’t look more Mistrali even if he tried, they were decent at covering it up but Blake could recognize the signs of living outside the kingdoms. The boy's eyes lingered on weapons just long enough to determine a threat level and the redhead’s cheer was a bit too forced, when surrounded by monsters attracted to negative emotions even false happiness was better than nothing.

There was also the cereal mascot, Blake had no idea who the girl was but she was famous enough to be plastered on every box of Pumpkin Pete’s in the last few years so she could extrapolate some information about the human’s skill.

Then there was the real problem, Weiss Schnee, in all her Atlesian glory was waiting in the same airship as Blake tapping her foot restlessly. If she was less skilled in concealing emotional responses Blake would have likely laughed at the utterly ludicrous coincidence.

While she might not have inherited Adam’s visceral rage towards the SDC when she cut that train coupling there was still an adamant conviction Blake held against the business. Thankfully she had never been subjected to Jacques Schnee’s exploitation but she had seen enough, before Blake’s family ran from their obligations their travels through Mistral had shown her just how the SDC had abused her people.

Holding that against Weiss Schnee before she had assumed control of the company would be unfair but the heiress was essentially the public face of her family's company, she inherently benefited from ignoring if not participating in the SDC’s wrongdoings. That excuse sat well enough with Blake, her dislike of the Schnee was founded on lots of things but she couldn’t honestly dismiss spite and pettiness as contributors.

Well, Blake could hope that she would stay far away from Weiss Schnee during her time at Beacon, she could wait to completely dismiss the heiress as a person until she knew what she was like but nothing good would come from putting a faunus who was as… socially conscious as Blake next to Weiss Schnee.

As the airship got about halfway to the Huntsman Academy the news that had been playing in the background of Blake’s four ears turned to something a bit more interesting.

“That’s right Lisa, we’ve got news coming to you from downtown Vale. We have confirmation that just two nights ago notorious thief Roman Torchwick has continued his ruthless spree of Dust robberies throughout the city.” A picture of one of the smuggest humans Blake had ever seen popped up on the screen. For some unknown reason a blond girl nearby got particularly upset and stormed off.

While strange Blake wasn’t exactly intrigued by that, criminals did have a tendency to create enemies, she focused back on the broadcast. “Now folks, that’s not all. We’ve had eye-witness testimony that Torchwick was aided by none other than a student at Signal Academy, that’s right, is this a story of a Huntress-in-training turning to a life of crime or is something more sinister lurking behind the scenes?”

Blake couldn’t keep her heart and ears from dropping when she heard that, due to her personal experiences she was more inclined to think poorly of this Torchwick than whatever girl he’d threatened or manipulated into working for him. The entire concept left a bad yet familiar taste in her mouth.

There was a lull in her interest as Blake listened to the reporter drone on about how a civilian shouldn’t approach an armed criminal and should instead call the police, she’d heard the same spiel hundreds of times before on whatever long distance radio the White Fang had managed to acquire.

Then the news turned to a far more unpleasant topic, as the feed cut back to the woman who had previously been giving the weather a picture of faunus protesters appeared beside her.

“Thank you, Cyril. In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted–”

Before the feed was cut and replaced with a hologram of what had to be one of the Professors, manually judging by how it flickered for a half second or so, Blake caught a number of incensed grumbling by the humans around her, including the Schnee heiress turning her nose up at the screen with a harrumph.

It wasn’t exactly a surprise that the news reported on things in such a biased manner. Blake had been to that rally, it would have been just as accurate to claim that the Vale Police Department had been the offending party in the violence that ended the protest. The presence of White Fang members in attendance certainly hadn’t helped in soothing tensions but the police weren’t exactly aware of their presence until they’d started to forcefully corral the protesters away from the main street. 

Thankfully most of the White fang members that were willing to kill a cop were out of the city by now, only newer recruits went undercover at the more socially accepted rallies and protests, even Adam had learned by now that causing too much of a public disruption only made it harder for all faunus. Violence was occasionally a necessity but reliance on its most brutal application was never a good thing, it was an option that should always be considered carefully.

Her problem with the direction the Vale branch had been going wasn’t exactly as cut-and-dry as a well meaning but naive human might assume, sometimes threats needed to be made to get the things faunus needed. Her true issue was that making threats were all Adam was doing, he pulled members who were giving their people community and safety out of Vale and put guns in their hands, he abandoned soup kitchens and aid programs to keep his soldiers fed and healthy, he forgot that violence was nothing if it couldn’t lead to better lives for the next generation of faunus

She was politicizing again.

Blake took a deep breath, thinking about politics had a tendency to make her irate. She’d rather not start her educational career in that kind of headspace, her temper may not have been as explosive as some of those she’d known in the past but during times of heightened emotions things like combat training and instinct took control.

As the holographic professor, Goodwitch if Blake remembered right, finished her welcome the airship started to descend on what seemed to be a fusion of a landing pad and part of the school’s courtyard.

Blake was one of the last people to get off the transport, in part because of her reluctance to hand herself over to the authority of the VPD but also because she didn’t particularly feel all too excited to be standing in front of people who very well could plant a blade in her back.

As she watched the Schnee heiress have a trolley full of Dust wheeled out of the airship Blake noticed someone that had already caught her eye. The faunus girl with the bovine tail was hyperventilating, she was a larger toned girl with darker skin but while all of that made for a more imposing figure it didn’t do much when she was hunched over having what looked to be a panic attack.

“Hey, do you need anything?” Blake wasn’t even upset that she was offering help, she was here to be a Huntress, she was here to be a better person.

The girl looked up, her hand had wandered to her back where a hammer made of segmented parts was strapped but it was dismissed just as quickly. Once she had her breathing under control she responded with a soft voice that very much didn’t match her physicality. “I’m sorry… Just excited is all.”

Ignoring the obvious lie Blake knelt down next to the girl, she wasn’t lacking in experience dealing with panic attacks and the like. “You’re okay, you’re safe, how about we get off this airship then I can get you something to drink, does that sound good?”

“Y–Yeah, I can do that.” The girl stood up, she was almost a full head taller than Blake but her body was pulled in on itself, nervous energy was coursing through her.

With a smile Blake continued to coax the girl off the airship, after the first few steps it was less of a challenge, by the time they made it out the faunus had seemingly overcome whatever had gripped her with anxiety for the moment. “So, do you have a name or should I keep just calling you girl in my head?”

She had tried to insert some levity in her voice but it fell somewhat flat, don’t judge her, she’d been dealing mostly with Grimm lately and those didn’t have much of a sense of humor.

“Oh, I’m Cherry, Cherry Zhad… It’s nice to meet you.” She was very awkward, in the same way Ilia had been when they were young, it was nice, Blake already felt big sister instincts well up inside of her.

She gave the best smile she could to Cherry. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, my name’s Blake. Do you still want that drink?”

Cherry nodded and Blake stalked into the campus proper of Beacon with her newest acquaintance right on her heels. They found a vending machine on the way to the auditorium, before she could get something for her new… friend Cherry had already taken a very full wallet out and bought her own drink.

“Oh, I’m sorry, did you want something?” She said it after a moment of hesitation, Cherry was obviously not the most socially aware person but it was more along the lines of isolation, not something Blake knew how to make better.

Blake gave Cherry a smile before shaking her head. “No, no, I’m alright..”

“Okay…” Cherry unscrewed the cap on her bottle and took a swig before her eyes widened and her tail straightened out as the voice of Goodwitch began to echo from the auditorium.

The panic was back in full as she grabbed Blake by the hand and began to pull her down the hall, thankfully they were close enough to where they needed to be that it didn’t take too long for both of them to sneak into the auditorium and hear the headmaster’s very cryptic speech.

“I’m–I’m sorry about that… I didn’t want to miss this.” Cherry’s voice lowered to a murmur by the end, she had grabbed her tail and begun to play with it as she bowed her head.

Blake didn’t mind, it was nice to be friendly with someone so different from Adam, back in the White Fang almost everyone knew her as either the daughter of traitors or the commander’s girl, she’d learnt to keep her head down but she didn’t mind how things were shaping up.

Blake had made up her mind.

She wasn’t going to run anymore.

“Don’t worry.” With a glance around the auditorium Blake made sure that no one was watching her and Cherry before she turned to her new friend. With a flick of her ears that was very obviously not the wind or whatever people convinced themselves had made a bow twitch she brought Cherry’s attention to the top of her head.

“We’ve got to stick together.”

Chapter Text

Initiation had been an experience.

Blake had ended up partnered with Yang Xiao-Long, the blonde she had noticed on the airship and while she didn’t have many complaints the other girl was terse, every once in a while some humor broke through her walled-off demeanor but just as quickly it was tamped down into whatever hole she seemingly was pushing all her emotions.

It could have been worse, she could have been partnered with the Schnee like Cherry had been.

Although, after the other faunus talked a bit more about herself Blake had realized that she was from Vacuo, the kingdom almost infamous for not giving a damn if someone had horns or another set of ears, apparently Cherry’s family ran their own Dust refinery in her home kingdom and that fact had seemingly mollified the heiress.

Between the four of them they were able to take down a massive Nevermore that was likely lured into the testing site. Blake had been the one to come up with the strategy they used to defeat it, between her Semblance and a Schnee-impowered artillery barrage by Yang and Cherry it had been a game of whittling the Grimm down as it chased Blake around the forest.

It had been a modified form of the way she had seen Sienna and a platoon of White Fang Huntsman take down a Sphinx in lower Anima. She might not have had the numbers or the exact Semblances that job needed but she was able to take down the Nevermore in a similar enough way.

It also came with the added bonus of getting to boss around the Schnee, Blake may have stepped away from the White Fang but it would be difficult to find a faunus who wouldn’t relish the opportunity.

Well, except for Cherry, Blake had tried asking if Weiss had been rude to her and it was like the thought hadn’t even crossed her mind. She’d just assumed that Blake was talking about her being from Vacuo and did her best to dissuade that assumption. If she had to guess Blake would say that the Schnee didn’t mind Cherry due to her affluence, she saw her partner as one of the good ones.

As messed up as that notion was, Blake couldn’t really challenge it without having to engage in politics with the heiress and that did not sound very productive to anyone’s time. She’d try to keep a friendship with Cherry going but she’d be very happy to ignore the Schnee to the best of her ability.

Professor Ozpin had stepped up to the front of the auditorium and Blake was broken from her thoughts, he recited some speech about how it was their strength that brought them here and other vaguely encouraging sayings before he started to rattle off names for the newest teams.

The first two were people that Blake had barely even noticed in passing, team AQRN and LPYZ likely had great careers ahead of them but Blake did not care enough to actually learn any of their names.

“Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark” The four of them walked up to the podium at the headmaster’s mark and Blake did recognize one of them, Cardin was a boy that had grabbed at Cherry’s tail the day before. “The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!”

Blake’s teeth ground slightly at him getting a place in Beacon, it seemed like inclusivity mattered up until the bottom dollar was threatened. It might have been leaps ahead of every academy other than Shade but until it became socially acceptable to punch a bigot in the face Blake would hide her ears from the general public.

It wasn’t that she was scared of what people would do to her if she didn’t, it was the best solution to her myriad of problems. Being out as a faunus really didn’t seem all that appealing when Adam had likely put a bounty on her head and with the bow any kind of action she took could be covered as being a socially conscious human, those were treated much better than a faunus inserting themselves between a human and their victim.

“Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos and Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces.” The four of them walked up to the podium, it was the cereal mascot, the duo that Blake had already noticed on the airship and a scrawny looking boy. “From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR.”

There was a smattering of applause, the cereal mascot gave a practiced wave and Nora gave who Blake guessed to be Ren a hug. The boy, Jaune, looked nervous, that might be something to keep an eye on, he hadn’t been very effective in the Emerald Forest.

“Led by... Jaune Arc!”

Really? It felt like the obvious choice was cereal girl, Blake had heard the Schnee’s rant about her. Sure, a tournament champion might not have been totally great at leading but she could probably learn a lot faster than Jaune. She seemed happy enough with the arrangement though, she gave her new leader a friendly fist bump but he fell over, prompting laughter from the room

Well, not like he was on Blake’s team.

Wait a minute… There were only four people left to be called up, surely that didn’t mean-

“ And finally, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee and Cherry Zhad.” Well fuck, she was on a team with the Schnee, that wasn’t good, that wasn’t good at all. Even if she wasn’t happy about it Blake stepped forward with the rest of her new team. “From this day forward, you will work together as Team BYSC.”

The Schnee glared at Blake as both of them noticed what that name implied. No way, she couldn’t fight the smile from growing on her face. Sure, being on a team with Weiss wasn’t the best outcome being the leader was a good thing, she’d get to boss around the Schnee, that was a bonus.

“Led by… Blake Belladonna!” Ozpin smirked at her knowingly and Blake’s ears perked up. “It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year.”

Then it actually hit her, she was going to be a leader, an actual leader. Like Adam, like Sienna, like her parents. Blake was used to following, she was used to getting orders, this was something new, something different. She couldn’t run from this, she just couldn’t.

Yang clapped her on the back and Cherry gave her a shy smile. There was another round of clapping as the four of them stepped off the podium.

Ozpin cleared his throat and the room went silent. “Thank you, all First Years should look to their scrolls to find their room assignments. Remember, your journey has just begun.” Then, just like that Professor Ozpin up and left, nobody else came up to take his place on the podium.

Blake got out her scroll as murmurs started to fill the room, this wouldn’t be the first time that Blake had dealt with someone being a crappy instructor, Adam had always said that taking action should come before all else.

Blake didn’t always listen to what he’d said but it applied well enough in this situation. She turned to the rest of her new team after she got what she needed from the scroll. “Alright, we’re going to be in Dorm A, follow me.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, what if Professor Ozpin has something else to say?” Of course it was Weiss that fought her on this, Cherry had already gotten behind Blake and Yang seemed happy enough to follow her.

But Blake had to be a good leader, better than Adam, better than her parents. “He made it pretty clear that he was done talking, unless you want to spend hours waiting for him to come back it's probably best for us to get some sleep before classes start.”

“Blake’s right.” Surprisingly enough it was Cherry who spoke up, she was fiddling with her tail nervously but she was keeping her voice steady. “We need some rest after today.”

“Fine, just know that if we miss anything it’s your fault.” Blake had to take a deep breath, the Schnee was being so annoying she must have had a tutor just for that.

Yang smiled, it looked wobbly, like she was forcing it alongside her jovial tone. “All I know is that I need a shower, lead the way, leader.”

So she did, the rest of her team followed her out of the auditorium and into the campus proper. The scroll guided them past the Administration offices and then the dining hall, after a few minutes of walking Blake glanced back and noticed that Team JNPR was following them.

“Hello again!” Pyrrha raised a hand and gave them a practiced wave, the rest of the team followed suit as they approached Blake and her team.

Jaune stepped up and fiddled with his scroll. “Sorry, I tried getting to the app but it just wasn’t working, I thought we’d just follow you to the dorm room.”

“I don’t know what room you’re in or anything.” Blake tried to keep the suspicion from her voice, she didn’t exactly trust Jaune, she had nothing against the boy personally but suspicion came easy to her.

Once they got inside the building Team JNPR split off from them to find their room as Blake led her team up the stairs. They spent most of the time in silence, Cherry was too shy to start a conversation, Yang was dealing with something that Blake didn’t know about and Weiss was stewing in the fact that she wasn’t picked as the team leader.

Really, it was a perfect storm.

“Alright.” Once they got to the door that Blake’s scroll said was their dormitory she held the scroll up to the lock and soon enough it opened. “Here we are, make yourself at home.”

She said it as a joke, they were all far too tired to do anything physically taxing. As her team filtered into the room Blake couldn’t keep a feeling of anxiety from welling up in her chest.

What if she failed? What if she wasn’t good enough? What if she ended up running away again?

Logically speaking she knew that failure was part of growth but that last one really stuck out. She was good at running, it was her first and only recourse to something she couldn’t control.

No, she couldn’t run, not again.

So in the privacy of the dorm room Blake lifted a hand up and grabbed her bow, deftly untying it, pulling the ribbon from her head.

“You’re a faunus?”

Of course Weiss would make a big deal about it first, Blake’s ears twitched in annoyance.

She turned to look at the Schnee, surprisingly instead of hatred she saw a kind of wariness, right on the edge of fear. “I know you might not care but Vale isn’t the most accepting place, I’d rather cover my ears and be seen as a person than deal with people being bigots about them.”

“I mean, Cherry doesn’t hide who she is.” That was Yang, she was even less upset than Weiss but she was still a human, she didn’t understand the plight that the faunus faced, not really.

Blake scoffed. “Cherry’s a rich faunus from Vacuo.”

The rich faunus in question looked almost mortified, Blake felt a moment of shame before the other faunus spoke.

“No, I get it…”At the very least Yang and Weiss gave her a moment to speak. “I was surprised when I came to Vale, things are different here.”

“For every decent human there’s one that would do terrible things to us if given the chance, I was born lucky enough to have a trait I can hide, I’d be an idiot to not take advantage of that.” Of course Blake wasn’t going to tell her new teammates about the fact that the White Fang was in all likelihood after her, that could wait until Weiss didn’t look like she thought Blake would mug her.

Weiss didn’t look exactly happy about it but she sighed. “Fine, just don’t keep stuff like that from us again, okay?”

“Whatever… We can hash this out later, I need to get some sleep.”