Levi's lessons had become a secondary priority as they transformed into a time to chat and ugh. I had no compints about it, though. But, as much as I wanted to maintain this happy routine, I had stalled long enough. It was time to move forward with my crazy pn.

  The training camp wasn't far from the walls, just as the instructions on the paper had stated. I could have walked to reach the pce, but the possibility of being attacked by Grimm dissuaded me from doing so. Instead, I relied on their established network to get to the pce.

  There is no shame in acknowledging your limits.

  A rge transport truck picked me up, along with several others, and took us to the camp. Upon arrival, it looked more like a mini fortress than a campsite, with thick palisade walls protecting the entire perimeter and tall watchtowers with armed guards standing atop them.

  As the truck finally entered the camp, we were led to a retively empty area with a course filled with obstacles. The first drill instructor id out the rules and terms after giving us a speech about how brave and great we were for joining a just cause. Of course, I didn't listen to a single word of it.

  I had a feeling that I wasn't an average faunus. I didn't tire out easily after strenuous physical activity, and my strength didn't correte with my body shape. However, the obstacle course made it btantly clear that there was a significant gap between me and the average person from the very beginning, giving me a rough idea of what my stats actually represented.

  I aced it.

  I over-excelled in the obstacle course and was pulled from the group. I sat on a rock and watched as the rest of the group struggled with tasks as simple as climbing a rope. Only a few managed to finish the first stage in seconds, but they often fell face ft when attempting to jump over the fences or maintain their bance.

  At least they had the spirit, and I had to give them that.

  Watching them from where I sat was entertaining enough, including the incessant yelling from all the mysterious drill instructors, all of whom wore white masks covering only the upper part of their faces.

  Suddenly, I heard a serious voice call out my name. "So, you're Ma'iq." I froze and slowly turned around to see who was calling me, only to warm up at the sight of a beautiful faunus girl dressed in a bck and white outfit that perfectly hugged her frame.

  She had a pair of bck cat ears on top of her head, which is her only faunus trait. Her amber eyes stood out the most, though.

  I mentally kick myself out of my stupor and give her a smirk. "If it's something bad, then my name is Na'iq, and you're looking for my evil twin brother who has already fled Menagerie," I joked, trying to break the ice.

  But her gre only hardened, sending shivers down my spine.

  [Affection with Bke Beldonna decreased by 1, -01/100]

  Is that pettiness or I am an idiot?

  "Usually we take various tests on aspiring recruits, such as target shooting, hand-to-hand combat, and team-based missions. But your performance on the obstacle course impressed enough instructors to directly pass you," she expins, crossing her arms with a bored expression. "However, since everyone is busy evaluating the rest, I will be in charge in the meantime."

  I let out a relieved sigh. "That's a relief. I was worried I would have to sit around doing nothing."

  She nods, "Good. Follow me."

  The girl takes a path opposite to where the evaluations are being held, and I follow behind her. As we walk in silence, I begin to feel a little uncomfortable. I'm so used to having talkative company, like Levi, the silence is starting to get to me.

  As I follow her, trying to match her brisk pace, I decide to strike up a conversation. "So, what's your name?" I ask. "I'm Ma'iq, in case you forgot."

  "Bke Beldonna." She answers curtly.

  Her response doesn't give me much to work with, and her attitude doesn't help matters. Despite this, I can't help but think that her name is beautiful.

  "So, am I an official member of the White Fang?" I ask, curious as to why I'm being taken to a distinct part of the pseudo fortress.

  She doesn't turn to look at me. "No, you're just a recruit. You need to earn your mask if you want to be considered a part of the White Fang."

  I take a closer look at her, but I don't see a white mask anywhere on her body. "And where is yours?" I ask.

  Bke's face tenses up for a moment, but she quickly regains her composure. "I'm not wearing it right now. It's not necessary for me to wear it all the time." Her tone is defensive and guarded, something that I didn't fail to catch.

  I couldn't help but wonder why she had that hiccup. Every other member I'd seen had proudly shown off their complete attire, but she was the only one who didn't wear a uniform yet carried herself as if she could boss others around.

  As we passed more groups and a few tents, we arrived at a different location away from all the noise. Although it wasn't as empty, with a couple of buildings nearby and other casually dressed faunus in the area, they were all more focused on a gun being shown by a White Fang member than taking notice of us.

  The cat girl took the lead and approached something covered by a rge gray bnket.

  "Pick a weapon," she says, removing the cover to reveal a wooden table full of melee weapons, most of which are swords - big or small, one-edged or double-edged.

  I walk closer to take a better look and pick one from the rest. It isn't big or small like a dagger, so I try giving it a couple of swings in the air.

  But the movement feels wrong, very wrong.

  I drop the weapon back where I found it and try the same with another sword from the bunch, but the result is the same. None of them feels like they are right for me. I just can't picture myself using any of these weapons. They all feel and look wrong in my hands.

  "I think I'm good," I say. I don't know a thing about wielding bdes, so it's best to stick with what I'm confident with, my fists. Which were the most used weapon back in Vacuo whenever a problem came my way.

  "Unarmed?" Bke asks, and I nod in response. She looks at me, then at the pile of weapons, before shrugging.

  She doesn't seem surprised or worried. Instead, she calmly approaches the trio and brings them to me while the masked guy leaves the scene.

  "You two will fight," Bke says, putting a girl with small antlers in front of me, who looks equally surprised at the order.

  The confused girl turns to Bke and then to me, and we both look equally confused.

  But the confusion quickly dissipates as she charges at me.

  My mind kicks in, and I move my right hand to grab the oncoming fist, pulling her against my body to close the distance before sweeping her feet with my right foot.

  The girl is caught completely by surprise and loses her bance. But since my hand still has a grip on her fist, it creates an opportunity that I take notice of. Using the opening, I smash my knee against the side of her stomach before releasing my grip on her hand.

  She hits the ground hard, clutching her stomach in pain and holding back sobs.

  Bke rushes to help her get back to her feet and takes her to a nearby building, which I can now safely assume is some kind of infirmary.

  I don't think she'll like me after that. Bke should have picked the guy rather than the girl. He seems built to take a hit or two, if his size is any indication. He gres daggers at me, but keeps his silence and distance.

  Not for long, though.

  Maybe she is his friend or close family, since he also has a pair of small antlers coming out of his head.

  Bke finally returns from the building with a deep frown, and her arms crossed. "That was unnecessary. Your st attack could have badly injured her."

  "I know," I say, looking down and rubbing the back of my neck. "I acted on instinct. Is she okay?"

  I wouldn't forgive myself if I actually crippled her.

  Bke sighs. "She will be fine. You didn't hit her with enough force to leave a mark or damage anything, but it will sting tomorrow."

  I turn to face the furious male faunus. "Would it help if I apologize?"

  "You bastard…" He tries to approach me, but Bke steps in between us and forces him to back off. He turns around without saying anything and heads into the building to check on his companion.

  Bke walks closer and stands in front of me. "You clearly know how to fight. It's my mistake to have made you fight against another recruit instead of an experienced member," she says, her voice firm but not unkind. She assumes a fighting stance. "Like me."

  I gulp, my eyes widening in panic. "Isn't this overkill?" I ask, frantically scanning my surroundings for anything that might help me.

  I could use any kind of support right now, even if it's just moral support.

  "You have combat experience, and the White Fang needs strong fighters with unshakeable resolve. A stronger opponent shouldn't faze you," Bke says, her eyes locked on mine.

  She's not wrong, and I can't argue with her, but that doesn't mean I like it. I have a feeling she wants to make sure justice is served for the poor crying girl who's resting inside the infirmary.

  We have a brief standoff, neither of us moving or saying anything.

  I make the first move, aiming for Bke's head, but she easily sidesteps my attack and counters with a swift kick to my stomach. It almost connects, but my other hand reacts quickly to block her attack. Unfortunately, this leaves my face open, and she takes advantage of the opening by grabbing my shoulder and throwing me away with surprising ease.

  As the shock of the throw wears off, I quickly shift my body to nd on my feet. It's strange to not have control even for a short moment. But before I can check or recover, Bke closes the distance between us, surprising me once again.

  Bke nds a perfect hit on my stomach, knocking most of the air out of my lungs. But before I can even feel the pain, she follows up with a spinning kick directed at the side of my head, causing my body to stumble back a couple of steps.

  Despite the punishment, I manage to keep my bance and raise my fists, showing that I'm ready for more. Or at least, that was the pn.

  But the cat girl is relentless, and I find myself hopelessly blocking her attacks. I can't even tell where they're coming from, and I can only guess based on the spot that gets hit.

  A crazy idea pops into my head, and I try to grab whatever is hitting me. I smirk in victory when I manage to grab something and keep it in pce.

  Looking down, I see that I have her leg, but my small victory doesn't st long. She twists her trapped leg and uses the momentum for a downward kick. My poor shoulder takes the full brunt and weight of the attack, forcing me to release my grip on her leg. It's the perfect moment she was waiting for to finish me off with a drop kick directly to my chest.

  My body finally concedes, and I hit the ground like a broken doll.

  I must look pathetic.

  [Affection with Bke Beldonna increased by 1, 00/100]

  Or not…

  I see the cat girl towering over me, blocking the sun. "Your performance isn't that bad," she says, "but all your attacks looked very amateurish and telegraphed." She offers me a helping hand to stand up, which I begrudgingly accept.

  "Yeah, yeah. Getting beaten by a girl really sucks though," I say, dusting off my clothes. But I stop as I realize the stupidity that came out of my mouth.

  I want to sp myself, hard.

  Bke narrows her amber eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?" she growls as she steps closer, her hand gripping the hilt of her bde.

  [Affection with Bke Beldonna decreased by 5 -05/100]

  "Fuck me," I mutter under my breath.

  I quickly raise both hands, hoping to stop Bke from doing something drastic. "Nothing! Nothing. Bad habits from Vacuo. They all have a hard-on for the whole 'Might makes right' ideology. Spend most of your life in that pce and some things tend to stick. It's hard to get rid of them in a matter of months."

  It came out without thinking.

  Do I really believe that or think that way?

  "Vacuo?," her ears perk up as she leans closer. "Now that expins many things…" she trails off, analyzing me with a keen eye.

  "I heard stories about how life is in those nds. You came to Menagerie because you don't agree with them?"

  I shake my head. "Of course not. Only psychopaths think like that. We're not animals but people who can tell right from wrong."

  She nods in agreement with me, her posture rexing. Her shoulders slump a little, and she uncrosses her arms, no longer giving an intimidating aura.

  [Affection with Bke Beldonna increased by 4 -01/100]

  Back to square one.

  But that still didn't save me from the trashing disguised as a close evaluation.

  And I swear she looked smug, with a small smirk pying at the corner of her mouth and a glint in her eye.

  -Bke Beldonna-

  She had seen the unfiltered news, and it made her feel sick to her stomach. Adam's behavior was becoming more and more erratic each day, and she didn't know what else to do or say to calm him down. Every day, she wished she could go back to the better times when he was still the man she cared for so deeply.

  Even if his targets were only Schnee private soldiers, eventually his bde would inevitably point to other parties. There was only so much they could do to keep Adam and other members' violent rampages from becoming public knowledge.

  But what made the situation even worse was that Sienna Khan was perfectly fine with his growing violent methods! No matter how many times Bke protested, her words fell on deaf ears. But she wasn't going to give up just yet. She was determined to put everything back on the right track.

  She saw this as an opportunity to address her concerns with Sienna, so she used the excuse of delivering the recruits' profiles. Sienna never wanted to speak with her, as their conversations always ended in the same way.

  After knocking on the door twice, she granted her permission to enter Sienna's office. As she walked in, she immediately noticed that the room was practically empty, except for a rge table with a map of Remnant filled with miniature figures of the White Fang, Grimm, and humans. In the center of it all was a dark-skinned woman wearing a dark gray sleeveless top that revealed her tattooed arms.

  Her bck hair was wild and short, revealing her tiger ears. And it was impossible to not notice the red button on the center of the high-leader's forehead.

  Sienna Khan had both hands on the table as she examined the map more closely, occasionally moving a miniature piece to another location on the map. The young White Fang member awkwardly cleared her throat to get her superior's attention.

  Finally, Sienna gnced over at her and asked, "So, how was it?"

  She passed the first batch of profiles to Sienna and replied, "Like always. Many join, but few pass. And even then, the majority of the new recruits are barely impressive." She had been present during the initial testing phase and had seen many of the new recruits struggling on the first obstacle already.

  While some of the new recruits could still be trained to become decent fighters, it would take a significant amount of time and resources.

  Sienna Khan gnced at the papers with mild interest before tossing them aside. "We can't afford to lower the bar or waste our resources on inexperienced youths, especially now that Ats has approved an increase in their army size, according to my sources." She added another miniature droid to the top of Ats on the map.

  "Again?" Bke felt a sense of dread settle in her stomach. She had feared that it would happen one day, but not this soon.

  An army expansion would mean growth in every department, from human soldiers to the droid army, and it would also increase the risk and casualty rate for the White Fang. The limited number of deployed war hounds was already bad enough.

  "The council always does their best to stop Ironwood's pns, but since they allowed him to go through with it, then my guess is that the heartless bastard got dirt on a couple of council members to sway them to his side," Sienna Khan mused as she grabbed the miniature soldier and pced it back on the Mistral side of the map. "I will call our brothers and sisters back and halt all operations. Ats and Mantle are off-limits for now."

  "Don't you think it's because Adam has been attacking too many dust transports and killing people?" Her voice was ced with anger as she spoke up.

  Sienna slumped her shoulders, letting out an exasperated sigh. "We've talked about this, Bke. Adam's new methods might be… violent to your standards, but we need resources to arm ourselves, especially with the many sanctions that pgue Menagerie. So what if he kills a couple of Schnee private soldiers in the process? Nobody will miss them."

  "Because I know soon, it won't be only soldiers! My father founded the White Fang as a bridge between humans and faunus to promote equality and peace! Not an unscrupulous bandit group!" She smmed both hands on the table, making it shake and drop most of the miniature soldiers from their positions on the map.

  Sienna didn't flinch or fre up in anger, but took one deep breath and looked at her in the eye. "We tried your father's way, and we got nothing. Since we changed our methods, we started getting results." She calmly picked up another miniature and pced it back on Vale.

  And then focused on Mistral, where she picked up a human miniature with her right hand.

  "We have destroyed many sver rings within Mistral and saved hundreds of lives that would have died on a cursed Dust mine or tortured just to satisfy deranged fantasies of some bastard. Now the faunus who live in vilges around Mistral can sleep at night knowing that their family won't be kidnapped at night to be sold off!" She crushed the miniature human in her hand, causing her to flinch in surprise. "What did we ever accomplish with organizing debates and peaceful protests? Besides being made into a ughingstock and facing even more sanctions because a council member felt offended?"

  Sienna opened her hand, revealing the scale model turned into dust.

  Bke looked away, biting her lower lip as she didn't know how to retort.

  The older woman let out another sigh as she rubbed her temples. "Bke, how many times are we going to have this discussion? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands? Words will get us nowhere in this world. We need to act, not talk. I need to look out for my people all over Remnant, not the whims of an idealistic girl."

  Bke looked down as she rubbed her left arm, holding back her frustration at yet another failure.

  "Anything else to report? If not, leave."

  Bke's ears perked up as Sienna handed her the st profile. "We have a promising recruit. He comes from Vacuo, so he has enough combat experience to stand his ground and aced the obstacle course on his first try."

  The high leader read the hastily written profile and raised an eyebrow in surprise. "So he's not a complete green. Is his aura unlocked?"

  "No," she replied. She didn't sense any aura, and while he recovered fast, the bruises remained on his body.

  "That's promising. I can see why the others passed him without any issue." Sienna gently pced the report on the table after she finished reading all the contents. "I should call Adam to oversee his training. This is the perfect opportunity to have him lie low for a while."

  Bke Beldonna panicked at hearing Sienna Khan's pns and snatched the paper. "I will do it."

  "I thought you would like to have Adam back here instead of killing 'innocents,' as you refer to them," the tiger spoke in a sarcastic tone.

  "This is different," she hissed through her teeth. "I will be the one to train him, not you or Adam or anyone."

  Her face twisted into a frown full of anger, with her hands gripping the edge of her table. "I don't know what drove you to be this brazen, to actually dare to talk to me like that in my office, no less."

  Even then, Bke didn't flinch or cower and gred back. "I won't back down from my decision."

  They stared each other down.

  "Dismissed," Sienna snarled and resumed organizing the map that she had ruined moments ago.

  Bke exited the office and let out a long sigh of relief, grateful that the high-leader hadn't pressured her to give up her idea. But the implications of becoming a teacher finally dawned on her. She didn't know anything about training others or how to talk to them, but she was determined not to let Ma'iq become another Adam Taurus.

  Maybe Sienna was right, but she held out hope that she could guide the White Fang back onto the right path, and Ma'iq would be the first of many.