Chapter 2: Adam and Xander meet Blake

It was another beautiful day, in our quiet village. Living outside the City was tough but it was rewarding in its own way. Everyday there were things to do. Lookout for Grimm attacks, prepare the meals, and help out at the local hospital. I had just finished my morning tour of the wall and was told that I could go meet up with my best friend, Adam Taurus. Adam was almost 6, and as sharp as a whip too. He was in the kitchen help the chef prepare the meals for all the Faunas in the village.

Our village was small and only just outside of the City of Mistral, and by just outside everyone meant about 10-15 Kilometres from the city limits. While we were in constant danger, life was also good, the strong protected the weak so the weak could become strong.

"Hey Adam, What are-" I slipped on the wet tiled floor and a crack was heard throughout the large kitchen as my face met the floor.

"Xander, What are you doing here, are you alright?" he was holding back laughter but couldn't stop giggling about what just happened.

Clutching my nose in a desperate but failing attempt to stop the bleeding, I continued "Here to see you! You stupid bull, how have you been?"

"Here, for your nose Xander." The chef of the small mess hall, Ryan Willowwood, handed me a small ragged towel that had been torn from extended use for my bleeding nose. Ryan was a tall man, well tall compared to any 12 year old, but something about the way he walked just never stopped impressing me. It was a walk that almost oozed confidence in what he was doing and I always asked him about what his secret was, but he would never tell me because I would 'have to figure out what makes me hold my head high.'

"Thanks Ryan, how many times is it now?" I took the towel and held it under my nose to catch any blood that was dripping down now.

"This makes seven, so stop slipping on the floor and be careful." He retorted pretty cockily

"Anyway" Adam had finally interrupted "I've been great Snake Eyes. Hey, you hear about the Belladonnas?"

"No, what?" Both curiosity and worry began to form in my mind, the Belladonnas had been close friends of my father long before both joined the White Fang. That's the group that brought everyone together here, we are Faunus who live out here away from the I have known them for as long as I can remember, they had been there for me and my father since my mother, Jade, died out on a hunt for food protecting the others so they could return to hunt another day…

She was a sweet woman, as any mother should be. She was tall, for a woman, and was very strong too. She would never raise her voice or strike me, unless we were playing. Her hair was as green as her name was, and I loved it because I had it too. One day she went out with the rest of the hunters to gather food for the village, it was a foggy day but I knew she would be strong. What my father, Bronze, and I didn't expect was someone else to knock on the door at the end of one day.

My father was a tall and well-built man, what some might say is that he was an Ursa in a human body, but after we got the news he had withdrew into himself as if he was a baby turtle lying on its back helpless to the dangers of the world.

This was the second time I had seen him this helpless, the first was when he lost part of his arm that had been bitten off by an alpha Beowolf protecting me. I had wandered outside the village and a pack of Beowolves were quietly hunting me. I had tripped on a tree root and turned around to see a Beowolf jumping at me, then my father had gotten in the way, saving my life and protecting me just long enough for my mother and other hunters to jump into the fray to kill the pack. Once he was all patched up, he was fine until about a day later.

He started drinking and wasting his nights outside the house so I wouldn't notice, but that soon failed, I had approached him one day before my 7th birthday and had asked him,

"Daddy, what are you scared of? We have mommy and our cat friends to help protect us."

And that one sentence seemed to knock him out of whatever funk he had been in, anything my mother or the Belladonnas had tried never seemed to get through, yet somehow my kind and genuine words got through. Once he quit drinking, he had become the smiling and caring father I had always known him for.

Once we had received the news of my mother dying, what happened after almost feels like a blur of pain and sorrow. My father and I would step up to help out around the village as much as he could, but at night he would sometimes cry himself to sleep, and I had so many nightmares that sleep became a chore to push through. He was working for the Lumber yard since before my mother died and just stopped going in one day, no one knew the whole reason but they had an idea, and decided to leave him alone. So I stepped up one day to provide for the both of us.

"Hey Xander!" Adam yelled.

"Huh, what?" I had finally snapped out of my unfortunate trip down memory lane.

"You okay, you had that look again." Adam was a sweet kid, always concerned for me.

"I'm fine, what did you want to tell me about the Belladonnas?" suddenly remembering about some news.

"Oh yeah! Their baby was just born it's-" Adam started.

"Don't tell me, I want to see!" I interrupted.

We quickly rushed over to the hut where the Belladonnas lived, it was only a few houses away from the kitchen so it was a very short run. Once we arrived we slowly approached the front door and knocked carefully.

"Come in!" A deep voice boomed, it was no doubt Mr. Ivory Belladonna, happy as can be.

"Would you be quiet, she's sleeping!" a quieter voice snapped at him.

We slowly opened the door and looked carefully inside house. Inside the house we walked into the main living area to see them. There was Mr. Belladonna, all 6 feet and 20 stone of him with just one big stupid smile on his rugged but still clean face. He had thick streaks of black in his yellow-white hair, which had been there since he was born, hence the name Ivory. He was standing beside his wife Mrs. Lily Belladonna, who was about 5'6" sitting in a rocking chair, holding a small infant girl with black hair.

"What's her name?" Adam inquired

"Blake" Lily replied

"She's so small, and she has cat ears too, just like you Mr. B!" I felt very excited for some reason, she wasn't my sister but the Belladonna's were practically family at this point.

"She won't be able to play with you for a few years okay?" Lily had said, a little worry in her voice.

"Alright" Adam and I almost said simultaneously exasperated. We went outside to continue our duties for the village.

We left the house so Lily could rest, but Ivory followed us out.

"How come she doesn't have your white hair?" I had asked.

"Don't know Xander, but she has my ears though" That made him smile even more.

"I can't wait for her to be older, we're going to have so much fun!"

"Well, for now you boys should get back to your duties, Xander tell your father that he can come over anytime." I nodded, we had taken a break to go see Blake, but it was time to get back to work.

"Man I'm bushed, I'm heading home."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow Xander." Adam left to head to his house, it was a five minute walk from my place so he was never far.

"Dad, I'm home." I announced

As I walked through the doorway to our house, I smelled something cooking. While we were encouraged to eat in the local hall, all houses came equipped with a small kitchen for each inhabiting it, if they wanted to eat at home.

"Hey Xander, how was your day?" The light in his eyes wasn't fully back yet, but there was still embers where a roaring flame had been years ago. He was cooking some stir fry, which smelled delicious.

"Dad, are you COOKING?" I practically fell down once I saw a smile, my father hasn't smiled genuinely in a long time.

"What do you think?" He asked, holding a pan out in front of me.

"It smells delicious, dad, what happened that made you change?" That had hit a nerve, I felt a pang of guilt for asking that.

"I was tired of being useless." He was pretty blunt about it, "I mean think about it, and your mother would have thrown me out to the Beowolves way earlier, huh?"

He made me laugh at that statement, "yeah, then she would've gone in after and kicked your butt back inside."

He started laughing so hard that he put the pan back on the stove and went to sit down nearly crying from laughter. I finished cooking the stir fry and put the pan on the table the living room. As I walked in he had begun to calm down.

"Look, I know I haven't been the number one dad, but-"

"You don't have to worry about it dad, I forgive you okay. Even though it hurt, you helped me come to terms with moms passing, and grow up a little too."

He started crying, "You don't know how much that means to me, I still haven't forgiven myself for doing this to you."

"Well," I started crying now "I forgive you." And hugged him.

A/N: Alright the review, albeit there was only one, was very helpful. I need more reviews though to produce even better quality story. I have an idea of which way I want this to go with this and I need criticism to get there. PLEASE review if you can.