Two chapters today to make up for my lack of posting lately. Also, just a heads up: the first section is pretty dark.

The sound of gunfire and explosions echoed through the endless black. A small circle of light appeared before Yang and illuminated Blake who was covered in blood. Yang knew the blood did not belong to her partner, the faunus was completely uninjured and grinning widely. Her sinister grin gave way to a look of fear as a White Fang flag descended from the sky and wrapped around her. The flag and faunus both burst into flames, causing her to start screaming. The intensity of the blaze illuminated the surrounding area, displaying the destroyed hospital and bodies that surrounded it. Yang tried to force herself forward, intent on the destruction of those who had caused this. However hard she tried, she was unable to move. She looked down at her feet and saw why. Ruby had her arm around the blonde's legs, her other arm a bloody mess.

"Yang." Ruby said, her voice not her own, but Blake's.

"Yang wake up." Ruby let go of her legs and fell limp at her feet.

Yang shot up. Her clothes were soaked with sweat, her face was streaked with tears, and her throat felt raw. She immediately shivered, feeling as if she was about to freeze to death.

"Yang. It's alright. It was only a dream." Blake pulled the blonde close and began to stroke her hair.

"That was a new one." She mumbled into the crook of the faunus' neck, still shaken up by the intensity and how real the dream had felt.

Yang raised her head from the comfort of Blake's neck and looked around the room. Light was filtering through the curtain, which was not doing much to darken the room. Neither Ruby nor Weiss were there. Weiss' bed had been made and Ruby's looked as if a borbatusk had slept in it.

"Where are Ruby and Weiss? What time is it?" The blonde quickly asked both questions.

"Ruby and Weiss went into town. It's 10 A.M. Yang, you slept pretty late, at least it's Saturday. You were tossing and turning all night and you started to scream right before I woke you up. How bad was this one?" Blake looked down at her partner in concern.

"Pretty bad. I don't really want to talk about it right now." Yang gently pushed the black haired girl away and standing up. "I'm going to go to the gym for a while."

"I'll go with you." Blake stood up next to the blonde.

"No. I want some time alone. I'll call you when I'm done." Yang grabbed her workout clothes and headed into the bathroom to change.

Yang moved to the center of the gym and ignored all the other students. She began her usual routine, banishing all thoughts and focusing her mind completely on the physical exertion. She moved her mind into her muscles, feeling the strands tighten in unison. She focused on the burning of lactic acid that had built up. Her increased breathing and heart rate. Still she could not banish the thoughts of her nightmare and so she moved to the weights and continued her workout.

After an hour, she had finally banished the thoughts from her head. She was dripping with sweat and had soaked her clothes once again. Her muscles burned and her chest heaved after the intense workout she had put herself through, adding way more weight than usual in order to focus completely on the activity and take her mind away from the earlier events. On her way to the showers, she saw Ruby heading towards her in her own workout outfit.

"Yang! You're awake. You slept in super late." Ruby said, excited to see her older sister.

"Yeah, I had a rough night." Yang replied as she rolled her shoulders back in an attempt to stave off the soreness she was already beginning to feel.

"Oh." Ruby moved as if she was going for a hug, but then thought better of it seeing the blonde's clothing soaked in sweat.

"Don't be like that sis!" Yang wrapped a very unhappy Ruby in a bear hug.

"Yang! Gross!" The blonde let go and smiled.

"Anyways, I'm going to hit the showers then meet up with Blake." Weiss turned the corner as Yang said this, the heiress also in her exercise outfit. "Ruby, if you don't lift more than her I'll have first dibs on the shower for a week."

"But you always use up all the hot water!" Ruby objected to the back of Yang, who had already headed for the showers.

"Not my problem!" She shouted back.

Twisting the shower all the way to it's hottest setting, Yang undressed as the room began to steam up from the temperature of the water. She stepped inside the shower and enjoyed the feeling of the scorching hot water flowing down her body, which caused Yang to sigh in pleasure. I'll never understand why Weiss likes cold showers. They're the worst. Yang tipped her head backwards and allowed the water to wash away all the stress from the previous night.

When she had finished the water had cooled down significantly. All this hair is hard to wash. You try dealing with it Rubes. She dried herself off and put on her clean clothing, bundling her dirty clothes into a ball and tossed them into the nearby laundry basket. She pulled out her scroll and brought up her contacts and dialed Blake's number. She did not have to wait long, the girl picked up fairly quickly.

"Hey, Yang. You done?" The voice on the other end asked.

"Yeah. I was thinking that maybe we could head into town. I'm hungry and not really in the mood for cafeteria food. Especially not the lunch they serve here. I swear, they just spray paint mystery meat to make it look nice." This elicited a tiny giggle from the other side of the call.

"Alright. I know this place in town that's pretty good. I'll meet you by the airships." Yang was already on her way there when Blake hung up.

When Yang reached the landing area she immediately spotted Blake and moved over to her. The faunus had not seen her yet so she moved as quietly as possible in an attempt to scare the girl. When she was within distance she lunged, hands in front of her and aimed towards Blake's faunus features. Her hands made contact and she closed them to grab ahold of her girlfriend's ears. Her hands simply closed on air however as the girl in front of her disappeared. An arm wrapped around her neck and pulled her backwards, putting the blonde into a headlock.

"Ooh, feisty." Yang purred.

"Don't sneak up on me." Blake released the blonde quickly and looked down at her feet in embarrassment, affected by her partner's words.

"Like I could if I wanted. There is only one ninja on this team it seems." Yang smiled and turned to board the airship.

When they had both boarded, they were met with jeers from Russell.

"Look what the cat dragged in." The slim boy taunted, eliciting nervous looks from the other students around him who all moved away.

"I'm sorry, do we have a problem?" Blake walked over and looked up into the face of the slightly taller boy.

"Don't you touch me you filthy animal." Russell backed up into the wall.

"I'm not touching you Russell." She spat out the name with disgust. "Do you not remember what happened to Cardin?" Russell's face lost all color.

"That's because you're a freak. Just like the rest of your kind."

"Hey Blake, I think I might trip. Would you like to move for a second?" Yang walked up behind Blake, who moved aside and gestured to Russell with her arm. Yang closed her hands into fists and readied a punch.

"Alright! I won't mess with you anymore!" A terrified Russell shouted out.

"Maybe you should pick your fights a little better." Yang winked at the mohawked bully in front of her and twirled around before moving to find a seat.

A large portion of the students watching burst into laughter, causing an embarrassed Russell to run out of the airship.

"Well, team CRDL probably won't mess with us anymore." Blake said as she took her seat next to Yang.

When they arrived into Vale, Blake grabbed Yang's hand and enthusiastically pulled her along. She led her through so many turns that the blonde gave up on trying to remember the way. Eventually she stopped in front of a black metal door with a slit around eye level. Muffled singing and laughter filled the alley which gave it a warm feeling despite the shady appearance of the place. Blake knocked on the door a few times in what seemed to be a pattern. The slit in the door was drawn back after a few seconds of waiting, then closed quickly once again. The door shot open and the sound of singing that had once been muffled was clear to be heard along with the scraping of metal on plastic and the clinking of glasses as the patrons of the restaurant in front of the pair enjoyed themselves.

"Blake! Good to see you again! It's really been too long." A burly looking man who towered over Blake exclaimed.

The man seemed to be at least a foot and a half taller than the girl in front of him and hundred pounds heavier. Those pounds were all muscle however. Yang was impressed to see no mention of fat on his body. His arms were exposed as he wore a tight fitting black tank top. They were lined with many scars, making the man appear even more intimidating than he already did. His pants were simple brown cargo pants, the knees were worn and in many places the color was faded to white. His face however helped to dispel Yang's feeling of unease. He had a smile so warm that the blonde felt instantly comfortable around the man. By far his most striking feature however were his eyes and nose. His eyes were bronze, with smaller than normal pupils. His nose was only slightly raised, fairly flat in comparison to that of a human. It was also black, which contrasted with his fair complexion. Not only that, but it pointed slightly upwards in a V shape and looked similar to the nose of a dog or cat. His teeth seemed to be sharper than normal as well, with his canines being larger than the rest of his teeth by a decent amount.

"Good to see you too, Leo."

"Blake you got rid of the bow!" The large man shouted in excitement. He then turned to the inside of the restaurant. "Guys! Blake's here!" He shouted again.

"Leo, it's not that big of a-" Blake was interrupted by cheers from inside the restaurant which caused her to look at the ground, her face slightly red.

Yang discovered she was smiling, the jolly mood having infected her as well.

"And who might you be." Leo asked, his smile falling off his face as he turned to Yang. "You don't look like a faunus or you at least have a more hidden trait."

"Why would that be a big deal?" Yang looked into the room for the first time and noticed why. "Oh... Right."

The everyone had quieted down and stood up, suddenly becoming serious. Every single person was one kind of faunus or another. Many of them had tails or antlers. A handful of them had the ears of various mammals upon their heads, the variety varying wildly.

"It's alright. She's with me." Blake quickly came to Yang's defense and defused the situation.

Everyone in the room sat down and went back to eating and drinking, although the mood was dampened from the confrontation.

"Uh, I'm not a faunus but Blake is pretty much my closest friend aside from my sister. My name is Yang." She felt incredibly nervous, introducing herself to people Blake had obviously known for a while.

"Name's Leo, though I guess you already knew that. Lion faunus, hence the nose." He extended a hand towards Yang, who accepted the offer. His grip was strong and he smiled when he was met with Yang's own strong grip. "We got ourselves a warrior here!" His laughter boomed and filled the room with warmth once again.

"Blake and I are partners up at Beacon." She replied proudly.

The second the pair was seated, Yang was assaulted with introductions, so rapid that she was unable to keep up. Blake tried to keep things somewhat orderly but failed miserably and eventually gave up. Once the other patrons had calmed down and returned to their seats, a waiter came over to their table.

"Hey Blake. You want the usual?" The waiter's small red fox ears twitched in a fashion similar to the way Blake's react, only faster and twitching more often.

"Yeah, thanks Ash." The young waiter smiled widely. "Good to see you again Blake. I'm off in an hour, you think maybe you would wanna-"

"No, she wouldn't." Yang interrupted him, recognizing the request for a drink. This earned her a leer from Blake.

"I can answer for myself. No need to be rude." She turned back to the waiter. "No, but it's sweet of you to ask." The waiter sighed and turned to Yang, almost as if he had expected this result.

"What about you? What would you like?" The waiter asked Yang somewhat nervously.

"I'll have a cheeseburger. Sorry about being so rude." Yang apologized.

"It's alright. She never says yes anyways." The waiter was already smiling again, having recovered quickly. He took their menus and left, telling the pair that their food would be out shortly.

"How many times has he asked?" Yang stifled a small giggle.

"I've lost count to be honest." Blake smiled. "It's kind of cute though." The faunus winked playfully at Yang.

Their food did indeed come quickly and it's arrival ended all conversation between the two. Yang received a burger that was nearly the size of her face and devoured the majority of it, thoroughly enjoying the taste. Blake had a large plate of a variety of fish, which she also ate the majority of. Yang nearly made a joke about cats, but instead opted to keep eating the delicious food that was in front of her.

"So, how long have you been coming here?" Yang asked once she was finally satisfied.

"Ever since I came to Vale. I stumbled onto the entrance when I was sleeping in the alley one time. I was totally broke, having left what little money I had behind when I quit. I walked over to the door and mimicked the knock I had heard the group in front of me use. Leo answered and refused me service since he didn't think I was a faunus. I was desperate enough to reveal my secret and in return they gave me a place to stay and food to eat. They were my first real friends I ever had."

"How long has it been since you were last here?" Yang said in an attempt to steer the conversation into a lighter direction.

"About two months I think. I've been busy." Blake replied

The conversation stayed lighthearted and pleasant for the rest of the night. The two shared many laughs and smiles, along with a few drinks that were provided by other patrons who were happy to see Blake having returned. After a couple of hours the pair announced their departure and were escorted out by the warm singing voices of the others.

So, a lion faunus always seemed interesting to me. We've all seen wolf faunus but I don't think I have ever seen a lion one before. As always if you enjoyed let me know. If you didn't enjoy also let me know, along with why. As long as you're polite I won't be offended