The Rift that Divides Friendship

"Well why would you want to work with the Humans? They've only treated us like monsters and lesser beings!" Adam roared, filling the room with his voice, he continue to defy my idea of a trade agreement with Mistral.

We had been facing a food shortage for months now and a medicine shortage just started showing early signs, we needed to make a deal with the people of Mistral whether we liked it or not. People were getting sicker and we didn't have the proper medications to treat the wounded. Only leaving their aura, for those that had unlocked it, to heal them. Sometimes their bodies couldn't keep up with the use and the recovery of their aura so a lot of faunas had died while in recovery.

"Because Adam, if we forsake the help that's offered to us as equals then we will become the monsters that they treated us as. I approached them asking for help, not as a faunas, but as someone who was worried about the welfare of his friends and Family. My mother died out in the field and my father died in a hospital bed because YOU WERE TOO GOD DAMN PROUD!" At this point I had grabbed the collar of his shirt and his face was right in front of mine, his dark grey eyes staring into my one dead eye and one eye full of enough fury for both. "You wanted to prove that you could protect us all by continuing to live out here, and while it has been good for a long time, we need to evolve and work with them." I let go of his collar, he straightened it.

"What about the scars on you, whenever you went out to protest you came back with more. People throwing rocks and even worse things at you just because they think you're inferior." He did make a very valid point at that, we were always treated as lesser beings by the humans who were there to oppose us. "So how else to get respected but to show them we can be the ones to threaten their lifestyle."

"Alright, so how did I earn your respect, huh? How did I become the most respected individual in this village then, hm?" I asked Adam.

"You stood up for what you thought was right and never resorted to violence to get your point across. You only got violent when protecting someone, or defending yourself. That's how earned my respect." He answered with the truth, I wouldn't hurt anyone during our protests. I would only draw my weapons to protect the other protesters, never to hurt them, at least maliciously.

"So why are you resorting to violence to fix this, we won't see the change until we're either too old to fight or protest, or we'll be six feet under. We're not fighting for our rights but the rights of those who come after us, they're the ones who will benefit from our sacrifice." I can't deal with the problems and him trying to undermine my authority, it needs to be fixed.

"Alright then Xander," Adam looked like he was about to explode. "How about a deal, we fight and if I win you step down and hand the torch over to me, but if you win I won't question anything I do you do for the rest of my time on this planet. Deal?" With this deal in place I could either step down and go my own way and become a huntsman or bring the White Fang into the light and continue to show the humans that we are fighting for the rights of all faunas.

"It's a deal," if violence was the only solution to this problem, then I needed to fight to prove that I can and will lead us to the right path. "So where is the location and time of our fight?"

In a flash Adam rushed me and we pinned me against the wall in his house. "We start now and here, this is where I'll show everyone that I am the strongest." He grabbed my shirt and threw me through the window beside us and I crashed on the ground. I need to get Smoldering Ash there's no way I'll beat him without it. I ran as fast as I could to my house looked back and I started to flare my aura and prepared for an assault, I looked back to see Adam strolling out of his house with an almost psychotic grin on his face, his pearly white teeth in a full smile his eyes completely devoid of reason or doubt.

For once in my life I truly felt afraid about my safety inside this village, I had always been the strongest one here once I earned the position. No one had questioned my judgements because I always sought out council to justify my actions, but this look of the basest of rage and fury was from the only one I considered to be my brother. He pulled his sword to my throat without hesitation and threw me into a fight for my life, Blake's in the village too if she sees us fighting then we'd be in trouble.

I broke into a sprint like no other, I reached my place and destroyed the door on my way in. I ran upstairs and found Smoldering Ash on the mount I had put it on above my bed. I took the dual blades and attached them to my arms. I faced the door to my room and left my house pausing slightly looking at my front door. If he wanted to chase me, he probably would've. I probably was too drastic with the way I entered the house. I left my home, walking toward the training grounds seeing Adam waiting there for me sent a shiver down my spine.

"This is where it all started Xander, where I made you that promise that I would become the strongest in our village." He never forgot, surprisingly neither did I, that was the day he got so mad that he had promised me that he wouldn't lose to me the next time we fought. I told him that it would never happen, but, here we stand in the same training circle the he made that promise to me. "So," Adam continued. "Are we going to do this or what, my blade does need to be used."

"Well here we stand Adam, on the final resting place of our friendship." I got into position, readied my blades and prepared for the fight of my life.

I an instant Adam rushed forward and drew Wilt and met Smolder, my left blade, the bang of steel rang throughout the village and people started to come out of their houses to see what the commotion was. They were met with the sight that they never should've seen. Their two strongest fighters going at one another without any protection from each-others blades. My mind was suddenly brought back to the fight when Wilt came for my face in an upward forward slash. I just moved my head in time, earning a close shave of my head, and rolled behind him brining Ash, my right blade, to meet Blush, his sheath for Wilt and a short range rifle, my blade sparking as it scraped the metal of Blush and leaving me open for a very obvious counter-attack yet Adam didn't take it. I back flipped to give us some space and readied my stance again.

"You're not even taking this seriously, you want me dead yet you're not even trying." This seemed to get to him, he always fought sloppy when angry. "You're nothing but all talk Adam, just like when you swore you could protect Blake and you ran instead. You're a coward-"

The butt end of Blush was suddenly rammed into my stomach, I let my guard down, and I keeled over and threw up a little. I wiped my mouth and stood up straight. I needed to keep my Aura activated to stop an attack like that again. My body was a little woozy and my eyes were hazy, this kind of fight would be one to ultimately decide the fate of the White Fang.

I rushed Adam and although he had me beat in speed, I had my defense, he wouldn't beat me while I had that activated. Adam; however, knew my limits and would push me to them and somehow beyond them just to win. He flared his Aura and came at me full speed, I reciprocated and charged him Smolder met Wilt and Ash met Blush, the strikes continue to ring out all over the village. I jumped to avoid the horizontal slice then drove Ash downward to his shoulder, there was no full impact because of his Aura shielding him but he became aware of how well close quarters fights were my specialty. He fired off a couple rounds of Blush and I held the flat of Smolder to block it then, a set of hands grabbed Smolder and launched me into the air, I looked to where I was and saw that Adam's Hair and the red on his clothes started to glow. I was totally vulnerable in the air so I flared my aura and activated my semblance. My vision started to disappear and I felt myself grow heavy but for Adam's attack I was prepared, at least I hoped.

Adam was now glowing red and as I fell he noticed the bronze color spreading all over my body, he couldn't wait any longer, he then launched himself up at my falling body and, what seemed like from the old videos, he slashed at my body without even lowering his position in the air. The attacks continued to rain down and I wouldn't let up any of my defense and he wouldn't let up any of his attack as well. This bombardment of slashes felt like days of waiting, my aura was beginning to fade and that meant my semblance would fade as well. One final slash was delivered to my torso and I was sent flying down to the ground. I landed with enough impact to create a small crater, about a 5m radius, I heard Adam land and start panting.

My vision was returning to me and as it cleared I noticed that Adam was running toward me I had almost fully drained my aura and so did he. This is where the fight got real, I brought smoldering Ash to my chest to protect from the slash coming at me, but Adam quickly switched to Blush and fired a round that pierced my shoulder, missed the bone and left a tear in my skin. I felt fire where my skin should've been, I ran at Adam and drove Smolder into his arm, and the blade mostly missed its target but still tore shallowly into the muscle of Adam's right arm. He grunted slightly and brought Wilt in an upward vertical slice. My left eye was the recipient of the strike, I could no longer see through my left eye and I could feel it pulsing, we needed to end this fight soon, because we will die if it continues. I back off and gave us about 20 feet between each other. I pivoted my blades into their gun position and started to spray bullets in his direction. A few of them pierced skin and I fired Blush in quick succession leaving bullets inside me as well. We emptied our magazines and ran toward each-other again, me swinging Smolder and Ash and him swinging Wilt and Blush to meet each blow.

Then all at once we both stopped, I looked down and saw Wilt had pushed its way through my torso and Smolder had done the same to Adam as well. Blood was dripping from both of our sword and we started coughing up blood, while we pulled our swords from each-others bodies, my wounds weren't as serious as his, my blade being slightly larger than his.

As blood conitued to pour from our open wounds, I started to feel dizzy began to stumble. Adam was also looking like he was about to pass out and then my world faded to black as I fell to the ground.

As I woke up, I began to take in my surroundings, as my vision was still a little blurry I couldn't make out the room I was in very clearly. The very apparent smell of disinfectant made it obvious that I was in the local infirmary. I began to turn my head to make sure that I wasn't too stiff from my time in the infirmary. My neck felt stiff and a little scratchy, I looked down to see what was there and I had started to grow a small beard. I must have been knocked out for about a week to a week and a half. As my sision started to clear more I looked closer at my surroundings. There was a bag of clear liquid being fed into my arm and cords leading onto my chest as well, I felt something uncomfortable in my southern regions and decided to take a peak. What I thought could only be for my health, and the beds cleanliness, was a tube leading up into me, and then someone that looked like the nurse walked in, without me noticing too.

"Getting a little curious about what we did to you?" My face, although still bandaged, was as visibly red as the trees of Forever Fall outside of Vale. "Well don't worry now that you're up we can get you assessed." I began to sit up in my bed, realising that was a bad idea as pain shot all across my torso and through the core of my body, and I visibly winced. "That's probably not a good idea Xander, you don't want to reopen any stiches do you? We worked hard to sew your body back together, you wouldn't want all that hard work to go to waste would you?"

"No ma'am, I wouldn't." I finally recognized that voice. It was Ryan Willowwood's wife, Sienna, she was as strong as Beowolf pup, but when it came to our health, nobody questioned it. She was one of the other most respected individuals in our village and everyone knew why. If she told you to take a medicine and you wouldn't, child or not, she'd give you a glare that could probably freeze a Goliath in its tracks and reconsider walking in her direction.

"So, let's keep you bedridden until I deem you worthy of at least walking around on your own." The stern doctor voice was there, but also what sounded like a caring mother. That didn't surprise me though, she became my mother when my actual mother was killed and was there for me when my father had died too. She was also a mother to many of the unfortunately orphaned individuals, there was a collective house where the parentless children would stay and she would live there with them until they were old enough to fight for the defence of the village.

"What happened after I passed out, what happened to Adam?" My voice shouldn't have such concern for the one who just tried to kill me; however, the safety of all concerned me the most.

"He'll be fine, right now we're going to keep you two away from each other. With what just happened last week the village is just about back to normal. What we're doing in here is keeping you two on opposite ends of the facility so another war won't start." She finished.

"Another war?" I began, "What actually happened after we passed out, you can't keep me in the dark forever." I had become my cold and calculating self, it was only seen when I needed information and I wouldn't take anything else for an answer.

"First of all, don't use that tone with me mister, I know for a fact you took after me in my 'no-bullshit' tone." I evidently became a little red faced at this, she continued nonetheless. "After you passed out two groups rose up, one supporting Adam and one supporting you. Originally we thought that they were to just support and look after each of you. Once the groups started to get in fights outside the infirmary, Blake and her parents intervened and told them that if there was still any bad blood between the two of you. You two would fight it out again." She finished giving me all the details.

"I really got myself into a mess for this one, eh?" I started, "putting the Belladonnas in that position is something they shouldn't have to. I need to go find her and apologize about all this."

"You're damn right you do, she put herself through so much stress, that she can't handle it anymore. You shouldn't put a girl through that kind of stress, her two older brothers just tried to kill each other. How do you think that makes her feel?" Sienna harshly added. "Thank goodness someone stepped in to take over while the two of you were out."

"Where's Blake, and who took over?" I needed to find Blake and apologise for this.

"There was a small group of older warriors that stepped up and took over for the time being." That made sense, the young needed to learn to keep the peace inside the walls while the older more seasoned veterans fought off the Grimm; however there were times, such as this one, where some of the hunters needed to intervene and moderate the situation and interactions of the people growing up. It did seem like a very unreasonable way to run a village, but eventually we all learn to cooperate. The sparring matches always were a great stress relievers, when they got in heated argument they went into the matches to let off some steam, then continue the debates when they're fatigued. "But Blake is back at her parent's house now, probably very upset about what happened, once she's ready I'll get her in hear, then to see Adam and finally to have the make shift council decide what happens next."

"So what happens during my recovery then miss 'badass of the village?'" A large smile filled with teeth appeared on my face, she looked at me like I deserved a punch to the face. I have always been able to switch the tone of the setting quite quickly, even if only for a moment. It was always that weird quirk of mine, to change the mood to get everyone to lighten up. I was looked at in quite a way that I could've been diseased when I first tried to lighten the mood, but, eventually they were welcomed and a serious tone could always be ruined with me in the room.

"You rest, that's what happens." If words could kill, I would be a dead man, no doubt about it. She then left room and I decided it would be best for me to follow her advice, after a short while the world became black and I drifted into the void.

I was sitting in my parent's living room sipping on some hot chocolate and reading through my favorite book, Rodin the Ninja of the Moon, I had always had a fondness with the books of ninja and their shadowy fighting style.

"I don't care what happens with those two I need to make sure that our village stays safe, that is my top priority." Father sounded stressed, it usually wasn't good but the tone of his voice showed that he was concerned. His mind was always a mess when there were things to do, amazingly he never lost anything either. That was mostly my mother's doing, she would always keep his office, in fact his entire life, in order. She was beautiful and smart, she didn't have father's strength but, it didn't matter. My mother always was someone to defuse a situation with their words, never violence unless it absolutely came to it.

"Listen, I need to make sure that those two groups are calmed down. No, I understand that but-Yes I realize what they did means; however, we need to make sure that a confrontation doesn't happen. That would wreak havoc and potentially destroy the village." Father wasn't the one for diplomatic reasoning but, he knew when it was needed most. Mother was the best at it though, she wasn't the fighter that father was but she could still be quite efficient in her fighting style.

"Honey let me take the call, I'll be able to sort this out. You continue cooking dinner and get Blake to bed." She had the call transferred to her and went upstairs, there had been new floors added to almost all the houses about a year ago, it really did help to improve the quality of life here.

"Alright," father took a breath of relief. "Time to work on dinner, Blake would you like to help?" He already knew my answer, I was too invested in this book to just put it down. "Blake, finish the chapter and help in the kitchen, okay?"

"Yes father," exasperation filled my voice and I slightly smirked, I had just started a new chapter a couple minutes ago. "I'll be in as soon as I'm done."

He made his way into the kitchen, and I started to hear knives cutting vegetables and my father quietly swearing under his breath about nearly cutting his finger off. Our house was a medium sized house, about 200m2 for each floor, so we had plenty of room now for everything. I could faintly hear mother upstairs in her room, talking about how to solve this problem they were stuck with. One party believed that Xander was attacked and the fight was Adam's fault, the other party believed that it was Adam who was attacked and Xander was to blame. In this matter I can't tell who's to blame, both Adam and Xander are like my older brothers. Adam was always the one to fight and train with me, but he had always been harsh and it became even more apparent when he started growing older. Xander was the overprotective older brother, he told me once that 'A delicate Rose should always have thorns,' he never stopped encouraging me to improve in my weapon skills but he would always push me away from any fights when he and I were involved.

I started to hear footsteps come down the stairs, "How'd the talks go honey?" my father called out, he had even more superb hearing than me.

"It's getting almost unmanageable, at this rate they're be only two different groups of teenagers throughout the whole village." She sat down at the kitchen table and poured some coffee, from the morning brew, and started to drink it when but she added sugar at the last moment, then drank the coffee.

"At least they'll be able to share something in common, for once." Father had stated quite sarcastically, mother laughed and I smiled as well. Most of the teenagers learning to operate an entire village go through quite a bit of stress. "They'll be so preoccupied with each other that they might actually cooperate with us." They both laughed heartily at that.

"Blake! Your father said when you done the chapter, from what I can tell you started a new chapter before he got you, so put the book down and come help prepare the meal." My mother sounded quite upset now, I put the book down and made my way into the kitchen to help cook.

As I lay in bed, I wondered about the condition of my friends and brothers, how they had shown me how to fight and fully activate my aura then also find my semblance too. My family was slowly falling apart, Xander and Adam were tearing us apart and they both probably knew it. I felt the gentle pull of the void at my mind. And I drifted to sleep.

My eyes parted and the black of the night slowly dispersed, the dark caves twists and turns were becoming more apparent as my vision returned. My chambers were a small 20m2 room, its large enough to house one person and that's how I liked it, solitary. I strode to my closet and put on my black coat and pants. I then walked toward my weapons locker, opened it up to reveal Wilt and Blush, and retrieved them from their stand and attached them to my waist. I strode to the door of my chambers and opened the heavy metal door, there was a low creaking sound as the door slid open and I looked into the hallway ahead of me. Two of my soldiers were standing guard by the end of the Hallway, they looked down the hall and saw me.

"I'm sorry for the disturbance sir, I didn't mean to wake you up." The left guard stammered out.

"You didn't wake me, I woke on my own. Is she here?" I answered, still slightly fatigued from my long sleep.

"Yes, she's waiting in the war room." The other guard stated, they were starting to relax.

"Good thank you, I can take care of myself from here on," I spoke calmly but firmly. "You're free to take some leave, get some rest and prepare for the battles to come. I need all my soldiers at their full fighting strength."

"Yes Sir, thank you sir." They both chimed, they breathed a sigh of relief before walking to the regular guard barracks. All the soldiers were ordered to take at least one week's leave before the fighting began. That way they could focus on the fight and not worry about anything else. I needed soldiers after all, not boys crying about their problems with the world.

I made my way down to the double door at the end of the long dimly lit hallway, I hated that we were still hiding. After Torchwick had botched the invasion with the train, we had to lay low once again. The Vytal festival went off without a hitch because of the meddling of Blake and her huntress friends, Beacon had their own little army of experienced warriors. These next few months will be some of the most intense fighting the White Fang has experienced. I arrived at the double doors, put a hand on each door and strode in.

"Glad you could finally make it, sir." The sound of the female voice called as the doors started to close behind me.

"I don't need your attitude Cinder, I need your Dust manipulation skills. So sit down, shut up and pay attention." She seemed visibly irritated by that statement: however, she stuffed her protesting and sat quietly.

"Alright, here's the plan. Beacon, Atlas, Vacuo, and Mistral all have schools to train Huntsman and Huntresses. Fortunately I have placed trained members of the White Fang at each school except for beacon, it's been tough to get someone there because of Ozpin's strict rules." I finished.

"That won't matter once we take out the other schools, they'll be totally defenceless for when we strike." One of my commanders stated, I forgot the names but the positions were important nonetheless.

"Wrong, we're attacking Beacon first. Once we cut the head off then the rest of the body cannot function. Beacon's graduates have always been the most talented, which is why we're going to attack there first." I stated, the commanders were looking like they had doubts about my plans. "I know our initial plan was to attack all the other schools and then wipe out the last one with one strike. One factor just appeared, Xander Mac, a former childhood friend who I believed to be dead."

Looks of concern and confusion appeared on their faces. "Don't worry, he will believe our plan to be the former one, not the updated plan. This will throw him in a loop for a little bit, maybe for long enough to stop him from making a move."

"Understood sir." Three of my commanders responded.

"I understand completely, I'll be sure to get Roman and the other members in Vale informed of the plan." Cinder stated, sounding almost surprised at the sudden change to the plans.

"Alright we'll get the details down later, start moving the troops to the base just outside of Vale. We will meet up there in three months, and start preparing for the assault." I ordered. I turned around and strode to the double doors, we'll need time to work out the issues. At least Junior was able to inform me that Xander does live and is even teaching at Beacon. Rage burned inside me and I took a sharp left turn in the hallway, to the combat room door, and began to train. Ever since that fight Xander and I had we had destroyed our home and also our relationship with Blake. No stop thinking like that, Blake left and that was her choice. I can't have Xander running back into my now almost perfect dream and destroying it. So I prepared myself for a long gruelling training session, one that would last long into the night. I needed to be at my best.

A/N: I'm terribly sorry about the tardiness of this chapter but if you're still reading, then I really do appreciate it. So if you'll continue to be patient, I'll keep rolling out the chapters. So please review this chapter.