The sun gazed overhead from the wispy, bright-blue sky. Ruby hummed a catchy tune as she skipped with Yang, Weiss, and Blake through the crowded street. The Mall of Vale was packed today, and it was not without reason either. Each bounce Ruby made carried with it a levity and excitement that was matched only by one particular and lone smile, which was made by Blake. Ruby could practically feel the excitement oozing from her. Usually Blake wore either a frown or a stoic face most of the time, but in this case there was something about her in her posture and stride that screamed "This is the best day ever!" that nobody would expect from her.

"Aw, Ruby, that's so cute," Yang's voice sent a chill down Ruby's right ear, and it made her growl quietly in her throat, "skipping like you're heading to grandma's house!"

Ruby spun around and scowled at her. "Yang, please, don't embarrass me in front of everyone again!"

She glanced Weiss rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. "Oh don't worry Ruby, this is like, what, the one-hundred and thirty-sixth time you've demonstrated your immature and childish nature to us."

"Someone's feeling crabby today!" Yang said, shooting a smirk at Weiss.

Weiss yawned, rubbing the trace morning glory from her eyes. "Well, I apologize for studying for last week's first trimester exams! It was difficult making sure I understood all the material, too!"

"Dude," Yang's smirk faded, "take a break. There's more to life than just studying. You're acting like the professors are showing you your grades."

"I know, but," Weiss groaned, "I can't help but feel the need to get every answer right. I suppose perfection runs in the family…"

"You just need to be honest with your answers in the exams, not just try and get all of them right, y'know."

Ruby shot a smile at Weiss. "Well, at least we have the whole month to ourselves! And it's going to be fun!

"Yeah," Blake nodded, smiling softly to herself. "FaunFest is starting today. Lucky for us that we don't need tickets."

"I've never seen you this excited before, Blake," Yang said, her lips growing into a big and wide grin. "Man, actually, this is probably the only time we've seen you this excited!"

Weiss narrowed her eyes. "Well, Blake has clearly demonstrated her civil rights leanings over the past three months. I find it no surprise then that we will be spending time at the Faunus Cultural Arts Festival today."

Blake's smile became a frown. "And what is that suppose to mean?"

"And it's gone," Yang sighed.

"I am simply pointing out an observation I've made in our three months together as Team RWBY, Blake. There's no need to be that hostile."

"Says the Schnee," Blake spat.

Weiss scowled at Blake. "You think I'm running the Schnee Dust Company? Don't complain to me, complain to my father! He's the one you want to complain to!"

Ruby glanced between an offended Blake and an annoyed Weiss. Oh no, not again. She stepped between and shot her hands against them, shooting calm, yet distinctly alarmed glances at her feuding teammates.

"Guys! We're here to spend time together as a team!" Ruby frowned, now reminded of Weiss' previous disapproval of her position. "I-I know I haven't been the best team leader, and I know neither of you guys like each other that much, but," she gazed at both of them, "but come on! We should use this time to get to know each other better! Maybe you people aren't as different as you seem to believe. Maybe the both of you share a similar interest."

Ruby sighed. "The point here is that we've only been a team for three months, and we have four or so years ahead of us. We really should take the time to get to know each other as people. Not enemies, people. Okay?"

Weiss and Blake stared at Ruby, then stared at each other. Ruby looked between their stares and tensed up, almost practically expecting the both of them to explode or at least ignore her words. Luckily, it seems that their stares remained just that: Stares.

And then they turned away from each other; Weiss huffed and Blake was silent.

Ruby sighed. Man, if they were going to keep having these arguments like this for the next four years… This is getting ridiculous. So Weiss is a Schnee. So what? Just because she's a Schnee doesn't mean she's going to be like her father, or the rest of her family. Nobody's defined solely by what their parents do, after all.

And Blake. She needs to stop with thinking Weiss is some kind of hardcore racist because of her association with her family. Okay, maybe Weiss has some outdated thoughts about the faunus, but she isn't as bad as a person as Ruby had been led to believe. She's just rough around the edges. There's a human underneath that sarcastic and cold persona, she was sure of it.

"You can't win them all, Rubes," Yang frowned as she placed a hand on her shoulder.

Ruby pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, shaking her head. "That doesn't mean we can't try. I just want everyone to at least give each other a chance."

Nobody talked after that dispute. The walk towards FaunFest became rather dreary and morose than happy and excited. Even Blake, the one person who finally seemed to show her happier side, was back to her dreary self. Weiss was just silent, stoic, and she seemed to be staring off into space. At least that's what looked like to Ruby: Cold, icy, scowling eyes staring off into the colorful and jovial void that is the crowded streets of the Mall.

Still, it wasn't all that bad now. Round the corner, Ruby spotted various tents and stands set up around the central courtyard of the Mall. There were red tents, blue tents, white tents, gold tents, purple tents, and all other sorts of colors that somehow composed themselves into an aesthetically-pleasing rainbow-like color scheme. The stands themselves were no exception, and they also varied in shape and size. Small, multi-colored flags fluttering from webs of string hung throughout the festival, and they composed a more true and cohesive rainbow than the narrower range the tents and stands provided.

Oh God, she was starting to sound like an art critic, and she wasn't even an artist.

The smell of something smokey, sizzling and spicy wafted into Ruby's nose. A deep breath, then a sigh. Her mouth was starting to water already. Another hundred or so flavors soon found themselves collecting into her overstimulated nostrils. Darn, the smells alone were already making her starving.

"Let's go eat lunch first!" Ruby said, the pang of hunger already grumbling in her tummy. "I want to see what kind of food they have here!"

Yang smiled at everyone, nodding at Ruby. "Yeah! I can't wait to stuff myself silly!" She turned to her partner. "Yo, Blake, you know a lot about the faunus. Got any food recommendations for all of us?"

Blake hummed as she propped her elbow on her arm and held her chin. Ruby looked at Weiss and it seemed like she was remaining quiet, judging by her looking at Blake as well. Blake's eyes then widened and she made what sounded like an affirmative hum.

"A lot of faunus cuisine are really just unique spins on various existing foods, but I think you might like some of them." Blake looked further down the festival, and she hummed again. "There should be a food stand down this path that serves a wide variety of faunus cuisine. It's good for introducing people who aren't too familiar with it. I think you guys might like it."

Ruby smiled at her. "Well, in that case, lead the way Blake."

"Hmph," Weiss hummed, her arms crossed yet her expression neutral. "I'll be the judge of that. Though, aren't we all?"

Blake narrowed her eyes at her and opened her mouth, but she closed it and turned towards the direction of the food stand. Ruby breathed a small sigh of relief. Okay, they didn't start fighting again that time. That was progress, even if it is tiny. She glanced at Yang and she shrugged, but she still strode with Blake maintaining her smile as always. Ruby followed behind as she noted Weiss walking beside her in grim―or maybe the better word was "contemplative?"―silence.

They delved into the paths of FaunFest, where they slithered and snaked their way through the crowds. Ruby had never seen so many faunus congregated here all at once. Sure, you can see plenty of them throughout Vale, but she never been to a place where there was nearly no one but faunus. Then again, she's never been to the faunus neighborhoods in Vale. There all sorts of faunus walking by her: Cat faunus, dog faunus, rabbit faunus, deer faunus, faunus with tails, faunus with scales, faunus with fins… This was probably what Menagerie must have looked like: Faunus, faunus everywhere. The reverse must have been true to those who've lived in Menagerie all their lives too.

Still, Ruby didn't mind. After all, she never really understood why there were people out there who view the faunus as less than human. Was it the extra body parts? Maybe, but they're just that: Body parts. Was it their night vision? They're not as good as actual animals', but they're pretty good compared to normal humans', at least based on what Ruby heard over at Beacon's science department. It's kind of like people hating on one flavor of ice cream and thinking their favorite is better, if that's the proper analogy to use.

Soon Blake pointed at a particular stand, or rather a roofed area with tables set up as counters. There, several lines of people were formed as the workers served delicious food on paper plates or boxes. The aromas were hot, varied and tantalizing swirls of sweet, sour, smoky, meaty, and every other possible adjective she could think of. Oh man, her tummy was rumbling something fierce! Her mouth was watering so much she had to swallow some of the saliva just so it didn't start dripping out of her lips.

"Come on come on, I'm really starving right now!" Ruby stared at the smoked fish, grilled meats, roasted vegetables, hot pots, and other assorted foods being served out. She found herself lurching towards the counters.

Yang chuckled as she grabbed her hood. "Easy does it Ruby, don't go food-crazy on us now!"

"S-Sorry!" Ruby sheepishly smiled, now feeling rather awkward and conscious. "Uh, let's wait in the line first!"

Weiss was glowering at Ruby. "Make that the one-hundred and thirty-seventh time."

"Come on, I said I was sorry!" Ruby pouted at her. She really meant it. Yeah, she was starving out of her mind, but she wasn't keen on embarrassing herself in front of a crowd of people, much less her friends. Especially when they were all huntresses themselves.

Weiss sighed and rolled her eyes, but she didn't say anything else. Ruby shot a smile at her and she jogged to the nearest shortest line, and everyone else soon followed. Today, it was time for sun, sweat, and food. Plus, maybe this festival could help Weiss and Blake with their issues as teammates and–

A thunderous bang reverberated throughout the festival. Ruby jumped, icy and electrifying chills trickling down her neck and spine, as she and many others turned to its direction. Ruby spun to her teammates: Yang looked back―"What the hell was that?!"―Weiss' hand was on Myrtenaster's pommel, and Blake already drew out Gambol Shroud. Okay, everyone here's alright at least.

Then screaming; there was so much screaming. A slow trickle of people flew by the bewildered crowds shouting and yelling, soon turning into a stream of fear and panic.

Someone crashed onto Ruby and they both tumbled onto the ground. She looked up and saw a man with goat horns, his brown eyes dilated and shaking with a stark, intense fear and horror she only saw on Grimm attack survivors―enough to send even more chills down her entire back.

"B-B-Bomb!" A stuttering scream as he scrambled to his feet. "T-T-There's been a bomb! A bomb! A goddamn bomb, I tell you!"

Ruby got up and gazed at him, the splotches of blood on his T-shirt distracting her gaze. "Okay, okay, settle down, settle down, we're huntresses, we can help! Just tell us what happened."

Angry cracks and bangs startled everyone. The stream became a great river of people, pushing and forcing through the narrow paths like a stampede. Ruby and her teammates barely kept themselves anchored in this rapid river of hysteria.

The man whimpered. "Oh my God, o-oh my God, it's the White Fang!" He ran off and became part of the river's flow.

As the river quickly began draining, Ruby saw a distraught look on Blake's face that she had never seen before. Blake was gasping and shaking her head. Her expression flew between anger and terror at the same time, as if her brain couldn't decide if being angry or being afraid was more important.

"No." Blake's grip on Gambol Shroud tightened. "No. No, no, no, no, no, this isn't happening, this isn't happening…!"

Yang reached for Blake's shoulder but Weiss reached her first. "Blake, we have to investigate that gunfire! There's no time to be panicking!"

"Yeah, I know!" Blake waved her off, nodding as she finally breathed properly. "S-Sorry, I just didn't think someone would be protesting against FaunFest this early..."

Yang cracked her knuckles and her neck. "Well whoever the hell they are, they picked a bad time to go and start shooting up a festival. And I'm starving as shit too!"

Ruby drew Crescent Rose and it unfolded in its scythe form. "Come on, those gunshots sounded close!"

She sprinted off as her teammates followed behind her. Ruby glanced around and still saw people running. They were all streaks of their clothes and bodies, but she swore she saw red in those streaks. Someone was helping a person with a limp leg walk. Another, all covered in red, ran right by them.

"Those gunshots sound like automatics," Weiss muttered. "We need to be careful."

Nothing else needed to be said. Ruby already smelled smoke and tinder coming from the very center of FaunFest, likely where the bomb went off. A hazy and smoky fog drifted around them, slightly obscuring the path.

As the rattles of automatics became close to bursting everyone's ears, Ruby glimpsed bodies and red streaks on the ground. She dared not to look, but she already heard gasps from Yang, Blake, and even Weiss. It must've been bad if there were already this many fatalities.

Ruby and the others found themselves spilling onto the seating area that faced the large stage. There, the scene of the crime they witnessed was―was―

―"O-Oh my God. Oh my God…"

This fic kind of takes place in its own continuity in the canon to be honest, largely due to the fact I've implemented my own world-building to flesh out and expand the canon. Still, if this was following along the original canon, the fic would technically be taking place in the midst of Volume 1, at least before Blake comes out as a faunus to her teammates.

The fic in question is essentially a world-building fic, an idea I just want to try out and I just happened to enter it in a writing contest. Some fans I talked with found it difficult to believe the White Fang's justification for terrorism due to a large inconsistency in the original canon's depiction of racism against the faunus. One claimed this inconsistent "showing" of racism against the faunus made the White Fang look comical instead of being a legitimate threat. I sought to solve this by "actually showing" why the White Fang even became violentin the first place. You'll see that reason in the next part, or rather "chapter," of this fic.

As for that contest, well, its deadline for completion is later today and while I have the rough draft pretty much written down I can't see myself pushing the rest of the next draft out in a reasonable time frame (the original draft is about 8.6k words!). Ah well, at least I'm finally writing fics again. Expect the next part/chapter relatively soon.

Until next time people, fare thee well!

-Sda.