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Chapter Text

"I still don't like it," Sienna muttered, grumbling as she sat in the penthouse of the apartment building that was currently being used by the Mistral White Fang to pay "reparations" in the form of helping rebuild Haven Academy under the watchful eyes of the Mistral authorities. Was it a smart political move to try and regain some favor after Adam Taurus went completely rogue and teamed up with a bunch of insane terrorists to try and destroy Vale? Yes. Did she actually have any problems with how Adam acted before he'd gone off the deep end and started trying to destroy an entire Kingdom? No. Did she have problems with him trying to destroy an entire Kingdom? Absolutely . She may have believed in faunus supremacy and getting back at the bastards that had oppressed them for so long, but that required functioning Kingdoms and a populace that wasn't so desperate, undefended, and miserable that they kept attracting every grimm in a two hundred mile radius. 

At least the project was more or less halfway done now- even with the Mistral council trying to make life harder for them for being dirty faunus , they also had a vested interest in reopening Haven and putting a new headmaster in charge considering that the Huntsman academy was a source of the Kingdom's strength and was the main reason why their CCT tower remained protected from anyone trying to sabotage it. 

She didn't like that they were actually helping the damned humans who spent so long oppressing them and would likely be ungrateful bastards about the entire thing because humans were fucking terrible but she was outvoted by Ghira and Kali and this time, since they were in Mistral with her , it wasn't like she could go back on her deal and force the Mistral council to acquiesce to the White Fang's stated goal of faunus rights and power via fear, murder, and general terrorism.

"Like it or not, Sienna, this is, likely enough, the only way forward for the White Fang. Terrorism and arson only really work in the short term- especially for something as nebulous and ill defined as taking back what we're owed," Ghira pointed out, grimacing as he watched Sienna pace back and forth before the window with her ears twitching angrily as she stomped back and forth. "I know we're in disagreement a lot, but… I think we need to take a different stance- our stance before clearly didn't have people taking us seriously, and… your White Fang gained us more rights and faster, but I can't help but think that, after that Taurus boy's disastrous attack on Vale… the momentum has broken. Terror attacks in the name of equality have become associated with madmen seeking to destabilize entire Kingdoms- and he nearly succeeded. You and I both know that, for all that you don't care about killing humans, you at least want to keep the majority of the population alive… and you wouldn't kill your own men for dissenting. Taurus did, and now we're in the complicated position of trying to fix everything he broke while pushing forward in our goal for equality."

Sienna growled, continuing to rumble discontentedly as she stormed back and forth, heading away from the window and sitting down with an almighty huff of sheer annoyance . "Kowtowing to humans, doing as they say, never stepping a foot out of line- I hate it. Every last second of it. No matter how charismatic I try to be, no matter how much I said I despised the sheer amount of bullshit that these stupid humans force on us, the hoops we have to jump through… They're poking a caged animal. They should know better than to keep trying , keep needling . I've half a mind to let my men and women kill should they feel threatened enough. Even if it ruins everything we've worked for, at least we'd be free to act!"

"It's… a complicated subject. I know. And I'm not saying that we have to be completely pacifistic- not like we tried before. It didn't work then, and… loathe as I am to admit it, it probably won't work again now. And…" Ghira sighed, chuckling dryly without much in the way of actual humor as he thought about everything Blake had said she'd done while she was with Adam- the amount of riots and demonstrations and… more criminal acts, in the name of making sure the people had what they needed. "Once we finish with Haven, we can figure out a better way for both of us. Something less… terror focused, I think. Maybe. We're almost done, anyway."

"Yes. We are. And I-" Sienna grimaced, looking away from Ghira as she thought about just how much work they'd had to do to even remotely repair what work they'd done- in the time since the Cataclysm in Vale, every Kingdom had cracked down harder on faunus- Vale, ironically, the least due to its ruined data infrastructure and the abundance of faunus who were affected by the Cataclysm itself seeing as they lived the closest to where the grimm breached through. Mistral and Vacuo had gone harder, requiring curfews in faunus heavy areas and making it harder for faunus to meet up in large groups. Even with the human crews directing the faunus workforce to fixing what was ruined in Haven via grunt labor, it just… it wasn't good. And neither of them were happy about it. The arguments they'd had with the Vale council, the amount of times that they'd been nearly shut out of meetings entirely, the political bullshit …

She growled, fisting her hand into her clothes and trying not to scream . Maybe Ghira was right. Maybe he was wrong. But all she knew now was that she really wanted the Mistral council dead and that even a good amount of the human population hated them just as much. At least there was still some proof that humans could be good to faunus, but no matter how much approval they had from anyone on the same social standing, it never seemed to amount to much in the upper levels. 

Atlas was practically a lost cause by this point, and Sienna was still considering the merits of just sending someone to assassinate a few people- Jacques Schnee, General Ironwood… the whole council… the entirety of the rich bastards in Atlas…

"Sienna, you've got your murder face on," Ghira cautioned quietly, clearing his throat as he knocked Sienna out of her reverie with just a word. "I hate them just as much as you do, but killing them just generates more fear and guarantees that the next politicians in charge hate us more as a result. And no, we can't keep filling graves, otherwise we'll never stop . You tried that, remember?"

"And it worked," Sienna huffed, tossing her hair slightly as she crossed her arms and looked away. "The next ones may have hated us more, but their fear made them act in our favor!"

"Then maybe we should try the carrot this time, instead of the stick? Or… both, as it were," Ghira raised an eyebrow. "Make sure that the people making faunus lives harder know the consequences of oppression, but give them incentives to keep us happy that will directly appeal to their constant and predictable lack of morality?"

"What, bribes?"

"Nooo no no no… just… offers that they won't refuse because they're blinded by their greed," Ghira shrugged a little with a slightly more open expression. "We just need to figure out how best to strike at that."

"And if they don't bite? We don't have the money or the incentive right now, what makes you think that will actually work?" Sienna asked, raising an eyebrow dryly and knowing damn well that Ghira had some kind of stupid idea to try and buy the affection of the humans somehow. 

"Well…" Ghira cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly, shrugging again and looking to the side as he reminisced about Blake once more. Clearly, some of it had worked. Peaceful protests may have gotten them started, but being loud, being ungovernable, being uncivil about it worked. Up until a point. If the people in the Kingdoms continued to refuse their demands for equal rights and treatment, then the carrot- whatever that incentive might be- would be withdrawn. And in its place…

"Riot?"

"... Who are you and what have you done with the old Ghira Belladonna?" Sienna asked, actually snorting in amusement as she leaned back in her seat and actually gave the man a smile for the first time in… well. Since the messy breakup.

"I learned that violence really is the answer sometimes. Especially when it comes to making a world my daughter can be safe in."

"Heh… well spoken, Ghira. We'll make a fighter out of you yet." Sienna purred, winking at her former beau.

Ghira blinked, clearing his throat awkwardly at Sienna with a somewhat offended look on his face. "... Sienna I used to wrestle bears. For fun."

"... We'll make you back into a fighter."

"Thank you."