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Crimson Baptism

Summary:

Humanity fears the faunus for many reasons - better hearing, sight, strength...not to mention the animal parts. However, what is truly frightening is one who has tasted human blood - a Sanguine Faunus.

Vampire-Faunus AU. Pollination - No Enabler, Monochrome Focus.

Notes:

So I was watching Hellsing Ultimate when I had an idea...I'll admit, I'm a fan of the whole vampire thing, particularly the whole...conversion bit.

So take the faunus, add vampire lore, add xmen-esque mutant story bits and...here you go.

I hope you enjoy! -IzettaVonEylstadt

-8sept2019- renamed from "Sunuaf Belladonna" to "Crimson Baptism"

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: What did she just say?

Chapter Text

“Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!”

 

Weiss recoiled from her teammate, stumbling over herself and falling to the floor. Blake’s expression quickly morphed from one of anger to horror and regret. “I....I..” she stuttered. What could the faunus woman possibly say here? Everything she had built up over the last year was destroyed in an instant.

 

The stunned faunus belatedly realized that Weiss had scrambled to her feet and was halfway across the room. She ripped Myrtenaster from its case and leveled it at Blake, trying to calm her breathing and steady her shivering arm. “Don’t you dare move, Belladonna.” What now – call the police? Call Ozpin? Make a citizen’s arrest and tie her up?

 

Her thoughts were interrupted by Yang, who roughly disarmed Weiss and pinned her arm behind her back. “Cool it, Ice Queen,” Yang growled, eyes red. “That’s my partner you’re threatening.”

 

“Partner?! You mean FAUNUS,” Weiss screeched. “Don’t you know what that means??”

 

“Weiss…please calm down…” Ruby begged. “Calm down and I’m sure Blake can explain everything, right Blake?” Ruby turned to look at the motionless woman. “Blake…?”

 

The faunus dissolved – it was just a clone. The trio looked around the room, trying to figure out where she was. The slightly ajar door told them everything they needed to know – Blake was gone.

 

Weiss pulled herself free and rounded on Yang. “Look what you did! You let her escape! I’m going to call Vale Police.” Weiss sat on her bed and pulled out her scroll.

 

“Weiss! Why did…why are you so angry??” Ruby asked, grabbing her partner’s arms.

 

“Don’t you understand what she said? She’s a faunus! A member of the White Fang!”

 

Yang slammed her fist into the wall, nearly knocking straight though into JNPR’s room. “You don’t know what it meant, you ignorant bitch! You freaked out and scared her away before she could even explain herself!”

 

“Bitch? H-how dare you!?”

 

Yang pushed herself nose to nose with the offended woman. “Yeah, that’s right. You’re a bit-"

 

A deafening blast went off in the room, prompting both women to hit the deck. Crescent Rose’s barrel smoked in the aftermath of being fired into the ceiling. “Both of you, stop it. Please!” Ruby begged. She hated getting serious but this was clearly time for Adult Ruby. “Weiss. Please explain. What’s wrong with the faunus? Who cares if she’s a faunus?”

 

Weiss dusted herself off with an indignant huff. “How do neither of you know anything about the faunus?”

 

“We grew up on Patch…there aren’t many people there to begin with. There were a few faunus at Signal but no one ever reacted like….like that!” Ruby gestured vaguely at Myrtenaster on the floor. “Velvet seems to get along well with her team! She and Coco seem to be very good friends...”

 

“The faunus are dangerous and violent,” Weiss began, earning herself a glare from Yang. “They’re mutated humans. Eons ago, a village of humans near a dust mine suffered a major accident. A massive earthquake destroyed most of the mine and village, opening a fissure deep into the earth. Supposedly, a special kind of dust existed below. When it billowed out, the villagers were altered, changed down to their DNA.

 

“What came out was a group of mutants. Improved eyesight, hearing, reflexes, and strength. They even grew animal parts. But worst of all, they thirst for human blood.”

 

Ruby and Yang stared dumbfounded at Weiss. Yang spoke up first. “Are you insane? What are they, vampires? None of the faunus we’ve seen are….supernatural monsters!”

 

“Seriously, how do you not know this? I’m not making this up!” Weiss threw her arms up in the air – did these two live under a rock? “All faunus are stronger and have many advantages over humans, but they don’t unlock their true power....until they’ve drained a human of their blood. Once they do that, they become an even stronger being - a Sanguine Faunus.”

 

“Weiss is actually correct,” said a voice. Pyrrha hesitantly poked her head into team RWBY’s room. “They are technically mutants. And they can drink blood, but most of them don’t.”

 

“AND they can turn you into one of them!” Again, Ruby and Yang couldn’t believe their ears. They quickly turned to look back at Pyrrha, who nodded.

 

“Yes, Sanguine Faunus can create a faunus thrall. However, faunus are no particular danger to humans, in general,” Pyrrha noted.

 

Ren appeared behind the champion warrior. “Nora and I lived beside faunus for years. They took us in after...when we were young.”

 

“Yeah! They’re great!” Nora added, vibrating with excitement as usual. “They could actually keep up with my hyperness!”

 

“They didn’t ‘turn’ us, they didn’t subjugate us, and they didn’t hurt us.” Ren calmly returned Weiss’ glare. “Faunus are no more dangerous than any human. There are almost none who have become a full fledged Sanguine Faunus, outside a handful in the White Fang. Most have been killed by hunters and huntresses.”

 

Weiss turned away from the rest of the room. “You don’t know what they’re capable of. They’ve been hurting me and my family for my entire life. The White Fang has killed my relatives, one by one. Dust shipments - hijacked. Employees and board members: slaughtered. SDC buildings: bombed! Father would come home furious after every White Fang attack….and it made for a very. difficult. childhood. I’ve lived my entire life in fear of the faunus...they’ve been a greater threat to my life than any grimm could ever be.”

 

Ruby tentatively placed her hand on Weiss’ shoulder. “Weiss…you’ve lived with...slept in the same room with Blake for the entire year. She’s done nothing to hurt you or any of us! She’s been there for us, and has put her life on the line to keep us safe. If faunus are as dangerous as you think…why would Blake do all that?”

 

“I don’t…I don’t know Ruby. But the White Fang is an organization that seeks to subjugate us all! They want us to be their slaves! Sanguine Faunus are basically magical beings . Their aura is twice as strong as ours, supernatural healing – they’re almost impossible to kill…” Weiss shook her head. “They’re terrifying, honestly. The White Fang wants to bring out this full potential of all faunus, and rule over humanity. We’d be nothing more than cattle.”

 

Pyrrha placed her hand on Weiss’ shoulder, trying to comfort the agitated woman. She could understand that the faunus were certainly intimidating beings. But after growing up around faunus in Mistral, it had been a long time since she had seen this kind of fear. “The Human-Faunus War only made things worse and radicalized the White Fang. We pushed them off to a far corner of Remnant, to dangerous and undesirable land. Elsewhere, they’re persecuted by our governments and people. Hatred of humanity is, frankly, understandable. The Schnee Dust Company is a logical target...for a number of reasons. But, Blake has been around us and supported us through hard times. Most faunus just want to live as freely as any human. Don’t make a judgement about her just yet.”

 

“Tomorrow, we’ll go out to find her. We’ll bring her back and we can talk this over as a team,” Ruby suggested.

 

“Erm..if you like, team JNPR can help look too,” Jaune offered, the rest of the team nodding eagerly. “Since all of us have experience living around faunus…we might be able to ’translate’.”

 

Weiss snatched Myrtenaster off the floor and roughly returned it to its case. “Fine,” she responded, keep her back to the group. “We’ll find her. And we’ll get an answer out of her.”

 

The group let out a slight sigh of relief - there was a chance of repairing the situation.

 

“Ahem. Team RWBY. Team JNPR,” said a cold voice at the door. Everyone in the room stiffened, bracing themselves to face the music. “Would any of you like to explain why there is a hole in your ceiling and a crack in your wall? And why you are making a racket at this hour of the night?”

 

Ruby was the first to respond. “H-hi! Professor Goodwitch! What- How- ...Lovely evening isn’t it? You look...lovely...uh….” she trailed off, withering under her intense gaze. “Ohhh...boy...we’re in trouble…”


Blake sped across the rooftops, quickly crossing the full Beacon campus, leaving a mist of tears in her wake. Gaining momentum, she took a full speed leap. For a few freeing moments, all she could hear was the roar of air around her and feel the wind in her hair. The citizens of Vale were unaware of the black clad shadow flying by overhead, occasionally using Gambol Shroud to alter her trajectory. She wasn’t entirely sure where she was going to go, but simply needed to put space between her and Beacon.

 

“I’ve ruined everything…and my past has caught up to me.” Blake thought to herself. “What kind of future can I have now…?” Maybe it was time for Blake to return home, beg her parents for forgiveness, and take whatever punishment they saw fit. “But would they ever forgive me after all I’ve done?”

 

She landed silently on a tall building near the edge of the city. Dangling her feet off the side of the roof, she gazed up absently at the shattered moon.

 

Deep in her thoughts, Blake rid herself of her ever-present bow to reveal a pair of cat ears. Not only did she have to hide the two ears perched atop her head, but she also had to conceal the fact that she lacked ears on the sides of her head – she just counted herself lucky that she didn’t need glasses. “I suppose there really aren’t any faunus out there that would need glasses…our vision doesn’t degrade.”

 

She laid back onto the roof and shut her eyes, thinking back to the turning point in her life.

 

Blake slid down the hill, leaving a billowing trail of red leaves in her wake. Adam led the way forward, launching into the air and landing heavily on the train passing below - the target for this mission. Get in, destroy the dust, leave the White Fang calling card, and exfil covertly.

Adam struck the heavy lock on the emergency hatch, easily breaking the hardened steel. The pair dropped into the train car, their eyes quickly adjusting to reveal...a battalion of Atlesian Military bots.

“Looks like we’re going to be doing this the hard way,” Adam grumbled.

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Blake quiped.

“INTRUDER, IDENTIFY YOURSELF,” warbled one bot.

Adam launched Wilt from Blush, denting the headpiece of the noisy bot. He flashed to catch Wilt midair, rending the soldier in two with a cross-body slash. Blake used her semblance to leave a clone and throw herself backward, whipping Gambol Shroud from its place on her back. The blind cut beheaded the enemy advancing behind her, allowing her to kick the headless body into the crowd. Before the torso projectile finished its destructive path through its mates, the cat faunus dashed forward, sliding low into the group. Separating Gambol Shroud into cleaver and katana, she made short work of the remaining foes. Adam cleared the way out of the car by kicking a knight clear though the door.

She and Adam exited the darkened train car, leaving nothing but a mess of worthless, broken mechanical parts. Alerted to their presence, another squad blocked their way forward. Fitting with his bull faunus nature, Adam charged forward, drawing their fire. Blake rolled her eyes, transforming her katana into ballistic kusarigama form. She deftly swung it around her partner, delivering bullet-propelled death blows left and right. Seconds later, she tugged her blade from the skull of the last Atlesian knight; the two were free to proceed once more.

They entered the armored car - the most expensive dust would be stored there. The crept forward quietly, expecting resistance. However, the car appeared to hold nothing more than the typical transportation crates bearing the Schnee crest.

Adam opened the lid of the nearest crate. “Perfect. Move up to the next car - I’ll set the charges.”

Blake nodded, but before she could respond, her sensitive ears picked up on the faint sound of servos turning. “Adam!”

A large mech dropped from the darkness, pointing four cannons at the two faunus. “Buy me some time!” Adam shouted, dashing backward.

“But-”

“Just do it!”

Blake sighed and activated her semblance, letting her power loose. Three clones of Blake stepped out from behind her - three perfect copies of Blake, except dark as the void. The giant mech jumped forward, bringing its massive leg down to crush the comparatively tiny faunus women. The three shadow Blakes soundlessly met the mech midair, kicking its center of mass. It stumbled back, fighting to keep its balance. Blake sighed and reached over to touch a shadow on the wall, melting into the darkness. From the shadows, she watched her clones bat the mech around like a toy. “This must have been created specifically to fight faunus...probably a prototype. Of course the Schnees are working on something like this.”

Sensing that Adam’s semblance was nearly ready, Blake quickly hid behind him. Her shadow doppelgangers took up position around him, taunting the mech. Seeing its foes grouped together, the mechanical creation brought its arms together to form an absurdly large cannon. Dust gathered in the barrel, letting lose a devastating ray toward the group of faunus. The Blakes faded away, leaving Adam standing alone, Wilt half drawn from Blush. The beam slammed into Wilt, pushing Adam several meters back. The white column of light disappeared into Wilt, fully absorbed by Adam’s semblance. The air around him crackled and his skin seemed to glow.

Confused by the disappearance of its strongest attack, the paladin switched to physical attacks, once again charging forward to crush Adam. He waited a beat for optimal range...before turning its power against it. The single slash left no trace of the mech, dust crates, and entire top half of the car.

Blake drew herself out of Adam’s shadow, listening intently for signs of incoming backup. While she heard nothing other than the rumbling of the train, there was no way the destruction of the armored car would go unnoticed. “Adam...we should bug out now. I think this might have been a set-up…”

“No Blake, our work isn’t done here. We’re going to drain every passenger on this train. The world needs to understand that we won’t stop, even if Schnee uses innocents as his shield. Humanity will not stand between us and our goals.” It was a common tactic of the Schnees to shield their cargo with innocent lives. “We need to silence everyone on this train. I could use a drink.”

“Adam, this will only hurt our cause! This won’t serve equality!”

“Humans are beneath us! They’re nothing but animals for us to eat. We’re stronger and better than humans in every way, yet they step all over us, murder and enslave our brothers and sisters. It is time for us to be in power now. The humans have had their time, the future belongs to the faunus. Hang them from racks, slit their necks, and bleed them dry. Equality isn’t enough, my darling, you know this.”

 “I wish I had realized sooner that I was on the wrong path...that Adam wasn’t the man I thought he was…”

 

The sound of approaching footsteps caught her attention. Based on the sound of the footfalls, it was someone she had met once before.

 

“I knew you’d look better without that bow.” The blonde monkey faunus from before leapt onto the rooftop beside her. “I was surprised to see a fellow faunus hanging around the Schnee heiress! ...I could hear her insulting me as I ran by.”

 

Blake scoffed. “Really? I’m surprised you heard it, it looked like you were too busy winking at me,” she joked. “What’s your name?”

 

“Sun. Sun Wukong.” He reached out to shake hands.

 

“Blake…Belladonna. Your name sounds familiar…You’re a Sanguine Faunus aren’t you? How old are you?”

 

“Hmm pretty old…I think I lost track ages ago. You’re probably recognizing me from the Monkey King myths? I mean, it’s not like I’ve changed my name.” He shrugged, plopping down on the edge beside Blake. “How old are you?”

 

“About as old as I look,” she responded.

 

Sun carefully observed Blake’s reaction, and chose to move on from this topic.

 

“So what are you doing out here? I saw you fly by - you’re super fast! Tell me about yourself,” he suggested.

 

“My team, those three girls that were with me...found out that I’m a faunus...a faunus of the White Fang.”

 

Sun sat stunned for a moment. “Wow...let me guess, Schnee didn’t take that well?”

 

“...no. She didn’t. She must hate me now.” Blake wiped a tear from her eye. “My team won’t want to have anything to do with me anymore.”

 

Sun gently patted Blake on the back, searching for the right words to say. “Things will turn out okay, Blake...don’t worry.”


Weiss stirred in her bed, slowly waking up after a difficult night. She suffered nightmare after nightmare, of being murdered by Blake. She sluggishly sat up, dropping her head into her trembling hands. “Blake wouldn't do that, right?” Weiss searched for a way to reconcile her feelings toward Blake and everything Father had told her about the faunus.

 

The most quiet and reserved member of team RWBY….observant and thoughtful...had a strong sense of justice...a valued teammate.

 

“The faunus have an unquenchable bloodlust. They won’t hesitate to drain you of your blood.”

“But Blake hasn’t done anything like that...and she had every chance to…”

 

“At best they want us to be their slaves. At worst, we’ll be their cattle.”

“Blake has fiercely spoken out against slavery, of both humans and faunus...she would never be okay with any of  that.”

 

“They are disgusting, ugly creatures.”

“Blake isn’t ugly...far from it…”

 

“All faunus are scum, liars, backstabbers, and criminals. You cannot trust these animals.”

“And yet...somehow I do trust Blake. I trust her with my life….”

 

“Stay away from them. Be a good girl and listen to your father. Remember - you’re nothing without me.”

“I came to Beacon to make my own path...and yet here I am, being made a fool for the ideas he indoctrinated me with. Will I ever be free of his influence?”

 

She raised her head, looking across the room at Blake’s bed, surprised to see Yang sitting on it. The blone’s lilac eyes observed the heiress with a guarded expression. Weiss shifted uncomfortably under her stoic gaze.

 

“Yang…” Weiss began, hoping her brain would supply the right words. “Any sign of her yet?”

“No,” Yang replied simply.

 

“Look...Yang. I… I don’t think I did the right thing last night. I think I let my prejudice blind me, to the point I drew my weapon on our teammate. And I...I’m sorry.”

 

Yang looked taken aback, staring at Weiss like she grew a pair of fox ears. Ruby’s head popped into view over the edge of her suspended bed. “Oh my gosh Weiss, did you just apologize for something??!?”

 

She blinked surprised. “What? No...I was only trying to say….I mean to say that…”

 

Ruby crashed into Weiss with a flurry of rose petals. “Awwwww Weissss!”

 

She flailed her arms “Augh get off me this instant you dolt!”

 

Ruby let herself be thrown off Weiss’ bed onto the floor. “Okay! Let’s go find Blake!”