Adjusting to this world was hard enough, but being treated like a kid pushed him over the edge. Alabast was 'given' a small shack to live in by himself. He constantly 'ran' from the local orphanage, so when he started living in an old abandoned shack they just let him have it.
He didn't want to act like an actual kid so he simply kept his mouth shut most of the time and only talked when necessary.
This caused everyone to leave him alone for the most part, which he was thankful for. In his last life he was relatively social, but now he's appreciating some quality solitude time. Turns out the best company is himself or some good ol' fashioned empty space.
Alabast wouldn't go to school and it's not like anyone would force him. He was already smarter than most adults and was clearly beyond what they would be able to teach him at such a young age. What he lacked was common knowledge of the world, it's history, it's customs, its different laws of physics, and other things unique to it like the monstrous creatures of Grimm.
He would find books about such topics. As asking someone about these things felt weird, so his free time between training sessions was spent studying. Alabast told himself he was preparing himself for the future, and he was. But he was unconsciously avoiding the loneliness and pain he was constantly feeling. When he woke up in the tent the pain had become a new normal, and loneliness had always been an unlikely close companion.
It's like the brain he had was releasing chemicals that altered his way of thinking. He knows that a child's brain is different from an adults, and that his now 19 year old mind is crammed inside a 6 year old child's body and brain that are developing. Along those lines, he doesn't look forward to going through puberty a second time.
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A year passes by like the blink of an eye. Each day was spent with Alabast constantly trying to improve himself in one way or another.
Throughout his life in both worlds he is his own harshest critic and nothing he did was good enough. He knows not to compare himself to others, but when comparing his current self to the previous days self… he gets frustrated with himself.
While Alabast gets frustrated with his progress, Koa is left in shock. It took nearly an entire year for Alabast to learn all he could from Koa. Specifically, the snake Faunus' weapon techniques and the basics of aura.
Koa didn't specialize in aura control or something fancy, he was mostly a weapons expert in the White Fang and was told by Ghira to give Alabast 1 on 1 training for a year and get as far as he could in that time. He initially expected Alabast to take years to fully complete the training. But the year wasn't over by the time he had taught the young pup everything he could.
When Alabast was 7 he joined the adults and teenagers in the harsher, more general, training. They learned how to use aura and how to defend themselves and others. They needed to learn how to protect large groups of people at a time since they'd be protecting their fellow Faunus mostly at protests but also in general. They had many teachers to help prepare them.
The fact they were being trained to defend and not to attack was hammered into their skulls with how many times it was stated daily.
Some people were concerned that a child was training with them, but Alabast looked older than his actual age. Those concerned few quieted down once they saw what Alabast could do.
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Over the next few years Alabast continued training every day. Learning how to utilize his aura efficiently and improving his fighting techniques while constantly learning new ones. He quickly became bored learning about the history of the world, the fairy tales were at least a little interesting.
The belief that there are two Gods is interesting, especially when he somewhat remembers that being true. The two Gods were twins, one being a God of Light and the other being the God of Darkness. Light being the older brother and Darkness, subsequently, being the younger brother. The Light God creates things while his brother, the Darkness God, destroys. The stories change book to book and story to story.
Eventually Alabast stops reading books entirely, instead choosing to train his abilities more. This leaves the books-keeper somewhat saddened at the child's sudden abandonment of books. His name was Tukson and he enjoyed watching people read the books he had collected. He's a member of the White Fang, but he one day hopes to travel and open up a book shop that sells every book under the sun.
Alabast put more time into training his Aura. There is a special power tied to one's Aura called a Semblance. Semblance is like a more tangible projection of Aura. But for simplicity sake, it's a single superpower unique to a person. No two people have the same Semblance except in very specific familial circumstances. Semblances might seem similar, but differ in various ways. And Alabast would prefer to find his sooner rather than later.
After 5 more years he has no luck in the Semblance department. However, his training has only continued to push onwards and upwards. He metaphorically destroys the walls and roadblocks he runs into… and technically he could physically do that as well.
He's learned everything he can from the teachers, or everything they are willing to teach him. He didn't solely rely on what they taught him to begin with.
Not many people willingly want to spar with him and are volun-told to. He takes the spars extremely seriously but always stops when his opponent's aura breaks. The reason nobody really wants to fight him is that he doesn't stop until the aura break. The instructors use Alabast as an example that some people will do the same except they won't stop when their opponent's aura breaks.
Deciding on his main weapon was a difficult choice. He was limited in his options due to his current lack of income. Luckily Kuo Kuana has an armory that they opened up for the White Fang to borrow, and so Alabast was able to have his pick at some basic weapons. None of the fancy melee weapons combined with a ranged weapon like a sniper-scythe. So he goes with a plain greatsword. It's basically as tall as he is but he can efficiently use it for both offense and defense.
Alabast's appearance in these years has changed drastically. He has let his hair grow out and lets his bangs cover the left side of his face to hide the terrible scars around his left eye. His height is significantly taller than others his age. Clothing never was very important to him, so his attire during training mostly consists of long sleeve shirts and pants to hide the scars over his entire body. Considering almost all he does is train, that's really all he wears. Normally he has a neutral and uncaring expression which only changes when he is training.
There isn't anyone his age training in the general group, it's mostly adults and teenagers. However, he has heard of some kids that Ghira has been having trained separately. Namely Blake Belladonna and a new face within the White Fang, Adam Taurus. But Alabast didn't pay attention to them, only taking notice of Adam's bandaged left eye that reminds him of a certain copy ninja.
When people talked about the next generation of the White Fang they talked about Blake and Adam, but Alabast's name was left out. Alabast didn't know why, but he doesn't particularly care. Again, comparing yourself to others will only exhaust yourself.
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At the age of 12 Alabast was tasked with his first mission as a member of the White Fang. He was to follow the orders of some random guy and defend his fellow Faunus at a peaceful protest. He was given the 'under no circumstances are you to attack, only defend' speech that was given over and over nearly everyday.
Alabast hadn't attended a single protest since he had joined the White Fang. It was generally a waste of time since nothing came of them, except the Bloody Hours Protest. But after a while even that was brushed aside.
Nothing particularly happened at this protest. Alabast was given a uniform to designate him as a 'protector' of his fellow Faunus. While others were admired for this position, he wasn't given such admiration. Not from Humans, or his fellow Faunus. At least no one he guarded was harmed.
Alabast owed his life to Ghira and would follow any order the man gave. He knows that Ghira is a man worthy of following and wanted to help the man reach the peace almost everyone sought. If all Alabast had to do was stand around and protect people… it's safe to say there wasn't much hesitation in Alabast's end.
In the middle of this protests Alabast saw a girl with black hair and cat ears. It was Blake, and she was holding a sign up above her head as she shouted in hopes of her voice being heard and making a genuine positive change for the Faunus.
Seeing her put her entire being into what she believes in moved something inside Alabast. Such genuine hope for a better future was almost blinding to him, even if it was naive.
Alabast watched as she waved her sign around and could hear her voice clearly through the massive crowd. Then he saw her turn around and drag someone to the front with her. It was an older boy with red and dark brown hair that spikes backwards in a windswept style. The hair was mostly red with the dark brown being streaks. The boy has two reddish-black bull horns that are swept back like his hair. Covering the boy's left eye are the same bandages Alabast remembers being around him when he woke up after getting his aura awakened. This was Adam Taurus.
Adam clearly looks annoyed of this event, but he is still holding a sign that he raises over his head as he joins the others in shouting and chanting.
Watching the two, Alabast can see the way Blake looks at Adam and for some reason it bothers him. He shakes his head and goes back to looking blankly around the city they are currently in. Why is he feeling like this when he's supposed to be an adult? Does changing his body really change him this much?
A certain female tiger Faunus takes notice of Alabast. She mistakes his sour mood for him being unhappy with the peaceful protests. But she's not just focusing on the wolf cub, lots of other Faunus are upset about the continued peaceful protests that achieve nothing except wasting a lot of time.
The peaceful protest remained relatively peaceful with Alabast only having to scare some drunken Humans away with a little intimidation.
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Over the next few months Alabast crossed paths with Blake a few times. It wasn't much, but they briefly talked about the White Fang. Not much talking was done on Alabast's side of the conversation. He just listened to what the girl had to say most of the time.
What bugged Alabast was that Adam would come by and Blake would immediately leave to go with Adam. It wouldn't have been so bad if Adam didn't have to be so… Adam.
Every chance Adam got he would try and show how superior he is to Alabast. Adam was older, attended more protests, spent more time with Ghira and other High Members, is more social, unlocked his Semblance, and whatever else inflated the guy's ego. And Blake would just soak it up.
Was it weird that Adam, 16, was leading Blake, 12, on like they were going to be the next power couple in the White Fang? Or was Alabast just paying too much attention to them after staying mostly secluded for years?
Whatever that case is, Alabast didn't bother with correcting Adam. Nor did he bother stopping Blake when she would begin talking about the guy. But it was only when Blake and Alabast were getting close to having a normal conversation when Adam would show up.
Around the 5th month after Alabast's first mission is when Ghira stepped down from High Leader of the White Fang and became Chieftan of Menagerie.
This caused great strife in Alabast. He was only in the White Fang because of his debt and loyalty to Ghira. But with the man stepping down it caused Alabast to consider leaving.
If he left he could search for the men who tortured him that day over 6 years ago. It would be early, but he's strong enough to get his revenge now.
Before he could make a decision the new High Leader took the stage. Sienna Kahn, a Bengal tiger Faunus with tiger ears on her head along with wild black, chin length hair. She had a dark complexion, amber eyes, and tattoos resembling tiger stripes adorning her body.
Alabast was about to leave when Sienna declared they would be using more forceful means to achieve their goals of freedom, justice, and equality. Many people cheered and celebrated upon hearing this, but there were a few that could only close their eyes and sigh. Ghira closed his eyes and slightly lowered his head from behind Sienna, this decision was not an easy one and he still questions if it is the right thing to do.
After some more talk about what Sienna will do differently Alabast stays at the edge of the crowd. It turns out Sienna plans on moving out of Kuo Kuana and setting up a proper base for the White Fang. She also gives some examples about how they will fight for equality.
When all is said and done Alabast goes back to his small hut and prepares to leave the next day. He's still not sure if he's leaving with the White Fang or setting off on his own.
He was approached by a pair of fox Faunus. These two were brothers and were High Members, now part of the High Council as part of Sienna's changes to the White Fang. Alabast decided it was best to hear them out since they personally came to him.
The brothers were similar but easily differentiable via their height and Faunus trait. Fennec Albain was shorter with tall fox ears and Corsac Albain is tall with a fox tail. They both wear a red hood that basically doubles as a cloak.
After talking in Alabast's small abode for a while the brothers leave. They wished to simply extend an invite to Alabast personally. It turns out that Alabast has been on their radar for a while and they wish to make use of his talents. It would be a win-win situation. Alabast would finish tasks for them and they would personally repay him. He will get paid, given resources, and information on a few things depending on the importance of the tasks he completes and how well they were completed. It was actually a good deal considering he didn't need to accept every mission, but he didn't give them his answer right away.
It was at the docks when his decision is made. Turns out that Blake is leaving her parents and staying with the White Fang. This coupled with an easier path towards revenge made accepting the brother's offer easy.
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For the next year he was used as a pawn and proved his worth.
He didn't turn a single mission down and each mission was completed perfectly. Having a 100% mission completion record was nice. And the hardest decisions he had to make was whether certain people deserved death or not.
The brothers didn't force him to kill anyone, but they didn't stop him either. And when they gave Alabast the option to go after a child abuser or a person who tortures Faunus it's not like Alabast was going to just let them go free. There were also missions such as destroying or commandeering cargo.
It was the missions involving the Schnee Dust Company that he enjoyed the most. Mainly because he found out that Dixon, DT, and KT worked for the company. Unfortunately, the those 3 had either died off record or had gone into hiding so well that nobody has seen them in years.
Around when he turned 15 he unlocked his semblance one day after an especially physically taxing mission. He was walking through an underground cave when he found he was able to control and manipulate tangible and intangible darkness. It's stronger at night than during the day, but a semblance is like a muscle. The more you work it the stronger it will become, so he trains to get the weakness of daytime gone as soon as possible.
Training his Semblance extensively for a year between missions he is finally able to use it as efficiently in the daytime as it is during nighttime. For simplicity sake he's named his Semblance Darkness. And over the past year he has found a mass array of ways to use it. By manipulating darkness he can have it take physical shape, such as making rope to hold enemy, make a blade of darkness, cover lights in buildings, and there are a few other things his Darkness can do.
Pairing nicely with his semblance are a few of his Faunus traits. Namely night vision that most Faunus have, but his is better. In fact, all his senses are better than any Human and Faunus. His enhanced senses have caused some problems in the past years, but now that he's got them under control completely they allow him to fight better and do other things significantly better. A skill he's gotten particularly proficient at is tracking.
After training harder than ever before due to his Semblance, he was finishing missions faster and more efficiently than any other within the White Fang. The Albain brothers used this to their advantage, over the years they had given him riskier missions to test Alabast's limits. And they have yet to find any.
Word of a 'Mad-Dog' Faunus running around the continents had spread through the various underworlds. And with how fast Sienna's more difficult missions were being completed it caused her to question the Albain brothers extensively until they revealed their not so little helper. When Alabast was brought to Sienna he was instantly given the title Black Wolf, a Fang of the White Fang, and a special mask to go with it along with some other rewards for his years of help and 100% record.
The title and nicknames he received were of little concern to Alabast, a few of them still managed to tick him off though. But the rewards he received were nice. He was given his own personal place to live at the new base of the White Fang near the living quarters of higher ranked members. Plenty of Lien and resources to build his own weapon.
Too bad he never learned how to make such weapons. So Sienna found a master smith to forge and build him a special weapon from scratch. She also gave him a wardrobe update since he no longer would be entirely hidden in the shadows.
He was given a sort of military uniform. He wore the dark brown uniform jacket with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. A cape sits over his left side going down a little past his hips that covers his arm entirely but doesn't get in the way when he holds his weapon. The cape is black with one white stripe a foot from the bottom of it. There is brown fur where the cape meets the uniform on his left shoulder. His pants are black with a patch of dark gray padding on his knees along with a patch of grey fur on both his thighs that match the grey at the ends of his hair. Black combat boots have been a staple footwear over the years of harsh conditions on his missions. Alabast's hair reaches near his hips and is dark black until it is grey at the tips. He still has his bangs covering the left side of his face and also has some of his hair over his shoulders, there's so much he barely manages to keep it clean much less tame it. His wolf tail is longer than any other wolf Faunus and is Black until the tip where it is dark gray like his hair. The tail is roughly 4 feet or so while he is 6 foot 6 inches tall. He has a lot of muscles and nothing about him gives the impression of being small.
Alabast's main weapon rests on his back when not in use. It is a giant great sword with the giant blade being able to be taken off to turn into a rifle and leave the handle with a long katana blade. When not in combat the great sword blade will become rectangular and compressed so it can rest on his back held there by a magnetic holder. In its great sword form it is called Nights Fall, the katana is Hollow Silence and the rifle is Dark Heart. He dislikes the edgy names but Sienna named them when she gave the weapon to him so he can't change it. Not to mention his naming sense would be considerably worse.
Since he was getting a special weapon made he also requested something from the same smith. He had previously had his weapon taken from him in the past and he was forced into resorting to use his claws and teeth to get out alive from a handful of occasions. So he wanted a pair of knuckledusters or wrist blades that would be out of the way and concealable until he needed to use them. And the smith produced something far beyond what Alabast expected when he first asked.
The weapon weapon is named Bestia Fang and its a pair. When not in use they are compressed into a band on his wrist. It can be activated into its first form, a knuckleduster that goes over the top of his hand to cover only his knuckles. In the second form of knuckledusters it will come over the knuckle and go down to his second knuckle when he makes a fist. Then it has a set of claws that can be extended over the knuckleduster for situations requiring slicing opposed to brute force. It reminds Alabast of certain clawed mutant from his previous life.
Having these as a last resort means that losing his sword isn't going to lower his fighting capabilities. Not that losing his weapon meant he was less dangerous in the past, just that in the past it caused him some trouble he'd rather not have to go through again.
The White Fang has started using masks similar to that of Grimm for a variety of reasons. The one to kickstart this trend was Adam when he wanted to hide his left eye and stop wearing bandages. So as the White Fang implemented the masks as a part of their uniform Alabast didn't complain. He already had his bangs covering a portion of his face so putting on a mask wasn't much different.
His mask is special, being the face of a black wolf with light silver lines on it mimicking the other white fang masks that are white with red lines. His eyes are blood red and seem to glow when he puts the mask on and activates his black aura.
After Alabast got his makeover from Sienna he was sent on certain missions that pissed him off. Mainly because they involved varying degrees of teamwork. It wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for a certain orange haired criminal and a female fox Faunus vixen. The orange haired guy because he was human and agonizingly annoying. The Faunus vixen because she was also annoying, but not as much as the red headed criminal.
Being forced to work with others really gave Alabast a new appreciation for being alone or his brief talks with Blake. But she had her mind filled by Adam all the time, although, she was starting to see Adam's more abusive and controlling side since she turned 15 and Adam's true nature has become more and more apparent. There's also the fact that Alabast hardly had any time to talk with Blake, it was mostly him catching a glimpse of her here and there between his missions.
Now puberty was just as bad as he remembered it, if not worse. Either due to his increased senses, his aura, his different mindset, or whatever other reason he has struggled through puberty beyond the painful growth spurts. It makes turning down the vixen Faunus he works with extremely difficult considering she tempts him no matter how many times he brutally refuses her advances.
Here he is, now 17 in this crazy and brutal world. Just when he thinks things are looking up he comes upon news that causes everything he's worked toward thus far to come crashing down around him.