An Aphology

Feeling the tears make contact with his body, Aphelion's eyes widened momentarily before closing and stroking her back more, "Of course you can... I'm here to listen. As your pet, owner, friend, whatever."

"You're my Aph." She said, laughing dryly and smiling despite her tears. "Alright... here goes...." Maria took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling once before speaking. "My family used to live here. Long before I met you or Milly or Imperia. I lived here with my family. My dad, mom, and I. Papa bear, mama bear, and baby bear." She said, chuckling softly at her joke but sadness evident in her voice. "I went to school. Not Beacon, or Signal, or anything fancy like that. Just normal school.... The faunus revolution... it happened when I was young. Just a teenager. We were apparently targeted by some humans. They didn't trust us.... thought we were part of it...." She said, her voice getting caught in her throat as she hugged Aphelion tightly, tears rolling down her cheeks to his shoulder.

Aphelion returned the hug and started petting her back, stroking it gently, delicately, "I... I understand... You don't need to talk anymore... I know how awful humans could be... can be... I-If you need me, I'm here for you right now, and... hopefully, I can be whenever you need me..." he whispered to her before pulling her down onto the bed and wrapping the pair in the bed covers, warmth embracing them in a hug to keep them safe, detached from the real life for a few, calming moments.

"No no...." Maria replied, finding comfort in what Aph was doing, appreciating the impromptu blanket and warmth in the suddenly cold room. "Thanks for the concern aph but I need to get this off my chest.... You don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not... If it helps you, speak." Aphelion shifted to move their private parts further apart but still hug Maria tightly, "I'll listen to everything."

"Thanks...." She said sincerely before she continued her story. "We were targeted. Humans who thought we were part of the war.... I came home and... and they were already dead...." Maria pauses to sob, sniffing and letting a few tears fall before continuing. "Mom still had the knife through her neck when I got there... dad was in the corner... I couldn't even recognize him with all the cuts and holes in his face...."

Aphelion said nothing. He felt he couldn't. The guilt of his race felt heavy on his shoulders. The only thing he could do was continue stroking Maria's back and silently wait for her to open up more, knowing that the pain could hurt him but that it'd help her.

"They turned on me when the saw me...." She said after a few seconds., comforted by Aphelion's stroking. "Come heeeeeere baby bear... we won't hurt you baby beeeeaaaaar...." She said, her voice eerily menacing and hate filled though the pain from the memories was still evident in them. "They never expect the little girl to fight back...."

"And so you did..." Aphelion spoke, as if guessing what she was going to say next, feeling strange in the position of hugging and comforting a woman 20 years older than him and listening to her troubles, but life had a funny way of turning out for him, so he made sure to do his best, wrapping his legs around her and using them to comfort her too, finding his eyes slowly get glossy over the course of her tale."

"It was horrible...." Maria cried, hugging him close and burying her face into his shoulder, arms wrapped tightly around his torso. "I... I grabbed the kitchen knife... took my time. They were strong but even then I was stronger. I started with their legs. They cut me too but I didn't notice... my blood mixed with theirs on the floor...." She paused, taking a deep breath to steady the rise and fall of her chest. "I left the knife in the first guy.... couldn't get it out after the eleventh hole in his chest...."

"I see..." Aphelion tried his best to gently comfort Maria, self hate somewhat rising as she spoke, saddened by her story. He hugged her tighter, starting to brush his cheek against hers in a way to calm her, letting her speak clearly at her own pace.

"He tried to run... and I was playing with him. Like a cat with a mouse...." She said, almost dead to how Aphelion was rubbing her cheek. "He'd run for the backdoor and I'd throw him back through the table. He'd head for the living room and I'd toss him back in the kitchen.... He saw what I could do... the claw marks... the knife marks on the walls. He knew that was his friend's blood and he knew his was next.... Eventually... I ripped his throat right out...."

Not saying anything about that, Aphelion continued to hold her, almost as if he was scared she'd do something to herself, the pain in her words evident. With every word, his mind fluctuated between fearing her and sympathizing with her.

"I stayed there...." Maria said, her grip on Aphelion slowly going slack as she started to lose her strength. "Covered in their blood sitting in their blood, just watching it drip of my hands.... I stayed their til they came. They took me in. Patched me up, cleaned my injures, bandages. They cleaned me up, fed me, gave me a home til I could come back to this house... they even cleaned the kitchen... well what they could clean, at least. They gave me a home... gave me a way to fight back...." She said, smiling bitterly at the memory. "I've been in the White Fang ever since...."

Aphelion shuddered as she mentioned the White Fang, news of their various proceedings reaching his ear often. He opened his eyes and found that he was crying. He pulled away slightly to look at the bear woman before him, her face bearing no hostility. "White Fang?" he finally asked, moving his hands to wipe her tears, "So you're a Faunus activist?" Though they're more like terrorists lately...

Maria's heart sunk as he pulled away, realizing she'd just revealed her secret, to a human no less. She stared at him, wide eyed and gape mouthed, not quite sure to what to say, slapping away his hand as he wiped her tears. Quickly disentangling herself from him, she buries her face in her pillow, sobs rolling visibly through her body. "Go away... you hate me now, don't you? Just call the cops on me... I'll be here when they get here...." She cried, her voice muffled by the pillow and distorted by her sobbing. "Yes, I'm part of the White Fang."

Aphelion frowned at Maria's reaction, moving over to lay on top of her, his lips right by her ears, "You don't hate me, even though I'm human, right? Why should I hate you then, even though you're a White Fang member? You're a wonderful woman who gave this poor human a chance and loved him wildly. Believe me when I say that I don't hate you and I won't call the cops on you." he rolled over and dropped beside her, pushing her head to make sure she faced him, "You're a White Fang, I'm a human. Shouldn't you be... 'torturing' me?" he asked, trying to brighten the mood.

"Don't you get it?" She asked, though slightly comforted by the weight of him. "I'm a criminal! You're ****ing a criminal! I've done... I've done horrible things for the White Fang... I mean sure, Silenus' department is recruitment but that doesn't mean I haven't hurt people for the White Fang. I've killed people for ****'s sake! How do you still want me to sleep with you knowing I could turn on you the second I get an order that tells me to?!"

"You're a friend." Aphelion tickled Maria's chin, giggling and kissing her cheek, "I'm willing to take that chance. They do call me an idiot a lot, guess it shows. Either way I'm not going. If you're gonna kill me, well, my fault. If you're not, well, my luck."

Maria burst into tears, unable to hold them back anymore, though to be fair, she wasn't doing a very good job of holding them back anyway. She smiled, tasting the salt of her own tears but not caring, smiling not from Aphelion's tickling. "You idiot...." She said through ragged breaths and stifled laughter and crying. "You're such an idiot...."

"Hey, it's not funny." Aphelion frowned playfully and licked her cheeks to taste her tears, "But I'm kinda happy to see you smile." he raised one arm to pet her, steering clear of her bear ears, "Who's my bwave widdle teddy beaw?" he giggled before hugging her close again.

"Oh shut up, you moron." Maria answered, rolling to have him on top of her, chests pressed together as she laughed, sincerely happy as tears ran down her face. Hooking a hand behind his head, she pulls him down for a kiss, leaning up into it before letting go, her head resting weakly on the pillow. "Thanks...."

"Any time." Aphelion smiled back before leaning down to rest his head on hers, hands moving down to stroke her sides, "I won't hurt you... I promise, I won't ever hurt you." he whispered before kissing her nose, "You're sort of precious to me." he admitted before sighing, "I understand if you're not in the mood for being my mistress again... Though knowing that you're a White Fang and could kill me at any point actually kinda turns me on, hehe."

"Thanks Aph. I mean it." She said, giggling at the kiss on her nose and blushing when he said she was precious. At the mention of getting turned on though, Maria playfully kicks him off her. "Oh my god, Aph! Don't tell me you're gonna make me sleep with you in my gear!" She said, laughing happily.

"I'm not gonna make you do anything." Aphelion said, sitting off to the side of her before bringing his wrists together in front of her face in a submissive position, "After all, you're a White Fang member and I'm just a measly human. You're the one who's keeping me in your house, you're the one who tells this prisoner what to do." he giggled, looking at her warmly.

Maria pounced on Aphelion, hugging him and rolling until he was on top of her once more. "Oooooooh no." Maria scolded, smiling up at him. "I just got done pouring out my entire heart for you. I'm too beat for mistressing. You take charge now, I'll just sit here and enjoy it. Besides, it's the least I could do for you."

"Okay, But, I don't think I have the heart to be cruel right now, so..." Aphelion leaned down to kiss her and move closer to her, hands going to pull her up and hug her tightly. He pulled away from the kiss momentarily, "We'll just have regular fun. Unless you insist to have extremer fun."

[Fade to black]