Before anything else, I own nothing but the original characters, and content therein related to them. RWBY is owned by RT, and any mentioned creator's work belongs to them, and them alone. Rest in peace Monty, your vision lives on in us all.
CHAPTER 6
There was a lot to do after Chief Ghira's speech. Blake, Sun and Pale would be out gathering signatures for people willing to join a hastily put together expeditionary force to go and defend Haven, that, and Pale was given a responsibility. Flipping the silver pin over in his hand, and rubbing his thumb against the words to see if what he was reading was real, Pale looked up at Ghira. "You want me to be the town Sheriff?" He asked, flipping the pin in the air.
"With the town guard training and organizing to defend Haven, our capacity to enforce our laws will diminish greatly… It will only be for a few weeks. Er, some faunus have inter-divisionary thoughts about predator and prey traits, and as the only human on the island, I feel you will remain impartial in the application of law enforcement…" Ghira assured the young sniper.
"All the things Blake must have told you about me, and you think I should have this badge?" Pale asked, holding up the silver.
Ghira nodded. "You have a jaded outlook on how people see you Mr. Lee. Blake has been nothing but objective when describing you. Honest, hard working, determined when set to a task, and loyal to a fault."
Pale scoffed. "No mentions of prejudice against the faunus?" He asked.
Ghirah sighed at that. "She'd told me what you've said… That you hate us all… But I don't believe that's true. Yesterday you showed me and the people of Kuo Kuana that you cared enough about us to put yourself between them and the radicals of the White Fang… That you believe we can live as equals so long as neither of us harms the other… That way of thinking is what I believed when I began the White Fang." Ghira said. Pale chuckled.
"What I believe and I want are two different things Mr. Belladonna. I want us to live in peace, separated or not makes no difference to me… But I believe we ain't ever gonna stop killin' each other…" Pale said, handing the badge back to Ghira, and turning to go help Blake and Sun with the menial task.
"You've stopped yourself." Ghira said.
Pale paused at the man's words. "I guess she told you, I tried to kill her?" Pale asked. "Three times now…" He amended.
Ghira sighed as Pale turned back around. "And yet, you put aside your hatred to help her each time." Ghira said.
Pale shrugged. "We had a common enemy." Pale said.
"And after you blew off Tarus's leg?" Ghira asked.
"I was helping a friend carry her girlfriend to safety." Pale answered shortly.
Ghira chuckled. "My boy, you are the most egalitarian man I've ever met, that's try to keep up a façade of bigotry… But what of your three faunus friends from school?" Ghira asked.
"They're just good faunus." Pale corrected.
"And my daughter?" Ghira asked with a raised eyebrow.
Pale had to think about that. "She can be a bit argumentative, but her heart's in the right place… And if I might be allowed to speak without consequence?" Pale asked. Ghira nodded. "It's a damn shame she wasn't born a human…" Pale said.
"And why would that be?" Ghira questioned.
Pale smirked. "Well Chief, far be it for me to lie. We'd have been real good friends." Ghira raised his other eyebrow at that comment. "Rest assured, I have no interest in her. Like I said, it's a shame she weren't born a human for as pretty as she is… And at present, I'm still dealing with the loss of a loved one from Beacon's fall, and I don't feel like I got the heart for any more than a friend right now." Pale said. Only for Ghira to chuckle.
"And here I thought Kali was crazy for thinking you two were cute together." Ghira said. Pale blanched at him, then gently shook his head. "Don't pretend you don't at least care about her a little." Ghira said, placing one of his hands on Pale's shoulder. "If you didn't you'd have left for Anima three days ago to finish what you came here to start." Ghira said, handing Pale the sheriff's pin again. "Take it. Your heart's in the right place, and more importantly, so's your head, even if you can't see it." Ghira said, as Pale pinned himself with the badge.
"I thank you for the kind words, and the responsibility, Chief." Pale said, before turning to leave, only to look over his shoulder at Ghira one last time as the man spoke.
"And fair warning… If you do change your mind about Blake, you treat her well… You know what is going to happen to the man who treated her badly." Ghira warned, as Pale chuckled at his words.
"I know… I'll be the one making him swing." Pale said, before he left.
Leaving the house, and walking up over the hill to the market, Pale caught up with Blake and Sun. "Blake… Sun." Pale said, resting his hands on his gun belt. The two faunus looked at him, and Sun did a double take when he saw the silver 5 pointed star pinned to his coat.
"Sheriff?" Sun asked.
"What?!" Blake nearly shouted, causing a few people to look at the trio, to include an iguana faunus buying a knife at a nearby stall. "My dad made you the sheriff?" Blake asked.
"He saw fit to have an impartial human act as law enforcement." Pale shrugged, before turning to get a head start on the day. Suddenly Pale felt a bullet take his faded blue kepi off his head. Reacting to the gunshot, Pale drew his model of 58 and found the target holding a gun. From the hip, Pale fanned the hammer of Guerrilla Warfare, sending 5 shots towards his attacker, striking the lizard man in the stomach twice. With so many civilians present, he didn't want to use his semblance and accidentally kill a bystander, in either event, the iguana faunus didn't have an aura and the .44 caliber ball dug right into his abdomen. Letting off the rest of his cylinder, the gunman hit both Blake and Pale, though did not break through their aura. Now out of bullets and wounded, the man took off running up the street. "Somva' bitch!" Pale shouted as he started chasing after the man on his peg leg, not getting very far. Deciding that the man was not worth the trouble chasing, Pale took another shot, aimed this time, and then dipped the muzzle of his revolver low to hit the running man in the calf. The man fell over, and crumpled to the ground in a heap.
Still alive, the iguana attempted to reload his gate fed revolver, as Pale limped closer, Blake and Sun following closely behind. While the man on the ground struggled to eject the spent cases from his gun, Pale unlocked the ram rod lever on his own revolver half way, popped the used cylinder out of the frame, pulled a fresh one out of his jacket pocket, and inserted it into his gun. Slapping the lever back in place to lock his fresh set of shots in, Pale cocked the hammer back, and raised his gun. For Blake, time seemed to stand still, the young man her father had made sheriff, was about to shoot a man in the streets for attacking him. What Pale was about to do would be the end of any trust the faunus of Menagerie had in humans.
"Pale don't!" Blake shouted just before the report of the cap and ball gun ripped through the street. Blake had to take a second to make sure she was seeing things right. Pale had shot the gun out of the iguana man's hands. There was a second of silence, before Pale pulled a pair of handcuffs off his belt, and slapped the ends around the wounded man's wrists.
"Sir, you're under arrest. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…" Blake sat slack jawed as Pale began reading the man his rights, one of the settlement's paramedic team already running up the way to ensure the man would not die before his trial.
Once the iguana faunus was taken away by a Menagerie guard. Pale dusted off his hat, and frowned. The fire dust bullet had completely burned out the back end. Tossing the kepi in a nearby trash can, Pale turned back to his friends. "Whoa." Sun said. Pale raised an eyebrow. "That was awesome! It was like a scene right from a Flint Westwood movie!" Sun said, grabbing Pale by the shoulders.
"Easy there monkey boy." Pale said, brushing Sun's hands off him, cracking a smirk. "I think all the excitement's gettin' to Blake." The two looked at Blake who was still confused as to why Pale hadn't killed the man.
"You… Let him live?" Blake asked.
"Aw come on now Blake… You really think I wouldn't take my new job seriously?" Pale asked. "He might have been a criminal, but I'll be damned if I didn't feel sorry for how bad of a shot he was… He'll do his time, I'll see to it… But we got an army to recruit." Pale said, before walking off.
6 hours of failed recruitments lead to the trio regrouping at a waterfront market. "Any luck?" Pale asked, getting shaken heads from both Sun and Blake.
"Uggh, this sucks… Anyone want coconut water?" Sun asked, noticing a vendor that was selling the fruity drinks.
"What in the fuck is coconut water?" Pale asked, as Sun got everyone a drink.
"It's juice from a coconut. It's actually really good for you. It's sort of like almond milk." Blake said.
Pale shook his head. "Now your just makin' shit up."
The three got their drinks, Pale's having had whisky tossed in for the hell of it, and sat down to try and figure out what was going wrong with their recruitment. "How is it that everyone can just sit around and do nothing when Haven is about to be destroyed?" Sun asked half slamming his drink onto the table.
"I feel I did a good enough job pointing out why they should." Pale said, sipping his alcoholic mixed drink.
"Not everyone thinks like we do… The faunus that moved to Menagerie came here because they were tired of fighting. They just want to be left alone. And we're asking for them to put the rest of the world before themselves." Blake said, stirring the tiny umbrella in her coconut.
"I… Didn't think of it that way." Sun said.
"Biggest issue is if Adam goes through with destroying Haven it's only gonna piss off us humans, and then you're looking at a full blown race war…" Pale said, leaning back in his chair. "And I can't let that happen."
Sun looked between Blake and Pale. "Adam… Who exactly is he?" Sun asked.
Blake sighed. "He was my partner… among other things…" Blake said, looking down at the table.
"Oh… Ohhhh." Sun said, understanding that partner was a dual use term.
"Edgy shithead is what he is…" Pale said, crossing his arms.
"If you've ever gotten to know someone really well you can usually pick one word to describe them… What they embody… Ruby would be devotion, to her friends, family, and being a huntress. Weiss, defiance, against the world's expectations, and her father. Yang, strength, physically and mentally. Clayton, resilience, to injury, or abuse. Siniy, persistence, nothing can be put in front of him that he will not push through. Halcyone, wit, there isn't a situation she couldn't talk her way out of if she tried." Blake said, listing off her friends' greatest attributes.
"What about us?" Sun asked.
Blake smiled at him. "I'm leaning towards earnest with you Sun." That seemed to be an acceptable answer for the monkey faunus, as he packed up his drink using his tail. "And Pale…"
"Let me guess, hatred?" Pale asked, cutting Blake off. She shook her head.
"Perceptive… You catch things other people don't, and see the world the way it is… Even when people think you're wrong…" Blake said, correcting Pale.
"And what does this have to do with Tarus?" Pale asked sharply.
Blake took a breath. "When I first met Adam I believed he embodied justice. Then later I thought he was passion…" Blake trailed off allowing Pale to make a snarky remark.
"I'm assuming that was when you two were intimate?" The white sniper said with a chuckle.
Blake blushed for a moment, then continued. "It wasn't until right before I left the White Fang did I realize that Adam Taurus was spite. He won't accept equality. He wants humanity to suffer for what it did to him. And his way of thinking is dangerously contagious. To friends and foes. What he's turning Ilia into… What he's turned you into." Blake said looking at Pale, who just looked down at his peg leg.
"Ilia… She was your friend?" Sun asked.
Blake nodded. "Her chameleon traits meant she could pass as human, but instead of living a normal life, she joined the White Fang. Before people like Adam and Sienna got into higher positions she was fine, but now she's becoming dangerous."
Pale looked up at Blake. "And what are you gonna do when you have to face her?" He asked.
"I… I'll try to help her… Like Sun helped me… And like I helped you." Blake said, earning an eye roll from the human.
"Alright, stow the sappy shit, we got work to do." Pale said, before finishing off his drink and standing up.
Author's note. And here we see Pale begin to admit what a slightly younger him would have killed him for. Liking Blake. At least physically. His attraction to her is essentially the "I'm not a furry, but..." meme. Like, Blake's hot, we all know this, from art to in universe. Even Pale finds her to be pretty, but he still won't entertain the thought of a relationship because of her race. Ghira sees what Pale can't, and though as you can imagine is apprehensive about letting Pale near Blake, knows that at the very least Pale is a better man than he appears.
On another note, who like the The Ranch reference? Or better yet a scene ripped right from Hell on Wheels? That little quick swap cylinder bit in HoW made me literally cackle in excitement and I felt the need to include it at some point with Pale's weapon of choice being my favorite cap and ball gun.