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 15
Team RWBY, and SPGL were out and about in Vale. Naturally Clayton had tagged along when Ruby invited him along with her team, and that's when Yang asked if everyone else from his team could tag along. Ruby saw no issue with it, but Pale hesitated for a moment before caving, he had stuff to do in Vale anyways, but he wanted to scout out some of the second year dorms. Team CFVY's resident faunus was way too much of a pushover to not be hiding something.
"Oh, the Vytal Festival, I'd completely forgotten it was coming up." Weiss said, a huge uncharacteristic grin on her face as she saw a banner for the festival being hung in the street.
"I don't think I've seen you smile this much before Weiss... Not even for your 18th B day in May… It's kinda' creepy." Ruby said.
"How could you not smile? It's a festival dedicated to the cultures of the world. There will be dances, parades, the tournament. The amount of planning and organization that goes into this is breathtaking." Weiss said, earning an eye roll from Siniy.
"Of course it's the planning that excites you." He muttered. "Oh hush, don't act like you aren't excited for the tournament at least." Weiss said.
"Remind me why we came down to the docks before we went shopping?" Yang asked.
"They smell like fish." Ruby said, holding her nose. A sentiment Clayton agreed with.
"It is kinda smelly." He said holding his tricorn over his nose.
"I have it on good authority that some students from Vacuo will be arriving today, and we as representatives of Beacon should be here to welcome them." Weiss said, only for Blake to speak up.
"She just wants to spy on them to get an upper hand in the tournament." Blake said with a smirk.
"Won't take much of an upper hand, Vacuo's lost 80% of all the Vytal Tournaments." Halcyone said.
"Neither of you have anything to prove either of those statements true." Weiss said, only for Ruby to turn her attention to a crime scene down the street.
The two teams approached, and Yang was the first to speak. "What happened here?" She asked the two officers on the scene.
"Robbery, second dust shop hit this week." The bespeckled detective said, glancing at Clayton's feet, and up to Siniy's ears left uncovered with his steel combat helmet strapped to his webbing. "This place is turning into a jungle." The officer said under his breath as he turned away from the group. Clayton, having caught that, kept his anger in check, and took a deep breath. "They took the money this time too, that's different from the first string back in January, they left the money and just took the dust the first few times." The detective said to his partner. "Who'd need all that cash and dust though, this is clearly organized." He continued.
"Fuck if I know, an army." The second detective said.
"You thinking, the White Fang." The first officer said.
"I'm thinking we don't get paid enough to do this."
Clayton clenched his fists. This is what his father always complained about tax money being wasted on. "How awful. The White Fang, what a bunch of degenerates." Weiss said, Siniy grunted, and Weiss tensed up for a second.
"A statement I agree with, Weiss." The polar bear man said, much to Weiss's relief, she didn't want to piss off either of the two oversized faunus that had started tolerating her. Blake on the other hand was trying to do some mental gymnastics to figure out why Siniy would consider the White Fang degenerates.
"What's your problem?" Blake asked, though received an answer from Weiss instead of her intended conversationalist.
"My problem, I simply don't care for the criminally insane." Weiss said, striking a nerve with Blake.
"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided faunus." Blake said, only for Pale to scrunch his nose up in anger. "So that's her angle at Beacon? Recrutment, or maybe propaganda." He thought.
"Misguided? You call a bunch of pillaging heathens misguided?" Pale asked, halfway through gritted teeth.
"They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet." Weiss said, only for Siniy to tilt his hand back and forth.
"That depends on the chapter. Vacuo where faunus and humans are in equally shit conditions, nearly no activity. Mistral is more protest work now-a-days since the rash of countryside attacks stopped. Atlas has riots, looting, and arson. Vale, even as a tolerant kingdom… Yeah, ethnic cleansing seems to be on their to-do list now." The big bear said.
"Then they are very misguided. Either way, that does nothing to explain why they'd be knocking over dust shops in downtown Vale." Blake said.
Ruby shrugged. "The cops never caught that Torchwick guy Clayton and I fought. He might have something to do with this." She said, only for Halcyone to shake her head.
"Don't doubt it, but as to why he might be snatchin' up dust, I can imagine the stuff's gotten quite expensive the past few months with the untaxed stuff not coming in from Vacuo anymore, no thanks to our cunt of a counsel putting a law in place prohibiting the shit from leaving the border without a 30% tariff. Ah bet Torchwick's trying to make a profit by grounding down crystals and passing it off with the refined powders for a mark up." Halcyone said. Everyone looked at her. "What, economics and criminal enterprise are staples of a Vacuo education." She said with a grin.
"None of that changes the fact that the faunus of the White Fang are a bunch of scum." Weiss said.
"Because they're terrorist's or because they're faunus?" Clayton asked. Weiss pursed her lips together.
"I mean… You can't deny there is a correlation between the two." She said, choosing her words carefully.
"That doesn't mean there is causation." Blake retorted.
"Yeah, Clayton and Siniy are faunus, but you don't see them going out and committing crime for the sake of crime." Yang reasoned, only to be counter reasoned by Pale.
"That's just because they're two of the good ones. The capacity for evil is not purely a human trait, and the faunus are just as capable of evil if not more so because there is a belief in their circles that since they were oppressed they have a right to do whatever they want." Pale said.
"That's kinda cynical… And slightly prejudiced." Ruby noted. "He's right though. Just because our ancestors were at each other's throats doesn't mean we have to act uncivilized." Weiss said. Only for a shout to draw their attention back to the docks.
"Hey Stop that faunus!" The two teams dropped the conversation and ran to see what was going on, and if anyone was hurt. Nobody could hear much of any of the softer words spoken, but a faunus with a monkey tail jump off a boat, and then threw a banana peel at the two detectives that had come to stop him from trespassing on the ship. Shortly after, the monkey faunus ran away, passing the two teams. Pale looked between Team RWBY, his team, and the faunus on the run.
"Well if nobody else is going to chase after the miscreant criminal." He shrugged, before taking off after the monkey man.
"Ah what the heck, I could use the exercise." Clayton said, as everyone followed Pale.
"Better stop runnin' monkey man, y'all got a posse on ya' tail!" Pale said loudly, rounding a corner, only to tumble head over heels and run into a woman. "Ah shit." Pale cursed as he picked himself up, offering a hand to the girl he knocked over. "I'm sorry about that ma'am, wasn't looking where I was goin'." Pale said, as the girl looked at his hand before speaking.
"Salutations." She said, with a wave. Pale was a little confused… Slightly flustered too… She was kinda cute after all.
"Are you alright?" Yang asked, only for the girl to blink.
"Oh, I'm wonderful, thank you for asking." The girl said, causing Pale to retract his hand only slightly.
"Are you just going to stay on the ground?" Clayton asked, only to be elbowed gently by Ruby.
The girl looked up at the sky, and gave her answer. "No." She said, before taking Pale's hand, and using it to assist in pulling herself up. "This girl weighs half a ton." He thought, struggling to pull her upright. "It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Penny." The girl said, identifying herself.
"Hello Penny, my name's Pale." Pale said, introducing himself by shaking her hand before releasing her from his grip, only for her to not let go, weirding him out slightly. "I'm Ruby." Ruby said. "Name's Clayton." "Weiss Schnee." "Siniy." "Blake." "Halcyone." "Did you hit your head?" Yang asked, only to be back handed in the gut by her partner. "Sorry, I'm Yang." Yang said, concluding the awkward introductions.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Penny said, repeating herself.
"You already said that." Weiss said, raising an eyebrow.
Penny paused for a moment. "So I did." She said with a smile.
"Right, well sorry for bothering you, but we should really get going." Halcyone said, getting an unsettling feeling from the girl.
"Take care." Ruby said, as everyone gave casual waves goodbye. Pale cleared his throat, and yanked his hand out of Penny's iron grip.
"See you around darlin'." He said, tipping his hat at Penny, before turning to leave with this team.
"She was a little… Off." Yang said glancing over her shoulder.
"Can't be helped with some people." Halcyone offered.
"Now where'd that monkey faunus riffraff run off to?" Weiss asked. Clayton raised an eyebrow at her. "Specifying his traits and heritage purely for the sake of identification." She clarified quickly with a raised finger.
"What did you call me?" Everyone heard Penny say from behind them.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't calling you riffraff." Weiss said, trying not to offend the girl, only for her to shake her head.
"Not you…" Penny said, looking at Pale. "You." She specified. Pale scrunched up his face trying to think of the words he'd spoken to her.
"Darlin'?" He asked, looking confused.
"Used as an affectionate form of address to a beloved person." Penny said, reciting the dictionary definition of the word. "Am I a beloved person to you?" Penny asked with a grin. Pale looked over his shoulder at his teammates and their friends, each one giving him a "you're on your own," look.
"Well… It's a complicated word… And where I'm from, it's considered polite to address a pretty lady as such when greeting or parting ways." Pale said, trying to quickly explain himself, letting slip the pretty part of his explanation like a fool.
"You think I'm pretty?!" Penny asked. "Ah shit." Pale thought to himself, as Clayton face palmed. Pale had dug a hole for himself, and now he had to climb out.
"Well… Beauty can be found in all things, and in the eye of who beholds it… It would be rude of me to not acknowledge yours, however it was not my intent to intrude or otherwise make advances." Pale said, doing his best to remain inoffensive to the young lady.
"You do think I'm pretty!" Penny said ecstatically, as she grabbed Pale up into a bone crushing hug.
"What?" Pale asked in a mutter.
"You didn't exactly say no to her question." Siniy pointed out.
"Oh this is wonderful, a cute boy thinks I am pretty." Penny said, hugging Pale tighter, lifting him off the ground, which was surprising because he was 5 foot 10, and clearly taller than her.
"Cute?" Pale asked, struggling for air.
"This is sensational. I've been in Vale for exactly 72 hours and 24 minutes, and I have found someone suitable to be my boyfriend." Penny said, cracking Pales back for him.
"Boyfriend?" Pale asked in a wheeze.
"Oh, I am sorry, I forgot you need to breathe." Penny said, putting Pale back on his feet, and releasing him. Gasping for air, Pale doubled over and coughed. "So what do you say Pale. Will you be my boyfriend?" Penny asked, smiling at him. Pale looked up at everyone, each with looks of shock and in Halcyone's case amusement.
"Sure. Boyfriend." Pale said, not wanting to potentially anger the woman that was as strong as Clayton when he was pissed off.
"Excuse me for asking, but what exactly are you doing in Vale?… You strike me as Atlesian." Siniy asked Penny.
"Oh, I am here to fight in the Vytal Tournament." Penny said, surprising everyone.
"You hardly look the part." Weiss said.
"I believe her." Pale said in a wheeze, going unnoticed by his group.
"That's coming from the girl who fights in a dress." Blake pointed out.
"It's a combat skirt." Weiss said, as Ruby slid up next to her.
"Yeah." Ruby said, executing a perfect no-look low five.
"Prometheus Academy had skirts as an option for male students for spars… Freedom of movement when running is important." Siniy added.
"Hold on, If you're here for the tournament, does this mean you know that monkey faunus rapscallion?" Weiss asked, drawing every faunus of the group's attention.
"Who?" Penny asked, as Pale finally recovered.
"The monkey boy on the ship?" He asked.
"Why do you keep calling him that?" Blake asked. Weiss turned to look at her teammate, and Pale looked up, standing upright.
"What?" Pale asked, in confusion.
"Stop calling him a rapscallion, stop calling him riff raff and a miscreant, a heathen and a degenerate. He's a person, not a monkey." Blake said.
Clayton tilted his head at that. "Technically he is a monkey faunus." He muttered.
"I'm sorry, do you want me to stop calling this trash can a trash can, or this lamp post this lamp post?" Weiss asked, only for Blake to grit her teeth.
"Looking at it objectively he was breaking the law, stowing away, and ran from the police when he got caught. That about makes the monkey boy a miscreant in my book." Pale said.
"How could you say that? You assaulted Cardin with your team, that's equally as illegal if not worse. Does that make Clayton and Siniy degenerates too?" Blake asked. Pale back tracked for a tick.
"That was because Cardin was beaten' on Jaune. We were saving his ass." Pale said.
"Oh, so they're just two of the good ones then? Do you know how inherently prejudiced that statement is?" Blake asked.
Pale wasn't one to lose his temper without good reason, or back down from an argument he knew he could win, and this was one he'd had a bunch of times… Never with someone he intended to off though. So he closed his mouth to recompose himself.
"That's because they are two of the good ones. Clayton and Siniy have shown that they don't care about what people think about them, and are more concerned with themselves than they are the notions of racially motivated raving lunatics. Watch, I give it a month before that faunus from the ship joins up with the White Fang." Weiss said. Pale nodded his head in agreement.
Blake drew a breath before responding. "Assuming he's on the path to becoming a radical terrorist solely because of his race only makes you two as bad as you believe him to be." Blake said.
"Well excuse me for using my brain, but last I checked the White Fang is composed solely of Faunus. You can't tell me they ain't aiming to recruit more faunus while they're young. Only makes sense, even you admitted they're radical terrorists, it's what they do." Pale said. Blake grunted in frustration.
"We should probably leave." Yang said to Penny, who gave the group a nod, as the conversation moved with the two teams all the way back to the dorm hallway.
"That's not what I meant and you know it." Blake said vehemently.
"I find it ironic that humans are arguing over faunus rights and crime statistics while ignoring the two faunus in the room." Ruby said, and Halcyone chuckled.
"Little funny." She said with a shrug.
"I have no dog in this race, let them squabble." Siniy said, crossing his arms.
"Is it bad I'm agreeing with Pale and Weiss on half of what they're saying?" Clayton asked.
Siniy grunted. "Bad as it may sound, they are right. The White Fang and more than enough of the faunus of the world would rather act like children and throw a tantrum when they do not get their way. And the humans like bad parents rather than calm the child and finding a solution to the issue that placates them without giving them what they want to confirm that a tantrum works, either give in, encouraging the violent methods, or pull out the belt and make the child believe the parent hates them, incentivizing rebellion." Siniy said, Yang, Ruby, Halcyone, and Clayton looked up at him, and he shrugged. "I am big, not stupid. Of course that is not to say the faunus should be treated as children, or as inhumanly as they are, but when one acts immature, they are treated as such, and that reflects poorly on the entire race. Why do you think I try to avoid conflict with Weiss and Pale?" Siniy asked rhetorically.
"I don't understand what is such a problem." Weiss said.
"That is the problem." Blake shot back.
"You understand you're defending an organization that hates humanity right? The faunus of the White Fang are pure evil." Weiss said, only for Blake to grow more frustrated.
"There's no such thing as pure evil!" Blake said loudly.
Pale shook his head at that. "That I disagree with on a base level."
"Why do you think the White Fang hates humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you two, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures." Blake said.
"Us?" Weiss asked, holding a hand to her chest. "I have never once intentionally hurt a faunus simply for being born the way they are." Weiss said through gritted teeth.
"You're discriminatory, the both of you!" Blake said, raising her voice again.
Pale was practically cutting into his palms; he had his fist clenched so tight. "You act like they ain't been spilling blood for the sake of killing humans." Pale said, the brim of his hat keeping his eyes out of view.
"We're victims… Do you want to know why I have a reason to hate the White Fang, why I don't particularly trust faunus when I first meet them? It's because they've been at war with my family ever since I was a child… I've watched family friends disappear, board members executed in public for things they had no control over, a train full of dust destroyed… Even an assassination attempt on my life made on my way to Beacon… And Siniy can attest to that." Weiss said, glancing up at the giant.
The polar bear faunus sighed. "It's true, one of them asked me to help kill her."
"You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!" Weiss shouted. "And apologist humans like you only make things worse for the good faunus like Clayton and Siniy who don't want any part of the White Fang's stupid war."
Blake had had enough, her anger boiled over, and she let her tongue slip the one secret she'd been trying to keep. "Faunus like me are the only one's doing anything about the discrimination we face!" She yelled, before here eyes went wide, realizing her mistake. It was too late. Blake had just admitted she was a member of the White Fang, something Pale already knew. Her amber eyes grew fearful, as she realized everyone's look of shock… Looks that quickly adjusted to anger in the case of Siniy, who balled his fists. Pale spoke, as he looked up at her, unveiling his steely blue eyes from behind the brim of his hat… They were puffy, and filled with tears, though the look on his face was one of tranquil fury. He was sure, affirmed by the words of the people surrounding him, that his next act would go unpunished.
"This is for Sakkura." Pale said, before jerking his arm out towards Blake, the sleeve gun extending into his palm. There was a loud bang, as the gun went off, but she had not been hit.
Blake left behind a shadow clone with her semblance, and ran down the hall, breathing heavily as her body and mind were in a state of panic. Pale knew. He knew the whole time. He knew she was a faunus. He knew she was a member of the White Fang, and he knew about Sakkura… It was stupid of her to think she could hide in plane sight, even with a false last name. What was she thinking?! She was moving as fast as she could, and rightfully so. There were cries of anger from behind her, and more gunshots.
And so Blake ran, as she always would, terrefied now at the realization that those 20 of her chapter brothers and sisters who'd turnd up dead, or were killed in a random single swift sniper's attack on their encampments from afar, had all been Pale's doing. He was the one they'd whispered of, borrowing the name from a human marksman from the Great War. "White Death." She hadn't seen it at first, but now it was so clear. His name, his clothes, (dirty and hard to recognise the original color as it was,) his weapon and methods. It was as if another ghost she thought she'd left in Anima had come back to haunt her.
"Pale!" Clayton shouted, tackling his partner after the first shot rang out, only for Pale to dig the muzzle of the small revolver into Clayton's gut and let off four shots, all of them doing nothing to Clayton as his semblance started absorbing the damage, and Pale had waisted what little he had built of his own when he missed Blake. "Calm down man, what the fuck!" Clayton said as he pinned Pale to the floor.
"Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!" Pale shouted, causing Clayton to pause, and let go of his partner.
"Are you quite finished?" Siniy asked. Pale turned to him, and spit on the floor.
"I saved up one shot since we were in forever fall, just enough to go through someone's aura. And I was gonna kill that bitch with it when the time was right…" Pale said with a huff, before walking off. "Fuck all of you." He said, throwing his hand at the air in anger.