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.
Highly recomended that you play Lacrimosa by Mozart while reading this chapter.
And the other boot drops.
CHAPTER 9
Team SPGL, stopped by Team RWBY's dorm, and grabbed Yang from her sulking, pulling her along for the rushed intervention. Everyone was moving at full tilt to the airship port, and once there. Team SPGL did in fact commit grand theft airship at gunpoint. Halcyone was the only one who even remotely knew how to fly, and disregarding air traffic law, sped them up to Amity as fast as possible. The landing was a rough one. Halcyone had tried to drift the airship into port, but ended up skidding the bottom of the hull along the floor. Disembarking, the team-and-a-half rushed up to the stands, prepared to force their way onto stage, weapons ready. As Clayton punched the one security guard they had posted by the door, Pale kicked the entrance to the stage open… arriving one second late.
Pale watched, as Penny's own wire's cut her into thirds. First her arm, then her torso was separated from her hips. The world around him quieted, and even as he knew he cried out in anguish, rushing to her side, he could hear nothing but the ringing, and the sound of a fire blazing… Skidding to his knees, Pale held his hands out trying to think of something, anything he could do to save her, and he was failing… Pale picked up what he could of Penny's upper torso, and cradled her in his arms, pressing her head to his chest, tears streaming down his face.
Two years ago...
Coming back down the mountains with his side by side shotgun and a small buck slung across his back, a 15 Year old's eyes went wide when he saw the massive plume of smoke on the horizon. Dropping his kill, Pale Lee took his double barrel off his back, and began sprinting down into the vally as fast as his two feet would carry him. Jumping clear over a stream on his way, Pale broke through the woodline outside of his home village of Sakkura, and nearly fell over in shock.
large swaths of the village were ablaze, the stone walls containing the settlment kept the flame from spreading to the rest of the forrest and cotton fields around it, but it's heat could be felt from the outside, as ash and soot tainted the air. Sprinting again around the corner of the wall and toward's the gate of the village, Pale was met by a large group of uniformed men, all bearing the red clawed face of the White Fang, all save for one. The tall red haired bull in black, turned to face the sound of Pale's feet beeting against the ground before the rest, and upon being spotted, the short haired boy stopped, as dogs beside their master's barked at him.
The White Fang member's raised their weapons, the man in black's red blade readied, only for Pale to raise his shotgun in return, entering an unfair stand off. The bull held up his hand and the men lowered their arms. "It's just a boy." He said.
"Who are you?" Pale asked, eyes flickering to the barricade keeping the gate to the village closed. "Who are you?! What did you do?!" Pale asked loudly, as the man stepped closer. "Where's my dad?" Earning silence. "Where's Stonewall Lee?!" Pale shouted, and with that the bull stopped. There was a moment where Pale looked down at the red blade, seeing it drip... Drip... Drip...
"The old man? Turning into dog shit by now." The man said, flicking blood off of his sword.
"Where-wh-where's- Where's Dixie?" Pale asked, feeling his knees turn weak. "Where's ma' sister?!" Pale shouted, cocking a hammer back on his side by side. "Little blond girl, hardly over 12?" Pale asked, feeling his lip begin to quiver. Looking between some of the masked fang member's he noticed sickening grins and smirks, a few of the men chuckling.
"Tightest pussy I ever fucked." One commented. With that, Pale felt a tear leave his eye, before he shifted his aim to the man who'd spoken, and pulled the trigger of his scattergun, sending a spread of pellet's into his chest, the new and inexpirienced man without an aura, crumpled to the dirt, and as Pale set the second hammer of the shotgun, he was moved on in an instant.
The bull charged forward, and in one clean low strike, swept Pale's left leg out from under him. Just below the knee had been cleaved in two, and Pale fell to the ground, dropping his shotgun, and clutching at the wound, screaming in pain as the bull flicked blood off of his sword once again, and stowed it. Rolling on the ground, Pale turned to face the bull, and with seething anger, grabbed his shotgun with one hand, and pointed it at the man. Pulling the trigger, the buckshot flew, but bounced almost harmlessly off of the man's aura. Falling into the dirt again, Pale looked up as the bull turned to face him, his grimm mask hiding any hint of emotion his eye's could convey. "Who the fuck are you?" Pale asked, trembelling now, the borders of his vison wavering. The man turned to him, and looked down in contempt.
"My name is Adam Taurus of the White Fang. I killed your father, I had your sister despoiled, and I burned your village down, because it's the only way to cleanse Remnant of your kind. Dispare human, I won't grant you the mercy of a swift end, rather the grimm can have their way with you." Adam said, before he and the rest of his men, began walking away down the road, as Pale finally passed out.
Slowly waking up, Pale grabbed his dropped hunting shotgun, and used it to aid him to his remaining foot. It was dark out now, and the ground was damp with mud from a recent rain. Pale's predominanty white clothing had been stained and dirtied by the ash in the air and the dirt clinging to him. The fire's had been put out by the rains. Using his long gun as a crutch, Pale hobbled over to the gates of Sakkura, and began to move the barracade blocking his way. Once inside of the burnt out village, Pale wandered aimlessly searching for any sign of life, only to stumble upon the front steps of his house, where he found the dismembered and defiled body of his sister, her corpse cleaved in half at the waist, both arms gone, eyes open, and lifeless, bits and pieces taken out of her as if she'd been gnawed on by an animal.
Dropping his gun, and falling to his knees, Pale picked up what was left of his sister's upper torso, and pressed her head to his chest. He sat there and cried well until the sun came up, and with it's light, he sang one last song for his sister before he'd have to bury her. "I wish I was in the land of cotton... Old time's there I've not forgotten... Look away, look away, look away... Dixie's land..."
So lost was Pale in his own personal Hell, he didn't even realize that around him, the stage's screens began to play two videos on loop of him executing a faunus in a theater, and of Siniy's final break out from the mineing prison. The voice of Cinder fall rang out, as she spoke to the world from her scroll.
"This is a tragedy... But this was no accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than despots. Huntsmen Academy Headmasters wield more power than most armies of old, raising masses of elite fighters, who they have at their beck and call, claiming that their warriors are saviors, and yet, what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another's star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think Grimm can tell the difference.
And why, I ask you, would Ozpin allow such people into his school? Thieves?" Halcyon's creepy smiling mugshot from her first arrest in Vacuo appeared on the screens. "Killers?" Siniy's school identification was shown next to the clip of him burying SDC security in molten asphalt, soon after, Pale's own ID and a still photo of him blowing a man's brains out. "Terrorists?" A photo of Blake standing next to Adam Taurus, both in White Fang masks, was presented.
"What is he teaching his students? Beatings?" The last few seconds of Clayton's match flashed on screen. "Crippling the defeated?" Yang breaking Mercury's leg was shown. "And now this? Televised murder?" Penny's death was replayed for the audience. "Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither. Such barbarism is to be expected of trained killers and thugs... Though these days, one can hardly tell the difference between a Huntsman, and a hired gun.
Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas so totally in the tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets. Or perhaps this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong. But I know the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron fists. All in an attempt to maintain at the top of the food chain.
As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you the situation there is... equally undesirable. Our Kingdoms are on the brink of a war waged for sport by our overlords, yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark.
And the first shot has already been fired..."
By the time the speech had ended, and Pale looked up, he'd already cried as much as he could. He'd run out of sadness, he'd run out of tolerance. He'd relapsed. All he felt was pain and anger… And he wanted to share it. Getting to his feet, Pale spun around, and unslung his rifle, pointing it at Pyrrha, a lip trembling. He was about to shoot her dead, until he saw just how appalled she looked. Lowering his weapon, Pale, closed his eyes… Unable to hear the warning siren blaring from all around him.
Up in the sky, on an Atlesian airship. Neo strolled through the bridge and down to the brig. She'd freed her one and only friend. The two turned to leave the cell block, only to see Rot, or as they knew him, Black, propped up against the wall with one arm. "Roman." Rot said.
"Black?" Roman asked. Having never seen his face before.
"What happened to you?" Roman asked.
"Time my friend. Listen, I have a plan. I'm going to get you out of her, but first, we're going to stop Cinder." Rot said, standing upright.
"You…" Roman was having a hard time believing Rot had such a change of heart. "You want to foil her plans?" Roman asked.
"Like you weren't tipping off those kids at the Fang rally." Rot said, as he started guiding them to the landing bay. "My time is growing short, but I can still help. Listen, we need to get to Beacon, and find Ruby Rose." Rot said, as he turned to head to the bridge. "We have to hurry before Cinder finds out I betrayed her." Rot groaned.
"Betrayed?! What'd you do?" Roman asked.
"Might have warned the VDF about the incoming waves of grimm. Should keep the walls up so Vale won't get destroyed, but Beacon's still going to be sacked." Rot said, wincing.
"Well, what happens if she finds out?" Roman asked, before the visors of the inactive AK-200's around them flashed red. In one motion, all of the AKs pointed their weapons at the treo.
"That… Happens."
Authors note. Well fuck. The fall of Beacon has gone grimdark, and Rot's decided he isn't going to play this game. Cinder used all of the available negative emotionally charged information at her disposal to make the panic and fear even worse, playing a real divisionary and throwing in anarchist rhetoric, but with Rot being a loose cannon, he's thrown a wrench into the works.
As we've seen Pale's snapped... It was interesting trying to get into the headspace that he would be in at that moment. Pain and suffering, in what must feel like an unending cycle for someone like Pale, induces a sense of nihilism, the belief that nothing matters, that life is just pain and a lack of meaning. And much like real world people who are constantly beaten down until they break, Pale was about to just start killing people... But Pyrrha's own horror at what she'd done made him think twice... If momentarily... After all, he is still not OK.