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 2

A day later the begrudged trio stepped off the docking ramp at Kuo Kuana. While Blake felt at ease, Sun seemed to be intrigued by the raw amount of Faunus surrounding him. Pale on the other hand, could feel his fingers grasping at the handle of his revolver, ever so fearful he'd be attacked if even a single faunus knew he was human. "I've never seen this many faunus in one place." Sun said, spinning around as the three walked down the cramped dockside market.

"It's the one place where people can feel safe, no matter who or what we are." Blake said, only for Pale to scoff and mutter.

"Excluding humans." The sniper said.

"It's so crowded. How many people live here?" Sun asked.

"Nearly 3 million." Blake said with a shrug.

"That's almost as many people as Atlas and Mantel combined!" Sun said, looking around at the island architecture.

"That's what happens when you try to cram an entire species on an island that's two thirds desert." Blake said, glancing at Pale, who rolled his eyes.

"If the people of Vacuo can survive the barren wastes of the golden sands, the faunus of Menagerie should have no issue." Pale said.

"Yeah, Vacuo's got all kinds of tribes and nomads out in the desert, why waste that much space?" Sun asked, incidentally supporting Pale.

"Menagerie is nothing like Vacuo. Kuo Kuana might be a paradise, but there's a reason people make jokes about everything in "The Outback" trying to kill you. The wildlife, both plant and animal, is either venomous, toxic, aggressive, territorial, invasive, or downright evil." Blake shuddered at the thought of the emu. "Add in the grimm and 100 plus degree summers in the shade, and it takes some serious dedication to live in the desert." Blake said.

"Velvet's from The Outback, she didn't seem to think it was that bad." Sun said, remembering their second year friend.

"Ok, that's because Velvet comes from an aboriginal background, her family was living in the desert for over 200 years before the Great War, and the native's do not mess around. The only thing scarier than the wildlife of The Outback, are the natives." Blake amended.

Pale pondered on that. "Might explain why Halc's as nuts as she is. I think her parents were from here."

"But that's not the point. The faunus asked to be equals, and instead we were given an island and told to make do." Blake said.

"And for the era, that was getting exactly what you asked for." Pale said, as they stopped at the crest of a hill.

"The two are nothing alike. Being shoved aside like some animals, left to be forgotten, is not equality, 80 years after the Great War, and we're still treated like second class citizens." Blake spat at Pale, who just rolled his eyes.

"So you get an entire continent, an ethnostate at that. Free reign of how you govern yourselves, unrestricted by the rules of kingdoms who seek to buy your land's exotic exports, something the settlers of Anima who left the safety of Mistral fought and died for, and yet you still complain about how others treat you on their land, when you'd do the same to them?" Pale asked, earning a confused look from Blake.

"What are you talking about?" Blake asked. Pale simply walked over to one of the many vendors along the side of the road.

"Excuse me sir." A stall owner looked up from his pineapple stand to see a man dressed in blue… "I'm a human and suffice to say I don't exactly know my way around these parts, would you be so kind as to point me to the nearest inn?" Pale's words were met with a scowl.

"Get out of here… Human." At the stall owner's words, Pale held up his hands, and backed away, rejoining his traveling partners.

"Shoe on the other foot." Pale said, as the three resumed walking.

Blake was… Understandably upset with her fellow faunus. She knew that not every faunus had a high opinion of humans, but hostility towards them when they were being amiable and polite, was a hypocritical display of racism… The irony of that thought struck her when she realized that the Vale chapter of The White Fang had turned into the epitome of a hypocritical racist organization under Adam.

"So which place belongs to your parents?" Sun asked, trying to break the intensity of the conversation.

"Well, if my understanding of politics is correct, current Chieftain Ghira Belladonna lives in the biggest house on the island." Pale said, pointing out the manor centered squarely at the edge of the city.

Sun sat open mouthed for a second. "I forgot you were faunus royalty." He said, thumping himself in the head, as the trio started walking down the path to Blake's old home.

"I'm not actually royalty. The Chieftain's are voted in democratically." Blake reasoned.

"That still makes you the first daughter of a world leader." Pale added with a smirk, only for Blake to groan. He was going to make it his mission to agitate her, wasn't he?

At some point on the walk over, Pale had lit up a cigarillo, and was about halfway through it when the three young huntsman and huntress made it to the front door of the manor. Blake reached out to the knocker on the door, only to hesitate. "What's wrong?" Sun asked. Blake sighed, as her ears drooped.

"It's just… Been a long time." She said, only for Pale to step around her.

"Yeah well, it's been long enough for me. I came here for answers, I ain't leavin' just because you're getting the jitters." Pale said, taking the knocker in his hand and slamming it into the door three times. After a moment of silence the giant doors opened, and Kali Belladonna, Blake's mother, peeked her head out from behind one.

"Hello?" She asked, looking at Pale, before her attention deviated to Blake. Kali's ears perked up immediately, before she stepped outside and hugged her daughter for the first time in years. "My baby girl." The affectionate mother said, before a voice called out from inside.

"Kali, who is it?" Ghira asked, approaching the door. He froze the second he laid eyes on his daughter. "Blake?" He asked, before Pale leaned his back against the door frame.

"This is touchin' and all… But ain't y'all gonna' invite us in?" He asked, taking the cigarillo out of his mouth and smiling at the chieftain.

Blake and her… associates were brought into the manor, and taken to the tea room for introductions. Pale respectfully took off his kepi while inside, and accepted the hot drink when offered. "We were horrified when we heard the news. The kingdom of Vale might not have been perfect, but it didn't deserve what happened to it. We were so worried about you." Kali said, having finally sat down with her cup of tea.

"Please, I knew she'd be fine." Ghira said, shrugging off his worry. Pale hummed in amusement.

"Oh, don't listen to him. You should have seen him pacing." Kali said, prompting Sun to respond.

"You had nothing to worry about, Mrs. Belladonna, I've seen Blake in action, trust me she'd got some moves." Sun said, pointing finger guns at Blake, who stopped herself from choking on her tea.

"What exactly do you mean by moves?" Ghira asked.

"Uuuuuh?" Sun started before Pale put a hand on his shoulder.

"Foot in mouth Sun, foot in mouth." Pale said, before taking a sip of his own tea to help Sun out… Pale had an inkling of an idea that Sun was mixed race. His lack of knowledge of Menagerie, poor understanding of human faunus relations, more than enough expressed disdain for the White Fang, of which looked down on faunus human mixes, was enough evidence that the monkey faunus was half and half, and so Pale decided that the human half deserved the respect of the bro code. Pale would bail him out of the hot water he found himself in. "We've fought alongside each other many a times, Blake's done well enough on her own." Pale said, before sipping his tea again… Dreadfully bitter stuff. Could have been sweetened… And maybe iced too. "Battle of Beacon, she saved my ass… And I returned the favor." Pale said, swirling what was left in his wooden teacup.

"Do tell." Kali said, folding her arms in intrest.

Pale shrugged before finishing off his tea. "I got into a fight… Lost my prosthetic leg, and before I met my maker, Blake charged in with no obligation to help and took the bastard off me. She got stabbed, and when I saw the opportunity I shot our foe in the knee, doing much the same to save Blake." Pale said.

Blake frowned at Pale's rendition of the story. Whether that's how he saw the fight from his less than mentally stable perspective at the time, or he simply chose to ignore the finer details of choking her out, and Yang and Halcyone's contributions, was beyond her. As Pale was telling his story, Kali leaned over to her daughter, and asked who exactly the two boys were. "Sun… Kinda just followed me here, and Pale… Kinda did the same thing." Blake explained, as Ghira spoke to Pale.

"Thank you for saving our daughter Mr. Lee." The Jaguar faunus said, with an informal bow of his head.

"Don't mention it." Pale said with a smirk, as Sun started up a ramble about the first time the three fought together.

"I like them." Kali whispered to her daughter with a grin, causing the Teenage Faunus Ninja Catgirl to furiously blush, half in embarrassment, and half in anger.

"Mom!" Blake said, looking at her smirking mother. Sun was nice and all, but he was both A) A little childish, and B) Somewhat more goofy than she was comfortable with. Pale was just… No… He might have had the handsome looks and the mannerisms of some period piece novel's depiction of a former FFR eastern human soldier, disgruntled by his factions loss, tragically wronged, only to find kindness in his heart by some compassionate western girl, but he had twice as much of the nuanced racism to work through, and Blake was definitely not going to be said compassionate girl for him… The thought almost made her gag.

There was a knock at the door, and Ghira excused himself, muttering something about a meeting. "Is everything okay?" Blake asked, as she looked at her mother, who seemed upset by something.

"Everything's fine. Ghira can reschedule. It's just been hard dealing with them lately." Kali said, before sipping on her tea.

"Dealing with who?" Blake asked.

Kali looked at her daughter. "Hmmm? The White Fang." She said. Both Sun and Blake jumped up from their floor cushions, and Pale dropped his tea cup.

"The what?!" Blake asked. Pale, felt his hand wander towards the revolver on his right hip, but stopped himself. He was here for answers on the Fang, killing whoever was at the door would do him no good in finding their leader. Still it wouldn't hurt to see who his potential new targets would be. Getting up with Blake and Sun, he followed them at his reduced pace, cursing his cheaply made peg leg.

"Dad." He heard Blake say from the doorway.

"Blake, this is Corsac, and Fennec Albain, the White Fang's representatives here in Menagerie." Ghira said, as Pale caught up to Sun and Blake.

"What in the Sam Hill, is the Fang doing here?" Pale asked, approaching the door, left hand gripped around his bayonet handle, the oversized knife kept in it's sheath on his left hip.

Fennec spoke first. "Sir, I don't know what you've heard, but the White Fang is nowhere near as ferocious as the media would have you believe."

Blake had something to say about that. "What we've heard? We've seen it first hand. Your fanatics slaughtered people." Blake said, as Pale's grip tightened on his bayonet. He was starting to consider Blake as more of an ally now that he was aware that the Fang had a presence in Menagerie, and knew she took issue with it.

"What is she talking about?" Ghira asked, turning to face the Albains.

"Precisely what we've come to discuss your grace." Corsac said, as Kali came up to the door.

Blake looked at Pale, noticing the look of silent fury that he wore, the same he had when he'd tried to kill her the first time… She knew he was on her side on the issue. "The White Fang was at Beacon. They attacked innocent civilians, and released grimm into the school." Blake said, as Pale grit his teeth. "For starters." He added.

Ghira looked between Blake and the two brothers. "Is this true?" He asked.

Fennec looked at his brother before answering. "Sadly, it is." He stated.

"You mother-." Pale started, preparing to draw Guerrilla Warfare, before Sun placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Whoa man, calm down." The monkey faunus said. Pale huffed, then released the revolver back into it's holster.

"Explain yourselves." Ghira said, hardening his gaze on the brothers.

Corsac spoke first. "Though it pains us to admit it, it has become apparent the Vale branch of the White Fang is no longer operating under the orders of high leader Khan. Rather they have elected to follow one Adam Taurus. I believe you are all familiar with young Adam and his… Extreme Philosophies."

Pale actually blinked. He'd come seeking answers and he'd gotten them, rather easily at that. Khan… Sienna Khan, ex-enforcer of the Mistral chapter, attention whore, and more than arrogant enough to assume power with no clear vision for the future. Someone that easily lets splinter groups grow without notice.

"Beacon wasn't the first time The Fang went around shooting up Vale." Sun pointed out.

"Or Anima for that matter." Pale said, quietly.

"The high counsel has had it's suspicions of a splinter group, but could prove nothing until this latest incident." Fennec said.

"Incident." Blake cut in.

"People are dead!" Pale shouted.

"And it is a tragedy that Adam and his people have committed such acts." Corsac said.

"Your grace, we have come to assure you that brother Tarsus and his followers do not represent the will of the White Fang." Fennec said. Pale had caught that slip… Fennec calling Adam a brother after what he'd done, was not something anyone reprimanding the actions of a madman would do. That was a detail Pale couldn't miss. So wrapped up in his silent thought. Pale had skipped out on the rest of the conversation, as Ghira closed by shutting the door to the manor.

"I need a weapon." Pale thought...

Waiting until he knew the Brothers had left the vicinity of the house. Pale excused himself, and walked to the market. He'd seen a weapon smith there earlier, and decided he'd need more firepower than his revolvers… If not for a potential skirmish with the fox brothers, then for killing their high leader from a distance once they'd given up her location.

Stepping into the shop, Pale took a good look around at the various bladed weapons on the walls, and the few firearms lined up behind the counter. "Afternoon." The man at the counter said.

"I need a rifle." Pale said flatly. "1/4th MOA at 100 yards, and preferably with options for mounting optics." Pale said, and before the weapon smith could even give a response. Pale pointed to the only trapdoor rifle on display. "The Springwing model of 88." Much like his older falling block rifle, the trapdoor predated the Great war by only 12 years, and may very well have seen service with Vale's limited marksmen corps during the war. Lucky for Pale, it came with a cartridge holding sling, and the original offset scope, nearly half the length of the barrel, was still mounted to the side of the receiver next to the original ladder iron sights. Thankfully his bayonet was compatible.

"That'll run you 1,200 Lien with a box of 50 cartridges." The weapon smith said. Pale looked up at the man, as he held the rifle in his hands. The gun was about 400 over his budget if he wanted to actually shoot it… The only thing he had that would make up for the difference would be his great grandfather's revolver… Cattle Driver.

"I can do 800 Lien and a trade." Pale said, setting the rifle on the counter, and rolling back his sleeve to take his gun off his forearm. The weapon smith looked impressed by the homemade hidden gun, and was willing to accept Pale's offer. Pale handed over the family heirloom from darker days, and accepted his new weapon.