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 3

Pale Lee sat overlooking the Belladonna manor. His improvised tree stand put him at 500 meters from the house, just far enough that any would be infiltrators or Fang representatives would be easy enough to hit, close enough to quickly apprehend when wounded, and far enough away that that he would be unnoticeable to any would be spies hanging closer to the mansion. Pale had a strong feeling that Blake now had a target on her back, and if not her, than definitely him. The Manor would be under siege, and Pale was prepared.

The view was great, though there were no clear signs of any movment outside the house… But do you know what an artist and a sniper have in common? Details… Like when a touch of color is out of place. When a shadow does not match with its surroundings. Or when a shape is not where it is supposed to be… Pale observed the manor through his offset scope, dialing it in to see Blake speaking with Sun on the back balcony, and atop a tree, about 30 feet away from the manor balcony. Pale noticed a detail. The shape was human, the shadow it cast unnatural against the light, as it's color was that of one not found in nature. Pitch black was a poor choice of camouflage against a trained eye. "There you are." Pale whispered as the shadow jumped from the treetop, as Blake and Sun gave chase.

Pale sat and watched as Blake chased the intruder with Sun through the palm trees of Kuo Kuana, the three ever so slightly getting further and further away. He was confident the two faunus would catch whoever it was that was running, and now with the two at just about 1200 (1271) meters away on a rooftop, did they stop moving… It looked as if they were exchanging words… Then blows. Sun had taken a serious hit by the looks of it. Pale took the time to adjust his optic, and took a deep breath. "Mame, don't kill, whoever they are will be more valuable alive." Pale thought. On the exhale he watched as his crosshairs dipped to her wrist, planning to blow her hand off. Pulling the trigger, he watched and waited the whole two seconds it took for the bullet to strike it's target… Only the bullet missed, and took the weapon from out of the now bright yellow target's hand. Cussing to himself, Pale prepared to leave his tree stand, his element of surprise ruined, as the target ran out of his line of sight. Thank god his semblance still considered that a hit as the target was holding what he'd struck.

The next morning, Sun was just waking up from his significant emotional event of being part of an electric circuit. Not helping things, Pale upon seeing Sun groan, dumped his glass of ice water onto the boy's face, startling him. "Wakkie Wakkie." Pale said, setting the glass down on the table.

"What the heck man?!" Sun asked, as he sat up, the pain in his shoulder forgotten as the cold water was starkly the opposite of Menagerie's warm mornings. Looking over at the glum cat girl on the loveseat across from him, Sun realized something was wrong. "Blake?" He asked.

"This is why I left everyone behind… Everyone I let get close to me, only ever gets hurt… every day I think about everyone I left behind in Vale… They were my friends and I ran out on them when they needed me, because I can't handle seeing them hurt because of me… I hope they hate me for leaving…" Blake said, as Pale turned to face her.

"Ah, save it, ya' sad sack, they knew ya' thought I was gonna kill ya', of course ya' ran." Pale said.

"That's even worse. The fact that I'm running away from someone I was begining to consider a friend, because they can't even trust me, because they hated me the entire time, what does that say about me? That I'm irredeemable? That I can't ever escape my past?" Blake asked, looking at her own hands.

Pale rolled his eyes. "Ya'll being dramatic." He said. Before sitting down on the couch next to Sun. "Ain't near nobody irredeemable, so long as they're willin' to do what's right. Sometimes they just need a little help." Pale said, putting his peg leg up on the coffee table.

"Nobody can help me, Pale. Don't act like you weren't watching from the trees, you saw Ilia hurt Sun, and she's not even the worst. You've fought, Adam, you know what he's capable of." Blake said. At the mention of the bull faunus, Pale clutched at the watch in his pocket. "No more. I'm not letting anyone else get hurt."

Sun spoke up finally. "You think you're being selfless, but you're not… I've seen Sage act the same way… That chameleon faunus got me pretty good, but I'd take a bullet for you Blake, and so would your friends. You can run all you want, but when we fight for you, it's because we want to… Don't take that from us." Sun said, before a mischievous smile crept up on his face. "Besides, next time I go up against Lizard Girl, it'll be to get even." Sun said, earning a chuckle from Pale.

"Ya' gonna' have to be a might fast. If I get to her first she ain't gonna be able to put up much of a fight." The White Sniper said. Blake cringed at the thought the Pale intended to kill an old friend of hers, but sighed. Death threats against your enemies were Pale's way of being playful.

"My heroes." Blake said sarcastically.

Suddenly the sliding door fell inward, and Kali Belladonna fell with it. Pale went to draw his revolver and took his peg off the table, then rolled his eyes when he realized there was no threat. Quickly Kali stood up, and dusted herself off. "Oh my, he's awake, how great." She said, faking an innocent smile.

"Kali, please." Ghira said, palming his face, at his wife's antics.

"MOM!" Blake shouted, getting to her feet. "What are you doing?"

Kali gave a guilty look, before she gestured to Ghira. "Your father needed to speak to the three of you."

Ghira sat Sun's scroll on the coffee table. "I'm afraid what you've told us is true. Adam Tarus is planning to overthrow the high leader of the White Fang, and lead an attack on Haven… It'll be the fall of Beacon all over again." Ghira said, Pale ran a hand through his hair, and then gripped at his bayonet.

"Not if we burn em' all down first." Pale said, before Blake spoke up.

"No… We're not going to destroy the White Fang. We're going to take it back." She said, balling her fists.

Pale gave her a sideways look of confusion. "What?"