Ch 6: The Lionheart

As Richard sat in the shower he wondered if he finally found a place that could actually be a home. Everywhere he had gone he had either been thrown out as a freak or rejected as a failure. The only person who had ever stuck by his side was George and now he was gone. These guys seemed like they were good people and wouldn't judge a person based on their past. How could he tell though I mean he barely knew these people? They all could have a reason to hate him.

"I'll just have to go with it and hope for the best" he thought as he got dressed in his uniform and walked to his first class."

After sitting through professor Port's lecture on the particular toxicity of the stinger on each individual species of Deathstalker and Professor Oobleck's in depth lecture on the Faunus riots after the war Richard was ready for a nice relaxing break at lunch. He quickly grabbed a burger and found his friends sitting around a large circular table. He sat down next to Blake and began to enjoy his sandwich. As he finished his meal he looked over to see Cardin trip a small bunny Faunus causing to spill her food everywhere. Instead of helping her up they just laughed and threw bits of their food at her.

"Right, now he's asked for it." Richard said as he got up

"You know Cardin it's not very respectful doing that to a person you don't even know."

"Person, that's not a person it's an animal."

"She has two eyes, two arms, two legs, a human brain and a person's voice. How exactly is she not a person?"

"Look at those ears. That's no person. That is a freak."

"You know Cardin I think I have you figured out. Beneath this entire macho tough guy exterior is a little girl who's afraid that those ears allow her to hear a lot better than you or her frame means she's a lot faster than you. You're not angry at her. You are afraid of the advantages she has that you will never achieve and you're afraid that you'll meet a Faunus that's better than you."

"Oh I see you think you're so clever. Well let's see how clever you are with a black eye." Cardin snarled lifting his fist to attack.

Before he could land the blow his fist was intercepted by Richard's palm.

"That wasn't smart Cardin. I told you I would get you back for the first night." Richard said calmly, his eyes turning a dull gray and a gray aura surrounding him.

His fist connected with the Cardin's jaw sending him flying across the room breaking a table and knocking him unconscious. As he turned to see if the girl was ok he just caught a glimpse of her running out of the cafeteria.

"Richard what was that. That was incredible." Ruby exclaimed when he reached the table.

"It's just my semblance. I can unlock a reserve of strength when I need it."

"What I don't get is why you would go out of your way to help a Faunus considering what they did to you and George." Weiss replied.

"Weiss, I don't hate every Faunus in the world I only hate the White Fang. What a lot of people tend to forget is that not every Faunus in the world belongs to the White Fang. A few rotten apples can spoil the bunch."

As he finished his sentence Richard looked over to see Blake angrily staring at her food then glare at Weiss. They finished their lunch and moved on with the rest of their classes before retiring to their dorm where Richard stayed a little while talking to his team.

"So, did you guys hear about the vinyl festival in a few months? I hear there's going to be a huge tournament with teams from all over th-."

Yang was interrupted by a quick knock at the door. Richard got up to answer it and found the small rabbit Faunus from the cafeteria.

"Hi, uh I'm Velvet and I just wanted to say thank you for helping me and sorry I ran off I just didn't know what to do."

"Hey, I'm Richard and it's no problem. You shouldn't have to deal with people like Cardin. Just know that there are people out there who are always willing to help you when you're in trouble."

"Thank you, I'll try to remember that and it's good to have someone like you at this school."

"You know growing up my family taught me that every Faunus was evil for what they did to our company.'

"Weiss, I can tell you that not every Faunus is a villain it's only the White Fang that are the villains."

"You're right just because some of the Faunus are pure evil doesn't mean they all are."

"Stop calling them pure evil, they aren't." Blake suddenly said from looking up from her book. "The White Fang aren't pure evil. They've just made some mistakes and went down a darker path. No one is pure evil. Everyone can redeem themselves if given the chance."

"I'm sorry Blake but I'm going to have to agree with Weiss on this one the White Fang are too far gone. At this point nothing is going to turn them off of that path."

"How do you know that? The White Fang weren't always that evil they can change."

"Believe me Blake when I say they can't. The hatred and violence has gone too deep the cycle isn't going to end now even if the White Fang decided to return back to what they were."

"You don't even know them all you've ever seen is their cruelty and anger. You have no right to judge them."

"No right to judge them. I have every right to judge them."

"No you don't how could you people say you can judge them you don't even understand them."

"I know a lot more about the White Fang than you and I know when a cause has gone too far."

"You don't know anything about the White Fang. You can't understand it until you are a member and see the discrimination."

"I know about the White Fang because I WAS a member. The White Fang used to be the only thing I knew and cared about."

"But that would mean you are a…"

"Faunus. Yes I am. I was a Faunus of the White Fang until I saw what they were becoming. I was at every rally and boycott until one day I saw their true colors. It was at George's family restaurant. He had fired a Faunus for sleeping on the job and the White Fang felt like he only fired that person because they were a Faunus. They surrounded his shop with torches and bricks and began to destroy it. I knew George had done nothing wrong and didn't deserve this so when they handed me a brick to throw I just dropped it and walked away. Disgusted they called me a dirty traitor and said I didn't deserve to have the tail and ears of a lion. They said if I wasn't going to be brave like a lion then I wasn't going to look like a lion. So they took my tail and my ears and casted me out like common trash. I had nowhere to go so I tried to go and find George. He saw what I did and convinced his dad to take me in. from that day I trained and worked and promised myself I would become strong enough to stop that evil from happening again any way I could."

Without another word Richard went to his bedroom and immediately went to sleep.