A/N: This little anti-Peggy Sue trope is a favorite of mine. Shame we have so few fics that use it. The concept, in short, is that some characters from before the beginning of the show watch the show, and then change their behavior afterwards in response to that advance knowledge.
Now, there's one problem. All the stories we have focus on the watching-the-show bit. Which is interesting, but… I'm more curious about the next bit. So that's what I'll be exploring.
Beast of Burden
Chapter 1
Adam Taurus, at eight years old, was not what one would call a model child, and he'd probably try to take a bite out of anyone who called him as much.
There weren't many lines in his world he wouldn't cross in the name of keeping himself and his charge alive. Why should he care if the humans that surrounded him needed these provisions, or had obtained them legally? He needed them—more importantly, Blake needed them—and laws and orphaned Faunus on the streets didn't get on well.
He ducked into an alleyway and stowed the balled blanket, along with the food inside it, inside a dark alcove behind a metal oil drum. He kept running down the alley, his bare light feet pattering lightly on the stonework. When he heard the telltale thudding of the mech's metal feet entering the alley he ducked behind the nearest obstacle.
...And found himself rolling into a sprawl somewhere else entirely. He blinked once before springing to his feet, already prepared for a fight or a chase.
Fortunately, it seemed like no one else was quite ready for such exertion. He was in a spacious, comfortable room, furnished with leather couches and chairs such as he'd seen in the occasional high-end store.
The only oddity? There were no doors or windows.
All of the seating ran the circumference of the semicircular walls, save for the single flat wall opposite him. On that side of the room were two things. The first was a single black panel, set sharply against the warm brick-red wallpaper. The other was a woman sitting in a small wooden armchair beneath it.
Her hair was dark, in sharp contrast with her starkly pale skin, and her eyes seemed almost to glow like liquid gold. They studied him lazily as he tensed for a fight.
"Calm down, Adam," the woman said in a silky, languid tone. "I'm not going to hurt you this time."
His fists clenched. "Do I know you?" he growled.
A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth. "My, but you were adorable as a child weren't you?" she asked. "No, Adam Taurus, you don't know me. Not yet. Rest assured, that will change."
"Well," said a man's voice from behind Adam, to his left. Adam turned to study the rest of the room. "This is cozy."
Three other people were picking themselves up off the ground. The first to rise had been a blond man of medium height, clad in brown and yellow. Beside him, a woman in a white cloak was helping herself up using his hand as support. The crimson tips of her dark hair were all Adam could see of her face from this angle. On the other side of the room, a girl about Adams age was rubbing one eye sleepily while the other darted from one person to another warily, settling on Adam most often. She wore a frilled white dress with lace on the hem, and her snowy hair was tied behind her into a short ponytail.
The hair in particular caught Adam's eye. A Schnee. The single most despicable family in the scope of his knowledge. He bared his teeth at her before turning back to the woman, who seemed a much more present threat.
"I mean," the man continued, "I don't actually know who any of you are except Summer, but I always like meeting new people!"
The woman in the chair snorted lightly and turned her liquid eyes from Adam onto the man. "So I've heard, Mr. Xiao Long," she agreed with an odd, amused lilt to her voice. "I heard you got to know more than one of your teammates in a very… biblical sense."
Adam didn't know what that meant. From the indignant "Hey, I was just trying to be friendly!" from behind him, he assumed the man did.
"Well, I'm not," said the woman, rising from her chair in one fluid motion, her dark gown seeming to flow around her body like a curtain of water. "I really have no interest in cozying up with any of you. In a few minutes, I'll be dead, and you'll be finding out why. So for once in your life, Taiyang, take your first wife's advice and shut up."
There was silence.
"Thank you," said the woman, studying each of them inn turn with those golden eyes. "I have a lot to explain, and not much time."
"My name is Cinder Fall. You'll be hearing some of my story shortly. With help from a few former enemies, I was able to get this," she gestured vaguely about the room, "set up, using the last drops of my Aura as a battery. The situation, basically, is this. I'm from about fifteen years in your future, and the world is about to end."
"Excuse me, what?" said a mature female voice from Adam's left—the white-cloaked woman, he assumed.
"No interruptions," said the dark woman flatly. "I don't have time, and you'll get all the answers soon anyway. I found a… repository… of the story of our world over the past five or so years, from my perspective. I couldn't bring all of it here, so you'll have to settle for a summary of the ending. For the beginning of it, though, I have footage." She snapped her fingers and the panel—no, screen—behind her lit up. "You will watch this footage," she said firmly, "you will read the summary you will receive at the end of the showing, and you will memorize as many details as you can. When the spell fades—likely in about forty-eight hours—you will be deposited back at the exact place and time you were pulled from, armed with the foreknowledge to prevent the end of the world. Are we clear?"
"Not really," said the blond man, stepping forward into Adam's peripheral vision, his arms crossed. "Want to explain why you're entrusting the fate of the world to two kids of, what, eight?"
Cinder Fall nodded, a slight smile gracing her features. "Two children of eight," she agreed, "a lumbering man-child who never really grew up until he started losing people, and the little Silverblood who couldn't. Bit of a motley crew, aren't you?"
The man—Taiyang—growled at her wordlessly. She just chuckled, and then grew serious.
"There are four people," she said quietly, "who need to be protected. Four young women who are the real heroes of this narrative. One for each of you. It should become clear fairly quickly why you four were the obvious choices."
Suddenly she blinked and looked down at her hand, and Adam, following her gaze, realized she didn't have one anymore. Her right hand—and most of the arm, by now—was fading into the air, like dissipating mist.
She smiled slightly. "Well, isn't that just fitting," she said to herself. "An arm for an arm, and a life for Remnant?" She blinked languidly up at them. "Well, it appears I'm out of time," she said. "Try to get along, won't you? You're quite literally the last hope for Remnant. Tap the screen to start the footage, and tap it again to pause it if you need to."
The rapidity of her fading took Adam by surprise. Already, she was little more than a floating head. "Please," she said, and there was an honesty to the plea like nothing she had said before. "Don't screw it up this t—" and then her mouth was gone, followed by the rest of her face. The last thing to vanish was one golden eye, which was piercing, bright, and inconceivably calm to the very last.
For a moment there was a dead silence.
"Well, that was… awful," said Taiyang succinctly. "Even if she wasn't very nice."
"I didn't get the feeling she liked you very much," the woman beside him agreed. Adam turned to get a good look at her now that she was standing properly.
She was smaller than he'd realized, and her face was soft and pale. Through the opening in the front of her cloak, Adam could see a black battleskirt. What really caught his attention, however, were her eyes, silver and glistening like polished coins.
She smiled at him. "I'm Summer Rose," she introduced herself. "This idiot is my husband, Taiyang Xiao Long." She knelt to be at eye level with him. "What's your name?" she asked.
His eyes narrowed. Did she actually think he would trust her that easily? Humans were stupid sometimes—especially the rich ones. "Adam," he said flatly, knowing an answer was required but not willing to give any more than necessary.
Her smile almost looked sincere as she nodded. "It's a nice name," she told him. "Strong."
His teeth gritted involuntarily. Who did this woman think she was?
She turned her eyes on the other girl. "And what's your name?" she asked gently.
"Schnee," Adam answered for her, turning away.
"Winter," the girl corrected from behind him. "Winter Schnee."
"Do you two know each other?" Summer asked.
"No," Adam said firmly. "She's a Schnee."
"My family is… well known among the Faunus," Schnee said. "For obvious reasons."
"Look," Adam said, turning back to the others. "I'm not going to be getting along with any of you humans any time soon. Can we just watch this 'footage' quickly so I can get on with my life?"
Summer frowned at him sadly, looking as hurt as if he were a dear friend saying that to her. It was almost enough to make him feel bad. Almost.
Regardless, she nodded and made her way over to the screen. "Take a seat, everyone," she said. "Let's get started."
The lights dimmed.
The screen lit up slowly as words flashed across it.
ROOSTER TEETH
presents
"What's that mean?" Taiyang asked blankly. Summer paused the footage and Adam growled.
"Look, old man," he grumbled, "I just want to get on with my life. Can we not question everything that happens here? It's probably all made up anyway."
Taiyang gave him a petulant frown. "I'm not old," he grumbled.
"All the same," Summer said magnanimously, "I doubt any of us have answers to any questions. We should move on."
Taiyang sighed. "Fine, fine, sorry. Go on, I'll be quiet."
Summer started the footage again.
A guitar played a soft, mournful melody as the image faded in. It seemed to be the moon, in one of its properly full cycles with the fragmentation hidden. Snow blew into the image from one side and from the other a single red rose petal floated past their eyes.
a new series by
MONTY OUM
Taiyang visibly held back his interruption as the rarely-spoken full name of the primary deity of one of Remnant's more popular religions appeared on the screen. Adam rolled his eyes.
Then a girl's voice began to sing; a long, soft note, wordless and emotive. As she continued, harmonizing with the guitar, the image faded to a girl—the singer, perhaps—clad in a red hooded cloak over a black battledress, standing in the snow over what had to be a grave.
Then the voice began to sing as the image panned around the girl.
Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest.
On 'brings' the girl began to walk into the camera. On 'place' she seemed to phase through it, revealing the headstone, and Taiyang started up. "Pause it," he demanded.
Summer did. Adam growled. "Oh, not ag—" and then he saw the headstone.
Summer Rose
Thus Kindly I Scatter
He hadn't believed they were seeing the future before, and he certainly didn't now. The trembling in his hands was just cold.
"Summer?" Taiyang's voice was soft and gentle. "Come here. Are you okay?"
Summer didn't move. Her head was bowed, and her hood was over her face, obscuring it from view. Then she looked up, not at any of them, but at the screen, and Adam could see that her eyes were wet. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry, Ruby."
Taiyang blinked. "What's Rub—" and then he stopped, too, as if struck by a realization. "That was…"
"Our little girl," Summer whispered. "Why was she out in a snowstorm alone? Why did I die, and leave her? Why weren't you there—are you dead too?"
Taiyang shook his head mutely.
On his other side, Winter gently touched his knee. "That's why we're here," she said quietly. "To make things better."
Taiyang's eyes closed, and when they opened again they were like blue steel. "Right," he agreed. "If you're ready, Summer…"
Summer nodded, wiping her eyes. "I'm ready," she confirmed. "But I don't think I want to be on pause duty. I don't think I can…"
Adam stood up. "I'll do it," he said flatly. "That way I can ignore stupid pauses."
"That wasn't—" Taiyang began hotly, but Summer shushed him.
"Thank you, Adam," she said with a slightly damp smile. "I appreciate it."
She retreated to the couch while Adam pulled Cinder's armchair to the side to he could sit in it and still see the screen. When they were situated, he tapped it.
The red-cloaked girl, Ruby, was walking through a snowy forest. The trees formed an eerie black canopy above her, and their trunks were dappled unnaturally with ice. The voice sang as she walked through several shots out of the forest and into a frozen glade.
White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test.
The Schnee made a small sound, but no pause request was forthcoming, and Adam had no intention of respecting one anyway.
Then, as the voice sang the next line, they were shown the rest of the clearing, and Taiyang hissed in something like worry. Adam understood. The girl was surrounded by beowolves.
Black, the beast, descends from shadows;
And as the next line began, the beasts charged her.
Yellow beauty burns…
In a flurry of rose petals, the girl vanished, confusing the beasts until one looked up. She was framed, mid-leap, against the moon, one hand already reaching back to grasp at a weapon.
…gold.
Her weapon shifted from a compact form into a firearm, and as the music changed to a more energetic melody, she fired into the head of one of the monsters. It exploded into a shower of red petals as the beast fell.
She fired into another as she landed, vaulted over its falling corpse, and fired into two more past it.
Then she turned to face the rest of the horde and extended her weapon fully. The thing had to be almost twice her height—a great scythe, red as blood and designed with sharp angles that made it seem almost predatory.
Summer and Taiyang looked at each other in the corner of his vision, but didn't request a pause. Adam figured they would have pauses every so often to discuss details in bulk, if necessary.
One of the beowolves charged. Ruby caught it, trapping it under the blade of her scythe. Its head rose to growl at her, but she just smirked slightly and pulled the weapon's trigger. The momentum of the fire pulled her blade straight through the monster's body, bisecting it along a diagonal.
As the corpse dissolved into rose petals, the other Grimm charged. Ruby met them by stabbing the blade of her scythe into the ground for stability and firing her gun with repeated bolt-action. Each round connected, and by the time the line had reached her only one beast remained on the front line. Ruby pulled her blade out, leapt into the air, and hit it in the face with a final shot.
The recoil sent her flying, but she caught herself by stabbing the scythe into the ground and landed gracefully perched on the handle. Then she looked back, and the screen showed a larger horde of Grimm charging at her from the cover of the trees.
Adam privately agreed with Summer's worried intake of breath. There were an awful lot of them.
Ruby dodged the first one, arcing herself through the air to angle herself parallel to her weapon's haft and grounding her feet in the guard of her blade. From that position she fired into the next monster, launching herself into a flip from which she kicked the one that had just charged past her…
Adam blinked. He thought of himself as quick, both in body and mind, but Ruby, by now, was moving faster than he could follow. Her blade darted through one Grimm after another, the internal firearm firing with methodical accuracy, and Adam couldn't really see the details anymore except that three Grimm fell in quick succession, the last decapitated with the same recoil trick that had bisected its brother earlier.
Then another Grimm charged from behind her, with yet another on its heels, and this time Adam caught what she did. With a couple slashes she got her blade behind its torso, ready for another bisection, but this time she timed it so that even as the recoil cut into the first Grimm, the second was hit by the bullet. Even more impressively, the flying upper half of the slashed monster flew behind her and brained another of its comrades.
Taiyang let out an exhilarated whoop at that. Adam rolled his eyes, but didn't pause.
Two more Grimm charged the girl from behind but with to neat leaps she cleared them both before charging back in to divest one of an arm and a leg. When its brother charged her, she swung herself about its neck using her scythe as a hook, landing on its neck. She cocked her weapon and fired, launching herself upward even as she beheaded the monster in a flurry of red petals.
For a moment her face was framed against the moon as she studied the battlefield below her. Fragmented Grimm corpses were dissolving amid their live, charging comrades.
One leapt upward at her. She brought her scythe around spinning and jumped off of its falling carcass into another, and yet another, both of which she dispatched in the same manner.
Another Grimm deflected her with its claws and she allowed the force to push her back. She embedded her scythe into the snowy earth and cut a gash into the ground as she slowed herself.
She took a moment to survey the field before her. The Grimm were numerous and seemed poised to charge. She calmly ejected a magazine from her rifle and inserted another in the brief lull. He scythe swung around behind her and she fired.
She was launched into the horde, cutting down three Grimm before firing again to shift her direction. After some airtime, her feet hit the ground running and she sifted the shape of her scythe into an even crueler-looking bown before launching herself again, wound up for a strike.
The Grimm turned too late. She whirled, obliterating them one after another in long, sweeping strikes that rent each monster cleanly in two. Shadowy husks of flesh and bullet casings alike were launched in great numbers into the air as she spun among the horde, totally at ease with the high-speed action.
At length, with one final whirling strike that slew the remaining beowolves, she launched herself into a clear ready stance, her scythe poised behind her, the blade curved down. Her face was little more than a silhouette to the watchers, framed against the moon. Even as she stood, a veritable rain of spent sheels came down into the snow around her like so much snowfall.
The imarge faded; her likeness framed in black against the solid red circle of the moon's whole face. Below her image, words appeared—barely legible for their size.
Adam tried to read as far as he could.
presents
"RWBY"
Beyond that, as far as he could tell, was a list of names, but he had no time to read them before the words vanished.
The red image was enclosed with darkness until only the thin profile of the silhouette remained. This image shifted to the left and seeming from behind it similar card-like silhouettes were drwn, each on a different color: white, black, and yellow.
Below each image a letter appeared in white: R, W, B, Y. The image of the girl with the scythe suddenly filled in, revealing a less-realistic, more stylized drawing of her in color. The other three images remained dark and secretive.
At the bottom, below the images, were the words "COMING 2013."
The image faded to darkness.
The lights came back on.
Adam's jaw worked soundlessly behind closed lips.
"Weiss," said Winter quietly.
He turned to the other three people in the room. "Say again?" he asked.
"The girl in white at the end; the second silhouette." The Schnee's voice was a little shaken but her eyes were sharp. "I… I believe it was my sister."
"I expect we'll see her soon, then," Summer said, audibly swallowing. "But… oh, Ruby…"
Adam shook his head. "Then why am I here?" he asked. "If that's true, then the three of you are connected to the two of them. Who are the other two and what's my part?"
"The fourth one," Taiyang said thickly. "Yellow. Might be my other daughter, Yang."
"Our other daughter," Summer corrected him gently, taking his hand. "And you may be right. Do you know anyone who might be the one in black, Adam?"
Adam's mind flashed unbidden to the little girl he should be taking care of at this moment.
"I might," she said noncommittally. Once we get out of here… I can't lead the Schnees to Blake.
Summer nodded understandingly. "If not now," she offered knowingly, "then perhaps you will when you're older. It doesn't matter now, I suppose."
"Can we get back to Ruby for a bit?" Taiyang asked shakily. "I'm kind of wondering why my daughter was—will be—that good at, what, fourteen? She can't be old enough to go to Beacon in that clip!"
Summer shook her head. "I don't know, Tai," she said, and her voice spoke of despair and worry. "I don't know."
There was silence. "I guess I have to press the, uh, play button to start the next clip," Adam said. "Should I do that?"
There was a round of nods. "Please," said Winter.
He narrowed his eyes at her but obliged.
Adam Taurus, age 21, turned to face the door as it opened, his hand already slipping to the hilt of his sword.
"Blake," he said quietly, as the familiar visage of his younger partner came through the narrow opening, shutting it quietly behind her. His breath was soft and relieved. "You surprised me."
She smiled thinly at him. "Sorry, Adam."
He shrugged, turning back to the map of Vale. "Occupational hazard," he said, his voice still low. "Anyone see you come in?"
She didn't answer and after a moment, he turned back to her sharply. She looked shifty.
"Blake?" he asked, his heart beginning to hasten at the prospect of danger.
"There's… someone here," she said slowly. "She… well, she said she knows you? Which I don't know if I believe."
He frowned. I don't understand.
Blake sighed. "Blanc's watching her," she said. "You'd… better come see this."
He nodded and followed her out. There was Blanc Rivi, his chainsaw out and ready, his yellow slitted eyes surveying the woman before him. Surrounding her were a few of Adam's men; competent soldiers, but not so skilled or so wise as the lieutenant.
None of this did Adam notice in that moment. The woman, clad in the crisp white uniform of the Atlesian military—yet somehow still managing to make it hug every curve tightly—was already watching her out of her deep blue-gray eyes.
"Adam," she murmured. "It's been a long time."
Rivi snorted. "You must be delusional, lady," she said. "Adam wouldn't be caught dead associating with even a Schnee reject."
Adam ignored him completely. "Winter," she said courteously, suddenly and guiltily wishing for a mask like he'd once seen on his own face so that he could study her form more freely than the cursory glance he allowed himself with uncovered eyes. "You've grown."
She smiled. "I haven't been eight in a long time," she said, pirouetting gracefully. "I should hope I've changed somewhat. You certainly have."
His lips twitched into a smile. "It's good to see you again," he said. I was beginning to wonder if I ever would.
"Hold on," said Rivi flatly, turning to him. "You know this bitch?"
Adam glanced at him. "Don't call her that," she said blandly. "Come in, Winter. Coffee or tea?"
"Tea, please," Winter said, with a quick glance at Blake. "Thank you."
Adam nodded, his gaze drifting up to the night sky. "Rivi, get a couple more people on watch," he ordered. "I want redundancy in case someone comes looking for Winter. Blake, come in with us; I'll introduce you."
He led them into the building that had once been a warehouse in Vale's industrial district and had now been repurposed into a makeshift headquarters and barracks. Makeshift cots lined the walls—more cots than there were personnel, though not by all that much—and a map of Vale beside a larger map of Remnant dominated the back wall, both marked up to Adam's specifications.
Winter whistled lowly. "You certainly have been busy," she said, nodding at a pile of crates, marked red for volatility. "That's a great deal of Dust."
"All legally acquired," Adam defended, looking over his shoulder at her as he led the three of them across the warehouse's central space towards a side room which had become both his quarters and his office. "I'm not Torchwick."
Winter smiled. "I know," she agreed. "You're not in a cell."
He stopped and turned to face her fully, blinking. "You what?" he asked.
She smiled a grin that would have looked perfect on a cat faunus—if they were named Cheshire, and not Blake. "We have a great deal to talk about," she promised.
He shook his head and opened the door for her and Blake to step through, before following them in and crossing to the range that had been set up for him. "Sit down, please," he said. "Sorry if it's a bit drab; it's the best we've got." Only reason I have it at all is so that I can use it for meetings like this—well, not that much like this.
"It's quite all right," Winter said, taking a seat alongside the still-silent Blake. "I certainly wasn't expecting five-star accommodations when I came to see you."
Adam filled the kettle with water with one hand and started the Dust-powered stove with the other as he answered. "I figure, but you're probably used to better. Sorry."
Winter chuckled gently. "Adam, I'm an operative," she said. "You and I probably have very similar definitions of the phrase 'roughing it,' if you can believe it."
Adam snorted, putting the kettle on and turning back to them. "I can," he said, taking the third seat around the table. "Winter, this is Blake Belladonna. Blake, this is Winter Schnee. She's an old friend."
Blake's eyes were narrowed, and darting from one to the other of them. "This is a joke, right?" she asked lowly.
Winter laughed lightly—a soft, musical sound. "I'm afraid not, Miss Belladonna," she said. "Adam and I met when you were four years old. I haven't had much of a chance to get back in touch with him since."
The first few weeks after the… meeting… had been difficult for Adam. Between wondering if the three wonderful people he'd come to know even existed outside his own head, and struggling with the knowledge of the monster he had the potential to become, he'd barely been able to steal enough food to keep himself and Blake walking. It might have continued until he dismissed the time spent in that other place as a dream if he had not gotten incredibly lucky.
"Summer told me she met you in Vale, a few weeks after we met," Winter said. "She said you barely believed we existed."
Adam grimaced. "It was hard," he acknowledged. "To accept that something that…" incredible/frightening/enlightening "…strange had actually happened. That people like… like you could even exist, especially when I was still having to steal apples from stalls to stay alive and keep Blake going."
Winter nodded understandingly. "I admit," she said, "it was sometimes difficult to imagine someone like Taiyang ever existing when I was in the Schnee manor. He would not fit in."
Adam chuckled and turned to Blake. "So, yeah," he said. "Winter and I met, along with two other people one day while I was getting food for us. We weren't all in one place for long… but it stuck." He glanced at Winter. "Is Weiss…?"
She nodded. "She and I managed to badger Father into granting permission a few weeks ago," she said. "It's part of why I tried to find you."
Adam nodded. "Her sister should be going to Beacon with you," he told Blake.
Blake frowned. "Weiss Schnee?" she asked blankly. "The heiress? Why would she be going to Beacon instead of to the Atlesian Military Academy, or to a civilian school?"
"Mostly because it's a chance for her to get out from Father's sphere," Winter said. "It's a chance for her to grow up."
Blake's eyes hardened. "And she thinks living a luxury life in Vale instead of Atlas is going to be some kind of enlightening journey?" she asked coldly.
Adam frowned slightly at her, but Winter answered calmly.
"I think Weiss is as spoiled and naïve as I was at her age," she said, adding to him, "and make no mistake, Adam, I was spoiled, despite all that I knew from when we met. It left an impression—it changed my life—but it didn't totally alter how I lived each day. It's quite impossible, Miss Belladonna, to have a perspective on real suffering when you live every minute of your life in a cage so gilded you can scarcely see the bars."
That shut Blake up. Adam gently touched her arm. "Yeah, she'll be a spoiled rich kid if you meet her," he said. "She won't be the only one, Kitten. You can't really blame her for it."
Blake's exposed ears flattened. "Don't call me that," she hissed, glaring at him and flushing.
Winter giggled.
The kettle whistled. Adam stood and crossed to it. "Black, green, or white?" he asked over his shoulder.
"Black, for me," Winter said. "I have a great deal to do tonight."
"Same here," Blake said. Adam knew she was deliberately going with Winter's choice so that he might use the tea leaves and strainer instead of cheap teabags.
Obligingly he poured a few dried leaves into a mesh bowl and placed it into a teapot before pouring the kettle's contents in, the hot water releasing a hint of the scent almost immediately upon contact. He covered the pot and returned to the table. "It'll be a few minutes," he said unnecessarily.
Winter nodded. "Waiting for the tea to steep," she said, "is often the best part. It allows one to begin conversations with advance knowledge that an interruption is incoming. That being said, Adam, I'm afraid I'm not here purely for pleasure. I need information."
Adam raised an eyebrow at her. "You might've been better off going to Torchwick," he said dryly. "I'm no broker, Winter."
She shorted. "No, but I think you have what I need," she said. "I'm wondering who's been stealing Schnee Dust shipments, and I have a feeling you can put me on a trail at least."
Blake glared over at the Atlesian operative. "Are you accusing us of stealing Dust of all things?" she asked sharply.
Winter blinked slowly at Blake, and Adam felt the irony thickly.
"Not at all," Winter said eventually, but sincerely. "But if there's anyone I trust who might be familiar with Vale's underworld, it's Adam Taurus."
Adam nodded before cocking his head at her. "Well," he said, "I'd have said 'Torchwick,' yesterday, but I think you have news."
Winter smiled smugly. "Indeed," she said. "Using information provided by an… anonymous tip, Roman Torchwick was apprehended on charges of petty theft. Preliminary investigations look promising. He should be solidly off the streets for the next few years."
"But the dust thefts haven't stopped."
Winter's smile slid off her face. "Adam," she said softly, "they've accelerated."
A/N: That's a wrap. So you see the format I'm going for. Each chapter will be divided in two parts—Adam and the others, fifteen years before the show, will watch parts of the show in the first part, and the second part will be set fifteen years later, dealing with their changed situations and their response to the coming crises.
I HOPE this thing will be capable of assimilating Volume 4 and future RWBY content from Rooster Teeth, but that, of course, is entirely uncertain. Regardless, once I get caught up or some other issue causes me to finish the story up, Cinder's 'written summary' will be used to finish up the first part as the second part winds to a close.
Don't expect frequent updates. I've got a lot of crap on my plate. This was mostly to get the juices flowing, and while I like my Adam, I don't like him enough to put everything else on hold.
(I still have to finish my Remnants oneshots, after all.)