Fire. Fire everywhere. Disjointed screams, cries, the clash of swords and gunfire, all in the distance. Blake couldn't see any of the conflict, but she could tell that many were dead or dying. Her sides burned from exhaustion. She knew he would catch up to her soon, but she had to breath, had to rest. A flimsy barricade stood against the door at the far side of the room.

The walls were blackened cinders, and the windows showed only the dancing flames. Her bow was gone, and her ears could hear even the crackling of the burning wood. Smoke and ash filled her lungs with every breath, and her nose was singed from the chaos.

The doors shuddered as a massive blow struck it. They buckled, but held. Blake looked around in vain for another exit. Her weapon was gone, and she hurt everywhere. The doors shuddered again, and buckled in the center. She could almost make out his cruel laughter. She managed to get upright, deciding she would face him with what little dignity she had left.

After another moment, the barricade crumbled, the doors blasted inwards. In the opening stood her knight-mare. Adam. His clothes were nearly shredded, his face cruel. When he spoke, his voice sounded hysterical. "Hello, my Love."

"Adam." That was all she would say to him. He strolled in, Wilt and Blush held aloft. "What do you think, Blake? All of this, the fall of Humans, Faunus taking their rightful place. It has finally come to pass. And you," he pointed his sword at her. She flinched, but the sword remained sheathed, "You where the catalyst for all of it." He began to circle around her. She followed him carefully, but he made no move to attack her. "All of this, I did for you.'

'You remember the promises we made? The life we said we would lead? All those nights spent, cold, nearly starving, in whatever sheds or shelters our organization could afford? We said we would one day be get to live like kings. We would live rich lives. We would make a difference." The last sentence was a growl, one that set the hair on Blake's neck on edge, and sent goosebumps across her skin. He was glaring at her from beneath his mask, continuing to circle. Her back was towards the door, but she knew she would never make it if she ran.

"When we became soldiers for our cause, it was the happiest day of my life. I thought to myself, 'here is the opportunity we had worked so hard to achieve. This is where we will do our work.' But I had already known the work we had been doing was not working. Boycotting, protesting. we might as well have thrown rocks at a wall, for all the good it did. I knew... I KNEW, that we could do more." He drew his sword, causing Blake to tense, but again, he made no move against her. Now having circled all the way around, she noticed as he started another circuit that he was closer this time.

"On the day the old man stepped down, leaving us leaderless, directionless. I made a choice. One that was suppose to make our dreams a reality. The only time people ever listened to us was when we had blades in our hands. Not signs, blades." his gaze turned to his sword, and he swung it in a wide, exaggerated arc, beheading some imaginary enemy. "So, I turned our guards, our soldiers, in the right direction. And it worked. People listened, we got what we wanted. So you know what it proved?"

He was close now, and without warning, he swung at her. But his swing was slow and wide. She dodged it, back flipping towards the wall behind her. He allowed her to escape, letting the sword sink into the softened wood flooring. His smile was grim. "It proved that humans, humans are weak. And they feared us. we were strong. we should have been the dominating race in this world. But our kind were passive. They sought peace. And what did we get from that?"

He swung at her again, a cross slice, one of his favorite attacks, but once again he allowed her to escape, even as she stumbled and fell. Her breathing was labored, her sides ached. Tear tracks cut through the ash and dirt on her face, but she was determined not to speak.

"NOTHING!" he roared, slashing, this time not at her but at an upright pillar. The slash was horizontal, and the top of the pillar fell, crashing to the ground with the splintering of wood and a crash. "We were brought low by our own lack of ambition."

Unable to contain herself any longer, she shouted, "Ambition? Is that what you call this? This is insanity, Adam!"

"Ah, you do remember me. I was getting worried." his smile was cold and thin. "Insanity? Never in my life have i felt more sane then when i lost my mind. I understood, finally, how to help our kind, how to set this world right." his movements where enthusiastic now, a mad man reciting his vision.

"The only way to put an end to war, to madness, to racism, to the struggles we have been forced to endure since the day we where born, was to get rid of the cause at it's roots. Humans. Humans caused all of it. And so, the only way to fix the problem. Get rid of the humans."

"You slaughter hundreds, thousands of innocents that have no hate for us, with every reason to distrust us, they choose to put their lives in our hands. And you claim to be saving us?" Blake was incredulous. The pain had receded somewhat from her, and she stood straighter. "You are evil, and you have brainwashed and militarized children, people, and then set them loose against other children. You kill and kill, and when this is over, you will be the one in the ground, if only because you killed yourself in the process!"

Adam was at arms length now, and he spoke. "The Adam you knew and the Adam that is me are different people. The Adam that started all of this, the one that set all of this in motion, he did it for you. You were his everything, his rose, his world. he wanted to give you the life you never had. To see you smile every day, and knowing it was because of him. But that Adam died, a long time ago. Probably before you even left.'

'Me, I am the Adam that want's what is best for our people. And if i destroy your world in the process, that is just a bonus. Because you, Blake," he reached out, caressing her face for a moment. She twitched, about to smack his hand away, but then it slid to her throat. and squeezed. She felt herself being lifted off the ground, her air and blood supply suddenly cut off. her vision blurred, but she could still hear him speak, "you are this Adam's worst enemy, his motivation, the entire reason why he wants to watch the world burn till it is nothing but ashes and bone. Watching you struggle, watching you cry, seeing the fear and hopelessness in you eyes, is the only thing this Adam cares about."

After a moment, he threw her. She slammed into another pillar, her head hitting the wood and her already blurry vision going dim. She crumbled to the base. Pain was her ruling sensation, shooting through her body. When her eyes adjusted, she found Adam standing over her, sword held aloft as if to strike. "And the best part is, no matter what this Adam does to you, you could never bring yourself to harm him, to kill him. Because you still see the old Adam."

She coughed, tasting blood, and said, "you're wrong."

"Am I? Why don't we find out?" he swung his sword at her, lightning fast. She thought she was dead, but the blade had sunk a few inches into the wood beside her head. Adam released the hilt of the blade, turning and walking several paces away. He still held the sheath, but was otherwise unarmed. "Go ahead then, Blake. Take Wilt and sink it into my heart. Prove to me you are strong enough to survive. You can stop all of this."

Blake felt disbelief well up inside her, but she couldn't allow herself to indulge in the emotion. No matter his intentions, he had given her a weapon. She struggled to her feet, never taking her eyes off him as she ripped the blade from the pillar. It was unfamiliar in her hands, lighter than her own weapon. She gripped it in two hands and began to stumble towards him. He remained motionless, arms outstretched. "Do it, My Love. Strike me down and put an end to my madness."

Her steps became steadier, and she quickly closed the distance. She looked him in the mask, and swung. The blade was knocked to the side inches from his unprotected chest, and she staggered again. Adam had used Blush to knock Wilt aside. "Come, now, dear. Do you really want to kill me?" his smile was coy, yet cold, like a python, and his voice was mockingly questioning. He made no move to attack, however.

Blake stepped back, readying the blade again, and swung, crying out. This time, instead of knocking it away, he blocked it, catching the sword on it's scabbard. "Your slow, weak. You don't want to kill me. If you did, you would have!" he kicked her away, and resumed his original position. "Now, Kill Me!"

Blake screamed, adrenaline flooding her, and she charged. She swung, again and again, trying to hit him, but each time he blocked or redirected. Her strikes became stronger rather than weaker, and her movements faster and more steady. But try as she might, she couldn't get past his defense.

Then, she cried out as pain exploded across her face. He had struck her with the scabbard, and she fell. The energy completely drained from her body. Blood trickled down a pressure cut that had opened across her face. Her breathing was shallow, her chest hollow. Adam knelt over her. "I told you you couldn't do it." he reached out and caressed her again. She didn't have the energy to fight it.

His voice dropped to a whisper, somehow still audible despite the cacophony around them. "And you know what the best part of this? It's the fact that i can share this same moment, this, right here, with every member of your team. I can chase them, torture them, beat them. And then watch as they become helpless, hopeless. Knowing it is the end. And right before i plunge my blade into their heart, I'll tell them. I'll let them know, you had the chance to stop me, to save them, and you wouldn't. They will die, knowing you killed them." His cold laughter cut through the air like broken glass, jagged and shapeless.

Blake felt something then. Hatred. Pure burning hatred. Heat filled her, painful, damaging. She felt like she was splitting open, her body unable to contain the power she suddenly felt, and she channeled all of it into her voice. She screamed, tearing her throat as she cried out. "NNOOOOO!"

Her hand closed over the sword. and she stabbed Adam. She drove the sword into his chest, watched as the blade entered him, going in over the heart, passing through skin, muscle, and bone as if it where tissue.

And she felt he scabbard being pushed beneath her chin as Adam suddenly became heavy. The mask was askew, revealing one of his eyes. It was wide, his mouth slack. And then his body tightened. There was a bang.

Blake jerked awake, crying out as she felt a bullet blast into her from the scabbard. Sweat coated her body, her heart was racing, painfully. the room was dark, a single bedroom, which she recognized after a moment as the hotel they where staying in while transiting to another job. Her breathing began to slow, her heart, beating easier, when Something stirred in the bed next to her, and she jerked, dreading the possibility that she was still in a dream. But it was not her subconscious that conjured up the image next to her, but Yang, flesh and blood yang, who sat up, looking tired and concerned. Blake realized that she had tears on her face, streaming at odd angles from how she had been asleep.

She let them come, feeling Yang's strong, powerful arm wrap around her. Her other arm, looking as human as the one she lost, joined its predecessor, hugging the broken feeling faunus to her body. And they stayed there, together. Yang spoke lovingly into her partners ear, telling her everything was OK. And she believed her, despite the awful certainty that the opposite was true. All that mattered was that Yang was there, alive, and she was in her arms, even if one was fake.