You can run but you can't hide
One-shot
Blake Belladonna & Adam Taurus
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.
Song: I know I'm a wolf by Young Heretics.
Warning: Death and pain, maybe you will cry.
Special thanks: To my beta reader Polatrixu, a chihuahua faunus who has the ears and the trembling ... and sometimes the mood. And she insists on saying that she cooked the chicken that Blake and Adam ate.
Dear rabbit, my legs are getting weak chasing you.
The snowfields wouldn't seem so big if you knew.
That this blood on my teeth, it is far beyond dry.
And I've captured you once, but I wasn't quite right.
So I'm telling you that you'll be safe with me.
Blake had been running for hours through the snowy forest. Her chest was burning as her entire body, exhausted from the intense effort she was doing. The air was so cold that when it entered into her, it nailed in her lungs as sharp hot knifes. The panic, terror, and horror she felt made her keep the pace. Her primal instincts screamed at her to escape from the wild monster who has been hunting her for years. Tears ran down her cheeks and she learned that in such low temperatures tears tended to freeze.
A wrong step in the snow made her fall and her ankle twisted painfully. She covered her mouth to muffle her scream while her legs were freezing wet for the snow. She tried to get up, but her body was shaking and the pain, mixed with the fatigue, didn't let her. Her chest hurt bad and the heavy breathing was leaving her fuzzy making a rhythm that she couldn't keep.
Immediately, slow steps announced that her persecutor had just found her. He approached and his shadow covered her.
"Oh, my love, you don't know how to quit escaping, do you?" He mocked, smirking at her evilly.
Adam got on his knees and faced the exhausted cat faunus. His mask was broken and his eyes betrayed no emotion when he wiped away her frozen tears, the blood, that was still warm on his gloves, stained Blake's face.
"Do you have any idea of how difficult you are being?"
Her body was shaking in the snow, defenseless. Snowflakes started covering her black hair as she tried to crawl away from the now leader of the White Fang. He growled and grabbed her wavy hair as he pushed her to him. The cat faunus whimpered but didn't resist the grip and the control he had over her. She knew that if she did it, she would end more hurt than she was. He forced her to got up, hurting her damaged ankle even more and grabbing her hair. Blake's legs gave out shaking in fear, cold, fatigue and pain. Adam had in his hand a lock of her hair he pulled off her scalp painfully when he forced her to stand up and she failed to comply. He let it drop to the white snow on the floor and in the end, he decided to lift her by the waist and carry her, weak but alive on his shoulder.
Rabbit, my claws are dull now so don't be afraid,
I could keep you warm as long as you can just try to be brave.
Yes I know I'm a wolf, and I've been known to bite,
but the rest of my pack, I have left them behind.
And my teeth may be sharp, and I've been raised to kill.
But the thought of fresh meat, it is making me ill.
So I'm telling you that you'll be safe with me.
She had been captured but refused to talk to him or anyone. After he killed everyone she ever loved, she barely felt something, she was empty. She still remembered how he burned them alive with kerosene. The house, her parents, Sun, and she being forced to watch it from outside the house while he laughed maniacally. She would rather die burned alive than be breathing in that instant.
She was able to escape him after that, she went to Vacuo and then to Atlas, where he managed to catch her again. She had lost everything, her family, his love, her friends, teammates, the will to live, her hopes and dreams.
Adam kept her in his dorm, but she didn't even know if she was in some headquarters of the White Fang, in a house or in some far hidden secret hideout. She spent hours sleeping or trying to when the nightmares chased her. She would read but she wasn't willing to touch the books Adam brought her. She had her numb body covered with the fresh sheets of the bed, and she was barely dressed as Adam kept all her clothes except a black lace pajama that showed almost all of her skin. It was being naked around or put on the clothes that he brought, so she accepted to put those on.
She looked around, bored of the only views that she had during those days. The bed, the giant wardrobes that contained Adam's clothes and clean lingerie for her and the door to the bathroom that was closed while Taurus was out of the room.
Suddenly, the door got unlocked and Adam came in. She didn't even react, but her heart raced faster. Judging by the noises, she could tell that Adam was taking his jacket and shoes off. Then, he walked to the wardrobe and took all his clothes off, leaving the dirty ones in the cube of the laundry. He looked to Blake, who was faking a deep sleep, but he didn't say anything, he already knew when she was pretending. Then, Adam went to the shower, unlocking the door that led to the bathroom. Belladonna heard the relaxing sound of the water falling and finally concealed some nice sleep.
After about an hour, Blake woke up by the movement of the sheets, slowly going down, her skin feeling the coldness of the room, leaving her vulnerable. She opened her eyes and found her captor sitting on the bed with bandages and a tube of cream for lesions in muscles. His red eyes stared at hers for an instant, crossing glances. He grabbed her leg carefully and examined the inflammation on her ankle, willing to fix it. But when Blake saw what he was trying to do, she jerked away despite the pain. She embraced her own legs shielding herself from her former mentor.
He got up and for a moment, she thought that he was going to yell at her but, surprisingly he lend her a dish with two sandwiches. Blake looked feisty at him and didn't accept the food despite the hunger she felt. He smirked and sighed and then sat the nearest he could towards her. His hand reached for her hair, it was wet of sweat, he noticed, and she kicked his hand off when she felt his hand on her. Adam raised his eyebrows and without smirking he grabbed her twisted ankle. Belladonna closed her eyes with force and kept a scream inside, he wouldn't hear a sound from her.
Taurus nailed his fingers painfully into the inflamed red skin. Blake's hands went to the pillow, grabbing it to evade screams that would please the leader of the White Fang. A frustrated growl made her close her eyes as pain tears ran free.
"Don't you dare to ignore me, Blake." Said him angry.
5 minutes passed and he let Belladonna in peace. She ended accepting the food as he healed her twisted ankle. Sometimes, he looked at her while doing the healing with aura, cream, and bandages. After a few minutes, her ankle was healed and she had finished the tuna sandwiches, she kept silence, looking at Adam while he was massaging her ankle. She kept her attention on his hands, being so soft and delicate, the same hands that murdered the people she loved, hit her and hurt humans. Adam finished and went to the bathroom to leave the remaining medical supplies inside the first aid box.
Belladonna tried to stand on her feet and managed to walk slowly. Her eyes went to the door and then her legs moved to it. Her hand touched the coldness of the metal knob.
A brutal smash on the wall scared her, Taurus kept her attention and approached her.
"Where do you think you are going, my darling?"
He nailed his fingers in her jaw and forced her to look up at him. Blake stayed in silence, looking at him without saying anything. He seemed tired and the healing with aura left him weaker than he was.
"Speak to me, make a sound, do something!" He yelled, pissed off.
Blake went away and sat on the bed again, the same thing she had been doing during those two days in captivity. Taurus followed her to the bed and sat behind she was laying, covering herself with the sheets. He stroked her hair and then caressed the fur of her ears, causing a few positive emotions but also a feeling of danger in the cat faunus. Her hands started trembling and her heart beated intensively.
"We are destined to be together, Blake."
When he got tired of being ignored, he left the room and Blake spent the night alone in the double-sized bed. She was really glad to not have him sleeping next to her.
He returned the next morning, silent, without even saying a word, mocking or greeting. Blake pretended to be asleep as always so Adam left soon. When she heard the door closing and the footsteps going far, she opened her eyes and found a surprise hanging in the wardrobe. It was a black dress with lace in the arms and chest, and it wouldn't be showing so much skin. On the wood, there was a note sticked but the handwriting was too small to read it from the couch.
She got up, and with her ankle completely healed, she could walk without pain. The note said that Adam would like her joining him in a special dinner outside the dormitory. He commanded her to take a shower, to get pretty and put that dress on.
She looked at the bathroom door and found it unlocked for the first time when she was alone.
Belladonna saw a great opportunity to escape. But also a high amount of effort for he part, she knew that if she didn't speak, Adam would be disappointed and that she would end with bruises. That was worth it, she would go to the shower, put some makeup on, dress up, try to smile and speak. Of course, she wouldn't make it too obvious, Adam wasn't silly and he would notice if something was off.
He couldn't believe what he found when he opened the door of the bedroom where he kept Blake. She was ready for the special dinner, with the dress he bought and reading some of the books he ordered for her since she was kept there.
The cat faunus saw Taurus standing next to the door, surprised. Of course, he expected a fight and a bruised Blake as a consequence if she refused to comply with the petition. Both stared at each other, Adam was wearing a white shirt, a color that she never had seen on him before and fitted very well on his athletic body. He walked slowly towards her and offered her his hand, this time without gloves. His skin was warm and Blake was ice cold which made him shiver for an instant, a sensation which he didn't feel after years. The cat faunus stood on her nude feet, which made Adam remind that he didn't think of buying shoes for her.
"I forgot about the shoes… But I got you roses."
She didn't have ones on hand, so she had to walk without any type of protection on her feet. Slowly, Blake accepted the gift and left the flowers on the table, thinking that their petals would witter because she was sure she wouldn't return. Adam had her fingers caught in his hand and slowly guided her to a small but adorable dining room. It had a fireplace, a small sofa and a table with white doilies in the middle of it. The dinner was already ready in metal plates to kept it warm. Adam helped Blake, he made her sit on the chair and then he brought his next to her instead of in front of her and separated. Both started to eat their meal, chicken with tomatoes and vegetables cooked carefully with potatoes and a tasty sauce. Blake really enjoyed the warm dinner, even though she didn't know who cooked the delicious chicken.
Adam, instead of finishing up his meal, was completely focused and lost on the cat faunus. In her eyes, hands and body with that black lace dress that showed her stylish feminine silhouette.
"You are beautiful, my love, really beautiful…" Said Adam while caressing a short lock of her hair, which she had it tied up in that occasion.
Blake pretended a 'do not want to smile' face and seemed to convince Adam, who kept caressing her, his hand passed to her neck's skin.
"You keep on not wanting to talk?"
Blake looked down to the doilies but he grabbed her chin and forced her to look at his eyes. She swallowed saliva and cleared her throat, disposed to speak seeing the bull faunus' demanding eyes.
"I don't know what to say."
Adam let go of the girl's face but moved closer to her.
"I have got perfect plans for us, my darling."
She kept attention with a slight smile thinking of her own plans, escape. Adam took her hand as she let the fork on the empty plate.
"Where would you like to move? Choose. Wherever. Maybe Mistral? Or where we met, Menagerie?"
Blake experienced despair and almost puked with the mere fact of listening to the name of the place where she was raised up with her family… and where they died, Sun included. She managed to pretend that she was thinking, but whatever she chose would be alright, Adam didn't care and she neither.
"I like Mistral." She answered.
"The culture and the arts there are important. You could try to draw and paint again." Proposed Adam.
As if she hadn't tried already. Everytime she placed a pencil on a paper, it drew horrible things and not beautiful landscapes or phantasy places as it did when she was younger.
"Maybe." Her voice sounded strange, it had lost the melody it had while speaking.
"Do you want us to go there? In a beautiful house with a huge garden where you could take care of the plants and read sitting in the grass peacefully?"
Blake smirked and blushed shyly, playing her role.
"That sounds good."
Adam looked at the clock and noticed that they had already finished all the dinner, but it was early and the twilight was just starting. He got up and went to the fireplace, putting some wood in to keep the fire burning. Belladonna took the advantage of Taurus being busy and hid a knife behind her skirt, between her stockings and her skin. He didn't suspect judging by the face he had when he returned to the table.
He grabbed his scroll and kept Blake expecting something. Finally, music sounded from the scroll, a Waltz played on a piano.
"Dance with me, sweetheart?"
He accepted and held his palm. Both got up and moved to the space that was towards the sofa, enough to dance. Adam guided her, slowly moving his feet, dancing softly as she liked when they were just mentor and pupil. He stroked the skin of her neck softly and looked at her eyes.
"I was thinking about tonight…" He whispered softly to her human ear.
"Huh?"
"We could spend this night together and maybe have... hmm... fun together." He said whispering in her ear and then kissing it smoothly.
Oh, Blake knew when he wanted to get in bed with her, and the kiss he placed on her neck showed perfectly that he was turned on and wouldn't accept a 'no' for an answer. He would try forever to convince her.
Belladonna made him turn his face straight to her and seductively passed her finger through his lips. Two shiny sparks glowed in Blake's golden eyes that night, inviting Adam to kiss her after all that time. When he was approaching his lips to hers and had his eyes closed, she planned on attack him before he could touch hers, but Taurus had so much passion inside that she hadn't time to pull off the knife that was hidden in her skirt.
His lips licked hers and then his tongue searched to go inside her mouth. Blake allowed him, and surprisingly that felt good. She had spent so much time without anyone's touch that those kisses were almost comforting. His hand went down her waist and then tightened her thigh, pulling her closer to his body.
"You are mine, you always were and will be mine." He said possessively.
His hands soon wanted to explore between her legs and Belladonna felt that she was in danger, he would touch the knife behind her skirt. Obviously, soon Adam found out something strange in Blake's thigh.
"What are you hiding there, love?"
Blake didn't know what he was expecting, but not a knife. She nailed it in his leg with brutal force. Adam screamed and fell to the floor and she used her semblance to get away. She ran to the door and heard Adam yelling:
"You can run, but you can't hide from me!"
She was completely lost in just a part of the wing's installation. It was a White Fang's headquarter and where Adam and Blake were was an adapted zone for the leader who wanted to stay the night and rest. Soon, she found members of the White Fang in the corridors who tried to fight her, but Blake had a high amount of energy and was completely rested so she didn't have to struggle a lot to defeat them. Her feet were cold and running without shoes had a high impact on her skin, but that wouldn't stop her. When she managed to get out of the wing where she was, she found a new member, Adam's right hand, the lieutenant. He had his scroll in hand and was talking to Adam.
"Don't worry sir, I will bring her to you." He said while smirking evilly.
Belladonna stood her ground, a wave of panic had her possessed, she couldn't afford to lose this time or she would be caught in a hole all her life. She needed to find her teammates, reunite her team. Team RWBY. It was all she had left. The lieutenant looked at her hand, where she had the knife with the oozing blood falling down to the pavement. It stained the floor and every single drop of it made an echo that broke the silence between them.
"Will you fight back? Or we will just do it in an easy way?"
Blake held the knife towards her chest and raised the other hand to protect her face, she wasn't willing to give in. The lieutenant knew her trick and she honestly didn't know what to do to defeat him. She was exhausted and cold, but at the same time sweating and her hands were trembling.
"Come here, feisty kitty."
She couldn't lose time, Adam would regenerate his wounds with his aura, which was powerful and she bet that he improved since they were pupil and mentor. She needed to hurry, escape, hide or the two options at the same time.
He ran towards her with the blade in hand. She used her semblance to create simultaneous images for herself to distract him. She left 3 of them uncovered and she took advantage of that hiding behind a big box that was beside a wall. When the lieutenant turned his back on her direction, she got out of cover and nailed the knife in his back, near his heart. He got on his knees in pain, screaming, and then she yanked the knife from his body and buried it in again, now in his neck.
He fell down the floor, now dead, the room silent. Blake had her hands covered in blood which at first impressed her but now she just didn't care. How much blood had been spilled all those years because of the White Fang? Another corpse was irrelevant.
Suddenly, a door behind her shut open. She turned and found Adam furious and with his mask on. Blake thought of running but Adam was faster than her, so she had to play her cards well and with luck, she would get to escape him. She walked backwards without touching Adam's right hand corpse. When he saw it, his angry expression got more intense which was difficult to do because he was already furious.
"What have you done?!" Yelled him.
"The same you did to my family." Answered her loudly with no fear.
"So, now who's the monster?"
"He left me with no choice."
"I won't either."
Adam took out his sword, his semblance wasn't charged yet, so she had a minimum advantage over him despite the fact that the knife was out of her reach, still in the corpse's neck. He started walking towards Blake, who was frozen in her place, waiting, expecting which strategy would Adam use.
"I'm so proud of what you have become, my love." He said still moving, pointing the sword at her.
"What do you mean?" She asked studying the room where she was.
It was a not very big room, it had boxes in some corners and spaces and a small table with delivery papers to administrate. A simple depot with spaces to hide but not as extense as a fabric warehouse.
"You are a liar, a murderer, an animal that only has left its primal instincts to survive."
Suddenly, Adam jumped to her, willing to attack, but she managed to dodge the sword with her shadows. She could dodge all the incoming attacks but at some point, he would manage to hurt her. Belladonna focused on the door that was behind the bull faunus, she had to flee through there.
"You know, there is no point in fighting, you can just go back to your room and face the consequences of what you have done."
"I won't."
Another attack, this one directly on her legs, trying to take her down. She managed to dodge it, but everytime she evaded an attack the wall got closer to her and soon she would end trapped between it and Adam if the current situation didn't change. If he attacked one more time, she wouldn't stand a chance. She walked backwards fast and didn't stop until she felt the wall behind her. Then, with all the force she could, she ran towards Adam who had his sword on hand. Before her body could touch him, she grabbed the sword by the unsharpened edge to avoid being stabbed with it. She fell to the floor with Taurus, and a struggle between the two started. He fought for the control of his sword, and Blake was trying to hold it down. Soon, he managed to overpower her and she was held down, with the edge of the sword on her neck.
"If you don't cooperate I'll make sure that you won't see the sunlight again."
"Why are you doing this, Adam?!" She yelled exhausted, fighting to pull back his sword.
"Why won't you stay with me, Blake? Didn't you love me? Were you pretending when we were together? You are a manipulative brat!"
He was out of his sense, angry and hurt because of her. A small tear ran down her cheekbone.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean this to happen! I wasn't lying but I couldn't stay with you and neither I can now!"
"Why do you always spoil everything?! We had a future ahead of us, together, and now these words are useless!"
Adam put his fist up and punched her in a half of her face, making her yell and the nose bleed. Her aura was completely broken. That impact caused her strength to be weaker and the sharp edge of Adam's sword cut the soft skin of her hands, but only superficially. That caused her to move away from her hands and resist only with her arms as blood fell on her face.
"Look what you have forced me to do!" Said him while cleaning the blood off of his knuckles.
Belladonna saw herself without hope, he would have to stay there with Adam forever or at least a long time after he trusted her and take her out, then she would have the chance to get away from all that nightmare. But then, what? Maybe her team would have been split up forever or none of them would be willing to forgive her for running without saying goodbye or handing an explanation. Or instead, she could be sentenced to be alone forever. But there was another way to make through of this. To make him pay what he did and sentence him to eternal solitude. And… To be finally free.
Blake let go of the strength in her, which surprised Adam, and couldn't stop his brutal force. The edge of the sword cut her neck's skin. A fine line of blood soon was turned into a pool of red liquid around her tired body.
"No, no, Blake!"
Taurus tried to stop the blood, adding pressure with his hands to the deep wound. She would die in less than a minute if the blood continued flowing like a cascade.
"Don't close your eyes, please, my love." He pleaded desperately.
"N-now it's too… late to… fix it..."
"Shhh, don't speak."
Belladonna coughed and the blood invaded her mouth too. She was right, it was too late to fix it, she had been sentenced to death since she met him.
"You deserve... this."
She coughed and soon died with relief, glad that she would join her family and loved ones if she still had a place in heaven. He cried as she did when he held her and forced her to watch how her own house burned with her loved ones inside.
"Why would you do that, my love?" He said burying his nose in her hair, kissing her forehead, weeping silently.
Adam kept holding the corpse between his arms long after she passed away, feeling slow how her colorful skin turned into a snow white and her temperature decreased. Her blood stained his white shirt, he blamed himself, he should have kept her in that room and never let her out to avoid any danger or problems. Why did he organize that dinner outside his bedroom? Wasn't it obvious that she would run away from a monster like him? Such delicate person, with weak thoughts and ideas… he should have protected her from the world and himself.
So rabbit, please stop looking the other way.
It's cold out there, so why not stay here,
under my tail.
It won't be my last Tauradonna project, I started writing a fic about my headcanons of Adam and Blake in the White Fang and their beginnings. Also, I have got an interesting Tauradonna history that develops in Volume 1.
Reviews are welcome, thank you for reading!
Frozenheart7
