The mines stunk. The mines were confined. The mines were noisy. The mines were all he had ever know. Stink, confinement, noisiness, and all.
Adam Taurus didn't know what the word freedom meant. He didn't know what the sky looked like. He didn't know how to count. He didn't know how to read. He didn't know that their were people like him out there the were happy. He didn't know what it meant to be happy. He was twelve. He had spent twelve years in bondage.
And he wanted out.
He began to plot three weeks after he was moved. When you turned twelve they moved you to the adult sector. Here you hit harder veins of dust and hauled heavier loads. Here you didn't get as much food. When you were young they semi-tried to keep you healthy and growing, just so that they could get a few more years out of you. The adults showed him brands. Marks on their skin. He asked if it hurt to get them. They said yes. Most of them had the marks on their hands and wrists, but one had it one his neck. He never told them why it was there.
He first got the idea to get out when the explosion happened. Some of the others had been working on a fire dust vein. Someone hadn't been careful enough. The dust exploded and part of the cavern collapsed. People were screaming and the slave masters were telling them to get back to their cells. Everyone had obeyed.
Except for one woman. Her little brother had been working on that same fire dust vein. She had lunged forward to try to find him. The slavers had pushed her back ad told her to go to her cell. She didn't. Adam Taurus lingered behind to watch what happened. The slavers got mad at the woman. They stabbed her shoulder and told her to go. She still wanted to find her brother. The slavers said that she had to leave or they would kill her. Adam Taurus stepped in then. He was young but he was strong. He picked the woman up and carried her, kicking and screaming, back to the cells. Later that night, Adam Taurus had snuck out with a few others to go through the rubble. They only found cold, lifeless bodies.
After that Adam Taurus worked at the fire veins. He would sneak pieces of it back to his cell. There the dust pieces would hide in a nich hidden behind his sleeping blanket. Blanket was too generous. It was a scrap. Nothing more than that. He didn't even use the scrap. He gave it the elderly who were in the same cell as him.
Two weeks later he was ready. He gathered all his dust in his scrap. Then he snuck up to the highest level he could. The sky was above him. He could feel it. The adults told him that the sky was the same color as his eyes. He had only seen his eyes in muddy pools of water and reflected in the white dust he used to mine. He set the fire dust up and lit it. The explosion threw him back several yards. They roof broke down and he saw… Stars. Small, twinkling lights high above him. Something that looked like a shattered circle hung in the sky as well. It looked close enough to reach out and grab. It was silvery gray and seemed to call to him. He lay on the floor transfixed too long.
They found him, they dragged him away from the sky. They dragged him away from the dragged him away from the broken orb in the sky. He fought them. He bit them and he scratched them. He kicked them and he punched them. The hit him back twice as hard. They hit him hard enough to make his vision blur. The brought him to a place that smelled of iron and fire. They strapped him to a table. They spoke in angry voices. They stoked a fire and pulled something out of it. Intense heat hovered near his face. Jeering voices spoke to him. Iron touched his flesh. He screamed. His flesh sizzled and bubbled, his eyes squeezed shut to block out the lava on his face. The smell of his flesh and hair burning reached his nostrils. It burned through his eyelid and to his eye. It felt like molten magma. His eye frantically tried to escape. It rolled into the back of his head and thrashed around. His whole body pulled against his restraints. The metal was pulled from his face it took skin with it. Harsh ripping sounds and excruciating pain filled his senses. He tasted blood. In the agony he had bit his tongue. Blood now dribbled out of his mouth. The burned flesh stung in the air.
Adam Taurus didn't know how long he lay on that table. It didn't matter to him. His eye swelled shut and his brain shut down. His throat was parched and his body felt broken. His muscles had long ago started cramping. A woman's voice reaches his ears.
"Why would they do this?! He's just a boy!" A young woman with tiger stripes and ears came into his field of vision. His single working eye blinked in confusion. How did another faunus get here? He could hear someone else to his left. There was a snap and his hands free. He couldn't even move it he was so weak.
"They've been starving him, he might not make it." A man's voice came from his left. The woman said something back, and Adam Taurus's world went black.
He woke up in pain. He was being carried in some sort of stretcher, and above him he saw… Stars. Clouds. That glowing, broken orb in the sky. Where were they taking him? The same tiger-woman from earlier came up next to him.
"Don't worry, you're safe now." Safe? What did that word mean? He tried to open his mouth to answer, but now sound came out. "Shhh, just rest." She gave his hand a squeeze and disappeared. His world faded into a haze of pain again.
"He's waking up." A man's voice. A strange, muted beeping was coming from his right. Adam Taurus tried to open his eyes. He couldn't. The beeping accelerated. His hands came up and clawed at the fabric over his were they planning now? Who was that tiger-woman? Why were his eyes covered?
"Stop!" Hands grabbed his own and forced them to his sides. He thrashed against the person pushing him down. "Young man, I said stop!" The huge hands holding him increased their pressure. He cried out and kicked in the region the voice had come from. The man holding him grunted but didn't let go.
"I need some help in here!" Adam Taurus didn't want anyone else to come. He kicked out with both feet. It felt like he kicked someone's face. The hands holding him let go. He sprang up and grabbed at the stranger. He feels shoulders in his hands. Without a second thought he vault up and on top of those shoulders. He wraps his legs around the man's neck and starts to constrict. The man's hands grab him. They pull him off with astounding force. They slam him back onto the bed.
"I'm not here to hurt you!" You're safe now. Adam Taurus stops struggling. What did all of this mean? What did these people want from him? Footsteps. Someone else has entered the room.
"Ghira! What happened to your neck?" A woman. She sounds kind and gentle.
"The kid happened." Is Ghira's response.
"He did that?"
"He's a fighter, Unfortunately." Adam Taurus stays completely still. He wants to know what's going on.
"My name is Kali Belladonna. You're safe now." The woman says. He turns his face towards her voice. "Why don't you drink some water?" He hesitates, then nods. What's the worst that could happen? He's already been to hell and back. Hands help him sit up. A strange, cool cylinder is placed in his hand. He almost drops it. The hand that gave him the cylinder guides it up to his face. He jerks away.
"It's water." What? Water is given in jagged, clay bowls, not weird, cold cylinders. The hand moves his hands holding the cylinder back up to his face and this time he doesn't fight it. It's brought to his lips, it has some sort of opening at the top. He cautiously opens his mouth and water comes pouring down his parched throat. It's cool, doesn't taste like dirt, and doesn't have pebbles in it. He doubts the authenticity of it being water.
His thirst quenched, he says the first thing he wants to. "Why are my eyes covered?" His voice sounds broken and young. He sounds like a child that's searching for his mother. He would know what that sounds like. Lots of kids were thrown in the mines and wanted to find their moms. Adam Taurus never knew his mother. He didn't know what it felt like to be in a family.
Kali sighed. "Your left eye and the skin around it are injured. We need to keep them covered so they can heal without infection. He knew about infection. One time one of the men had cut his leg. The wound became infected. No one knew what to do. His leg was green and smelled like the rats that lived in the mines. Others said that smell was rotten flesh. The man had died a week later.
"How-" His voice broke for a minute and he hated it. "How long do I have to have this stuff on?" A hand reached out and rubbed his shoulder.
"A few weeks at least. I'm sorry." He nodded mutely. The next question was his last one.
"What do you want with me?" The hand fell off his shoulder.
"What?"
"What do you want with me?"
"What makes you think we want something from you?" It's the man. Ghira.
"Everyone uses everyone else. People use others for their own end. That's how the world works." The two people were silent after he said that. They didn't know what to say.
"What's your name?" Kali asks.
"Why are you changing the subject?" Adam snaps back.
"Please just tell me your name and I'll answer your earlier question."
"Adam Taurus."
"Well, Adam, some people are just kind and help others for kindnesses sake." Just Adam. His name doesn't sound as harsh and cursed. He doesn't sound nearly as broken as he is when she just says his first name.
"Why did you help me?" He says bluntly.
"We did it to be kind, Adam. Please just accept our kindness." He hears Kali get up and leave. He sits back down and tries to ignore his aching stomach.
"Hello?" Fifteen minutes pass and now someone is trying to talk to him. He groans and sits up. "I brought you food." His stomach rumbles in response. He can tell by the voice and footsteps that it's Kali who has come to see him. He has to rely on his hearing to discern where she is. She steps closer and sets what sounds like a plastic tray by his bedside.
"Do you need me to feed you?" He nods. He can't see where or what the food is. Something comes near his face so he opens his mouth. A chunk of bread is placed in between his teeth. At least, he thinks it's bread. It's strange and soft, not rock hard like the loafs they had in the mines. Some of the adults had complained about how the bread was nothing like homemade bread. Those were the adults that were new. The older ones already knew it was pointless to complain. He bites down on the bread and chews.
It's the best thing he's ever tasted. He devours the rest of the bread and accepts another cylinder of water from Kali. She calls it a glass of water so he files that in his mind. The cylinders of cool, clear liquid are called glasses of water. He still doesn't think that it's water. Water is nasty, but necessary this stuff is a pleasure to drink. Kali tells him that all he can have right now is bread and water. His body isn't used to richer foods and he's weak, they need to slowly reintroduce his body to other foods. He doesn't bother telling her that it won't be a reintroduction, it will be the first introduction. He asks her when he can eat meat.
He had never had meat before, but he had smelled it. When he was a kid, some of the humans had been cooking food over a fire. They had called it meat. Ever since that he had wanted to taste meat. Kali tells him that in a few days he will be allowed a small piece of meat.
For the next two weeks Kali comes and feeds him. She sometimes stays and talks with him, sometimes she has to go and help her husband, Ghira. She tells him that he is in the White Fang base. She tells him about her daughter, Blake. How Blake won't stop reading, how Blake needs to make friends, and how Blake has black cat ears like her. Every since Adam finds out that everyone in the White Fang base is a faunus he relaxes more. He never asks Kali questions, he just listens. He doesn't know what the White Fang is But he does know that Ghira leads it. He knows that Kali's hair color is black as well as her daughter's. He knows that Blake is three years younger than him. He listens and he learns.
The two weeks fly by and suddenly someone new is in the room. They and Kali tell him that they'll be taking his bandage off and checking to see if his eyes are healed. There is rustling and the weight on his eyes is pulled away. He keeps his eyes closed just like they told him to. His left eyelid feels weird. Then his right is lifted up. He sees for the first time in weeks. The room is white and has a few little doors on one wall. The lights are dimmed and the curtains are close to help his eyes adjust. Despite that he still feels the need to squint. There's a man in front of him with floppy dog ears. They man frowns and nods. He waves his hand in front of Adam's eyes. He blinks. The man nods. Writes something down on the clipboard he is holding. Adam only knows what a clipboard is because of the inspectors in the mines. The inspectors would come and make sure that they had done all the work they needed to. They would write things on the clipboards, sneer at the faunus, and leave.
The man turns to Kali. "The left eye isn't replaceable and it would be best not to remove it at this stage. The right is fine, just needs to get used to higher light frequencies again."
Kali nods. "Thank you." The man leaves the room and Adam gives Kali a quizzical look.
He asks his first question in two weeks. "Why would I replace my eye?" Kali's ears lay back on the top of her head. She looks said.
"Adam, he checked your left eye and-"
"No, he only checked my right eye." Kali's ears go even further down, she gives Adam a look of pity. His brain puts the pieces together.
"No...No...NO!" Kali jumps at his sudden outburst. He doesn't care. "THEY did this to me! They've already taken enough from me! Now they have to take my eye too?" Kali touches his shoulder in what is supposed to be a reassuring gesture. He flinches.
"Adam… You can still see out of your right eye. With some work you'll be able to see just fine." He can tell that something is wrong. His field of vision is too small and he has to turn his head too much to see to his left. He's half blind. He nods and tunes Kali out as she continues talking. He needs to think. He needs to know what his options are. He has to make a choice.
One month later and Adam is a part of the White Fang. In the morning Kali teaches him about the world, mathematics, reading, grammer, art, history, and science. He has lunch and then goes to train for fighting. He alternates between hand to hand combat and fighting with weapons. He learns that some people design their own weapons. After learning this he started to design his own. From dinner until ten-thirty he works with the main weapon smith. After that he goes to bed in his shared dorm. He shares the dorm with three other guys you are all older than him by four years. They all are slobs and don't know anything. Since he came from a mine, Adam has had a disgust with sloppy and dirty people, to him are wasteful. To be that lazy and dirty is revolting. If you have the resources to clean and be clean, why wouldn't you use them?
Adam asks Kali why all the other people at the base are older than him by at least four years. She tells him the the youngest the White Fang recruits is sixteen and that's with parental or guardian permission.
While training one day he unlocks his aura. Exhilarated with this new tool to use at his disposal, he train. Within two months he becomes the best aura user at the base. While on a mission that went wrong he discovers his semblance. Even though he can absorb all attacks that come his way and send them back, his Semblance isn't worth the energy reduction. It zaps all energy out of him and isn't worth the energy reduction. He trains and tries to get better at using it, but the thing takes all his strength. Finally, he tries transferring some of his Aura over his sword and using it as an extension of himself. It works flawlessly. Now he doesn't have to use his aura to protect his body while it takes blows to charge his semblance. Now, he uses his sword.
Four years later Adam Taurus is sixteen. He doesn't know when his exact birthday is, so he just changes his age every new years. He's become on of the most skilled fighters in the White Fang. Others whisper and say that he will eventually be the a leader in the organization. He stands with his custom made weapons Wilt and Blush, waiting to see Kali and Ghira. They said that they had a mission for him. He fiddles with the black band around his eyes. He can still see through the band, somewhat.
A White Fang member tells him that Ghira and Kali are ready for him. He walks into their conjoined office. A surprise waits for him inside the room. Not only are Ghira and Kali there but their daughter as well. At least that's who Adam assumes she is. She has cute black cat ears and stand rather closer to Ghira, like she's seeking protection.
"Adam, this is my daughter Blake." Ghira's rumbling voice interrupts Adam's train of thought. He bows, which makes Blake blush.
"Pleased to meet you." Adam says.
"You really have grown into quite a fine young man, Adam." Kali sighed. She had been in Menagerie for the past two years. Her absence had been quite the blow to Ghira. But she had come back last week and apparently their daughter as well.
"Thank you, Mrs. Belladonna, I've tried my best."
Ghira clears his throat. "Well, I don't know if I'll ever stop seeing you as the kid that wrapped himself around my neck and tried to choke me out." The three chuckled at this, leaving young Blake in the dark.
"Wait, you're that Adam?" Blake asked.
He nodded. "The one and only."
Ghira made a hehem sound. Adam and Blake both looked at him, while Kali wrote something on a piece of paper. "Adam, I'd like for you to train my daughter."
Adam stood frozen in shock. Train the Belladonna's daughter? "May I ask why?"
Kali was the one who answered him. "Blake would like to help the faunus cause, but right now she's a little young. We told her that if she can train and learn self defense well then she can join in more rallies." Adam nodded. It made sense. The humans were starting to respond to the protests with more violence. The White Fang had even started setting up strategic placed fighters in the crowds. The fighters always had hidden weapons on them. Adam himself had been in that position a lot recently.
"That makes sense and" He turned to Blake, "I admire your care for the White Fang's cause." Blake blushed again. She really was easy to get flustered.
"Well, Adam would you be willing to train her?" Kali asked. He didn't miss when she slipped a piece of paper in Blake's hand.
"I would be honored Mrs. Belladonna." Adam said. He was looking forward to getting to know Blake better. After all, Blake's mother was the kindest person in the world and her father was the most determined. He could only guess what the combination would look like.
Ghira nodded. "It's settled then. You will begin training tomorrow. Adam, would you mind stepping out for a minute? I'd like to talk to Blake about something."
"Of course." Adam slipped out of the room and leaned against to wall opposite to the door. He could still hear a little bit of Blake's voice. What he heard was: "MOM!" He stifled a chuckle. It sounded like Blake wasn't quite like her mother.
Five minutes later Blake stepped out. "They'd like to see you now."
Adam pushed away from the wall. "Thank you, I'll see you tomorrow in the training field at seven-thirty."
"Seven-thirty?!" Blake squeaked.
"What? Too early?" Adam asked.
"No! No, I'll be there. See you later… Adam." She spun on her heel and headed back to the dorm rooms. Adam chuckled and went back to Ghira and Kali.
"Alright, listen here young man." Ghira started out immediately. Kali slunk behind Adam and closed the door. "You will treat my daughter with respect. Do you understand?"
Adam only nodded. Ghira clearly needed to get this out of his system. "Yes, sir."
"Good. AND if you touch her in any improper way I will kill you." Ghira spat with a vengeance. Adam patiently waited for Ghira to finish.
"I'm trusting you here young man and I do NOT want to be dissapointed."
"Understood sir. I won't let anything happen to her."
"You better not!" Ghira huffed. Kali placed a hand on his arm. She smiled at Adam.
"Thank you so much, Adam. I'm happy that you will be the one training Blake."
Adam smiled back at her. Her smile was infectious. "Of course, Mrs. Belladonna, I'm happy to help you in any way."
"You're dismissed." Ghira said gruffly. Adam bowed once more before leaving the room.
Blake couldn't fight if her life depended on it. This fact became evident to Adam quite quickly. She would stand with her fists up and ready, prepared to fight him and he would knock her down with one push. He decided to go for a different route.
"You need to shove me to the ground." Blake gave him a look before rushing forward to fight him. She punched and kicked, but he dodged everything. She overextended on a punch and fell on the ground. Adam smiled and helped her up.
"Let's try that again."
Adam Taurus was going to die. The wounds in his chest told him that. His whole life played out in his head. When he had blown up the mines. Joined the White Fang. Read his first book. Met Blake. Watched her leave. Made his decision to chase her. He thought about the people he had disappointed. Kali. Ghira. Blake. The Belladonnas. They had been his family. They had taken him in and he had tried to tear them apart. What had he become? He wasn't the boy who'd blown up a mine. He wasn't the boy who'd learned how to read and write, who'd created his own weapon and fighting style that no one else seemed able to master. He was stronger then then he was now. He was sorry to them. He was sorry to the person he used to be. The person who decided to live no matter what. The person who got back up after his face was branded, the person who fought back twice as hard.
Adam Taurus was sorry. He was dying. Why was it that only when you died did you look back and realise your mistakes? Why was it then that you realized that some of the things you worked for didn't matter?
Adam Taurus didn't want to die. Not yet. He would let himself die. In time. But first he needed to say sorry. He needed to apologize to Kali and Ghira and worst of all… Blake. She deserved his apology.
Adam Taurus dragged himself off the river bed. He pulled himself up the bank and flopped down on the ground. Adam Taurus dragged himself back from the brink of death. Adam fought back.
One last time.