A redheaded faunus with blue eyes stood in a file alongside his peers, they were all about nine years old, glass-eyed and emaciated. They were all workers in Campis Inquinavi, an SDC mining colony based just outside Mistral, and today was the day, the oppurtunity for some of them to redirect their fates forever.

The children stood in front of the mine supervisors, who inspected them closely, though what they hoped to see behind all that smog and grime on them, was a mystery. They must have seen it, because they ushered the children foward to another supervisor, who had some sort of red tincture that he pushed down their throats. It was bloodsworth, a drug that helped people unlock their auras, forced it out was more like though. It was a dangerous to forcefully awaken an individual's aura and would most likely damage their potential, so much so that it was illegal in the kingdoms. That wasn't a problem here though, they didn't need soldiers with great potential, they just needed soldiers.

"Jaune did what?" Pyrrha asked her grey-haired principal, though she had heard exactly what he said.

"Mr. Arc accepted my offer of a temporary transfer to Vacuo's Shade Academy. Although the possibility of a permanent enrollment does exist."

"Why would he do that?" Pyrrha asked, although she was sure that she didn't know who the question was directed at.

"Well," Ozpin said, carressing his prized mug, "Because he's a weakling, and a terrible excuse of a leader, and he was unsatisfied with that."

"That's not true," Pyrrha said in agitation, "Jaune wasn't terrible, even if he was a little behind, we were working on it, we were making progress."

"To be perfectly honest," said with a disgusted face upon realising that it was instant coffee in his mug, "Mr. Arc is one of the least competent students ever admitted into Beacon, and while you admittedly made some progress with him, your biggest accomplishment was self-gratification, because although it made you feel better about yourself and maybe scored you a few lady points, it would have led young Mr. Arc to his death should he ever be as unfortunate as to face any real threat."

"W-what?" Was this true? Had she just been using Jaune so that she could feel better about herself? She didn't think so, those things had never even been on her mind when she reached out to him, but what if that was actually the truth?

"You needn't feel so bad, Miss Nikos," Ozpin said, although his voice lacked the expected sympathy.

"Why not?" she whispered angrily; angry at herself for being such a hypocrite, at Ozpin for pointing it out and Jaune for knowing and keeping it to himself, for leaving without telling her why.

"Because you're stronger than that, you're not going to sulk about how bad of a friend you were, you're going to be a better friend, a better person, a better leader."

"Leader?" she asked, to which Ozpin responded with a nod.

"You ask me to be a leader just after you showed me how unfit I am for that role," said Pyrrha with a mirthless smile.

"What is it that Lunarists say? 'The key to peace is enlightenment and the key to light is-

"Refinement and refinement comes from revelation. And so, in everything, examine yourself and the awareness you gain from this will strengthen your heart and guide your light to your brother."

"Exactly," Ozpin said waving off her apologies for interrupting him, "You know better, so you're going to do better. I have no doubt about that."

She hoped that he was right.

"Good match," Mrs. Goodwitch said as the two background characters who had just finished their match shook hands and returned to their seats. "Next match is..." she declared while watching the Randomiser. "Team JNPR vs Team CRDL," the machine read. "Seems that I've not recalibrated it yet," the blonde teacher said with a frown, "You can opt to skip today's duel, the circumstances are... understandable."

Understandable they were, it had only been a few days since both teams lost their leaders, giving them some time to adjust was only fair. Personally, niether side needed adjustment, it sucked not having a leader officially, but it wouldn't stop either team from focusing on the reason they were here. "Thank you, Mrs. Goodwitch," team CRDL said, although it didn't affect them all that much, they weren't going to miss an oppurtunity to dodge the dreaded duel especially since they would have to face the Invincible Girl, they shuddered thinking about what had happened to all four of them in canon and were convinced that even though they had stronger characters in this fanfic, the same didn't apply for their abilities.

"I actually don't mind a duel," Pyrrha 'Mary Sue' Nikos said, much to the chagrin of her teammates, who had already resolved to miss any actiities whenever the oppurtunity presented itself, "Could it be one on one, instead?"

"Why not, Miss Nikos."

Pyrrha whispered her desired opponent into her teacher's ear, as though too shy to call the person out by herself. "Mr. Vulpes, do you mind stepping into the ring?"

Adam was a bit surprised, but he still walked over to the locker rooms to change into his gear silently before returning, ready to duel.

"Ready?" Mrs. Goodwitch asked, to which the only answer was a nod from both of them, the pair so involved in the anticipated battle that they didn't spare a glance to their teacher. "T-t-time to duel!"

The two jumped right into battle, or they would have if they didn't stop for a second to stare and wonder at their teacher's choice of words. But after that they jumped right into battle.

It was a short battle, after many intense blows between the pair, Adam was knocked down and out of the ring. Nobody ever lasted long against the Invincible Girl, but they usually lasted longer than that. Team AMEN bowed their heads in shame, so did everyone else, it was pretty embarrassing for the class rep to be taken out so quickly. No one was more disappointed than Pyrrha herself; for the past few days, team WRBY had described their experience in Forever Fall, and a part that was never exempted from the narrative was Adam's role in their survival. Not only did he lead them, but he cut through droves of Grimm by himself. Based on their descriptions, she had expected an awesome match, but the reality was something more disappointing than God of High School.

Adam lay down on the floor, wondering if he was overdoing it. He definitely was, Ozpin alongside a number of staff and students already had an idea of his power level, so hiding it didn't serve too much of a purpose, but at the same time, it wasn't wise to show them too much. And so, he decided to lose every fight quickly to avoid both giving his enemy more material to study, and trouble from his 'peers'. It was a decision he made with full knowledge of the consequences, not least of which would be the utter and irrecoverable damage to his pride.

It was okay though, he was used to throwing his pride away wasn't he?

"What do you think happened with Adam earlier?" Yang asked as the group filed out of the class, she was confident that not even the Invincible Girl could take Adam down after she had seen him dispatch so many Grimm just a few days ago.

"Most likely," Weiss said, while stroking her chin wisely, "He's injured from overstraining himself in Forever Fall, Cardin and Shouter were sent off campus to recover from the ordeal, I can only imagine what state Adam, who was defending both of them, must be in right now."

"That makes sense," Blake said, agreeing with the Schnee, "Still, it must be quite the serious recoil if he fell so quickly." It was the strangest thing, and it had started just after they returned from Forever Fall, Blake had suddenly taken Weiss' position as a tsundere and was making the part her own. From giving her notes after class to sharing a table with her because: 'The others are too noisy, it's not like I want to sit with you.' Blake's attitude had done a 180 in terms of Weiss, although she would never admit it. Weiss was happy nonetheless, she finally felt like she was fitting in, like she was part of their team.

"I'll go check on Adam, you guys go ahead," both brunettes of their team said at the same time. Both Weiss and Yang, cocked their brows questioningly, it wasn't strange for Ruby to want to check on Adam, the two had been close since orientation, but why did Blake want to check on him?

The cat faunus was quite literally saved by the bell, as its ring sound prevented her nosy teammates from peppering her with questions since they were all too busy running to Grimm Studies.

After the closing bell had been rung, Adam walked back into Glynda's Basics of Battle class, ready to clean it up. He told Ruby to deal with homeroom, he wasn't in any kind of mood to have company right now. It seemed that that wasn't in the cards, as he saw Mrs. Goodwitch walked out of a supply closet in a corner of the classroom. "I'll leave," he said as he began retreating with his supplies.

"There's no need for that," she responded as she arranged a few files on her desk, "I'll be leaving soon."

"Okay then," he responded as he got to work on the floor. It was a silent job, the only sounds being the scratching against the reinforced floors and the shuffling of papers on the desk. It was supposed to be a silent job, Mrs. Goodwitch was unaware of this fact unfortunately, as she broke through the silence with a question. "What was with your terrible performance earlier today?"

"I'm assuming that this conversation is going to proceed under the assumption that I don't know that you've been spying on me since I got here."

"Of course not," Glynda said with a small laugh, as graceful as one would expect, "But you're still a student , a dangerous and unpredictable one but a student nonetheless."

"And?" Adam queried, his annoyance climbing with each word exhanged.

"And this is Beacon," Glynda said with her arms slightly outstretched, as though it was obvious, "We pride ourselves on betterment, there's not a single person who has passed through these four walls and hasn't been better for it."

"You actually believe this."

"Of course I do, we may not be able to save everyone, unable to do everything, but we'll get better with time, eventually, we'll save the world."

Goodwitch had one the frostiest auras he had ever seen, but under that exterior hid such childish fantasies?

"What about you Mr. Vulpes?"

"I'm fighting for equality," Adam said, "Even now."

"Why, though?"

"I didn't know that a reason was required," he responded dismissively.

"Ever heard of an interactive session?"

"I fight so that what happened to me," he said as he pointed to his eye beneath the mask, "Doesn't happen to any other faunus."

"A good a reason as any," she said as she strutted out of the classroom, "My office is always open in case you actually want to convince yourself of your answer."

What did she mean by that? He knew why he joined the White Fang didn't he? And all three years of it, he had never doubted himself, he still didn't. Then why was a human's statement bothering so much? He didn't know, but for the first time since he became class rep, he left his duties, and turned off his scroll, he wanted to be alone. There was something familiar about it, it was distant, but at the same time recogniseable.

He woke up alone in a room, if you could even call it that, it wa metre area, much too large to be a single one, it would 'comfortably' fit at least eight faunus usually. And this one came with the most comfortable thing ever, a bed, a real bed with a soft and firm mattress, he was sure there were other things in the room, but he couldn't concentrate on any of them because of the euphoria he felt from the bed. Not to oversell it, but it was the best thing ever made, which begged the question of why he was on it.

Last he remembered, inspectors were feeding them something, it wasn't food, certainly wasn't, some of the children who took it collapse in an epileptic frenzy, though sometimes the food there did do that. Those ones were dead, he knew that much, it should have bothered him more than that, but he had seen it so many times; some slipped, some were crushed, some were flogged, but all of them were dead. It didn't faze him, that was why he assumed that he was dead at this point, he was much too comfortable to still be in the mines, and he saw others die, so maybe he joined them. Either way, since he was already dead, he saw no reason to get up, he saw no reason to ever move again, the mattress was that comfortable.

That was until a few hours later, when the hunger pangs began knocking. No one told him he'd be hungry even when dead, so he walked out of the room, his only hope being that if the beds were so comfortable, the food would be great too. So he walked out of the room, unbothered with the consequences such a careless action would have since he was dead anyway, it didn't occur to him that if he could get hungry, he could certainly be knocked upside the head.

"So you're up," came a voice from outside the door immediately he opened it, he shut it immediately after, but the person's foot stopped its momentum, and he stepped in. "That's good," the man who had a clean grey supervisor uniform said as he grabbed Adam's chin and inspected his face, "Follow me." The two walked out of the room, Adam trying and failing to keep up with the man's steady gait. Adam was confused, he was taken to a room with a few other faunus children, just as dirty and grimy as they had been earlier, less glassy-eyed though, they seemed like completely different people, they no longer had the hopeless vibe they had carried since they began working in the mines, they had all gotten to sleep on a bed after all.

All of them were quickly filed into showers, and scrubbed thoroughly. Adam discovered parts of his body he didn't know he had as they were always covered in grime before today. Too bad, the bath didn't last long, but they were then all given snazzy black uniforms, the fabric was soft, as soft as a bed, it was great.

"Enjoying yourselves?" came a sultry voice that knocked the children out of the wonder and amazement of good clothing. The children nodded seriously, the lady's strong aura taking their full attention. "That's good,"she said, as she bent in front of the one of the children and place her palm unto her chest, "Lemme show you something." Immediately she said those words, a bright blue light shone from the girl, starting from her chest, and spreading to the rest of her body, it was her aura. Adam remembered now, some of them fell to the ground after drinking the liquid, while others exhibited a phenomenon similar to the girl's just now... then, they passed out. That would mean that he wasn't dead, but that was as far as his understanding went, because life wasn't this good, it wasn't good at all.

While he mused, the lady had made her way in front of him, and did the same thing she had done for the other children. Adam's dark aura burned broodingly, it was impressive, it certainly wasn't the best, but it was still impressive.

"Do you understand what is happening?" she asked after she was done with all the children. "You are all slaves," she said, as she caressed the surprised face of one the children, "You all belong to the Schnee Dust Company."

Adam understood what a slave was, but nothing else; he didn't understand why slaves were dressed in clothes much more valuable than they were or why she was explaining their position to them.

"Fear not though," she continued, "There's a chance for all of you to become more than slaves. Your auras, your semblances and your servitude are all that is required. Follow me, and I'll explain more."

"Your auras are those bright lights that came out of you earlier," she said as she walked them out of the room they were in and into a hallway, "They make you much more valuable than the average slave, same with your semblances, but I will explain them in detail off-screen as the author already did that and we don't want to make the text too long."

"Technically," said one the supervisors who was tailing the flock of children, "He explains it in the future though."

"We're defeating the purpose of skipping the explanation if we're still just extending the text by breaking the fourth wall."

"You're right ma'am, but it's the writer's fault, doesn't he know that some moments are serious and that breaking the fouth wall during them kills any and all tension during the scene?"

"Moving on," the lady said, "So long as you continue to serve, you will all one day enjoy complete freedom."

The kids were young, they'd spent the last three or four years of their lives jacked up on apathy, but they weren't stupid, freedom was merely a lie. "I can see your disbelief," she said amusedly, "But had I told you that you would wake up on beds, be given showers, and dressed in such fine attire, would you believe me? Alas, you have witnessed it yourself, so have a little faith why don't you?"

"You see, Campis Inquinavi, the mining colony we're all in is outside the kingdoms. What that means is that we're all very susceptible to attacks from the creatures of Grimm, some of you may not be all that familiar with them, but rest assured they're the worst thing you will ever meet. Consequently, we need a constant inflow of soldiers who can defend this very profitable SDC enterprise. While it may be more reliable to train people using Huntsman Academies, it is much more expensive and takes at least four years, but with you little darlings, everything is so much easier."

Adam got so little out of that explanation that he felt it was more for the benefit of the readers than anything else. He understood that he was a slave though, and that he only needed to be subservient to earn his freedom. Whatever that was.

"I've been waiting for you," Adam had wanted to be alone, but it clearly wasn't going to happen though, Pyrrha's statement just now was all the proof needed.

"And what can I do for you, Pyrrha?" he said, lacing his statement with more sarcasm than was healthy.

"Why did you throw the match earlier?"

"That's an interesting way to describe my complete and utter loss to the Invincible Girl." Not to mention that it didn't answer his question.

"Don't call me that," the redhead responded tensely.

"I apologise," he said mildly, while eyeing an escape route, "But I don't know what to tell you regarding our duel."

"You know, Ruby won't stop talking about you," Pyrrha said, "That entire team seems to think so highly of you. None of them mentioned that you were a coward though."

The ex-White Fang general responded with the crazy, edgelord kind of laughter that seemed to be his signature response to ladies who annoyed him. He rushed at the lady in question, throwing a gloved fist at her, although she blocked it easily. The two stared deeply into each others eyes, their gazes locked for 60 second moments. "I see," Adam said smugly before dropping his fist, "Pyrrha Nikos, the pride of Mistral, winner of the Mistral something or other four times in a row, a Peter Pumpkin cereal advocate... You know that cereal really isn't healthy for you."

"Get to your point," she said irritably.

"That was a quote from the Argus Digest, praising Mistral's brightest star," Adam said as he moved up closer to her, "But they failed to mention this bad habit of yours."

"What are y-"

"I noticed it first in the Emerald Forest," he interrupted, and smirked on seeing her flinch in response, "Your fight against the Deathstalker, a formidable foe, but hardly strong enough to bother someone with your achievements. 'Was the praise given to you just hyperbole?' I wondered. But then we got to fight against that Spider Droid together and I concluded that that wasn't the case."

"Why were you able to do so well against the Spider Droid, but so hopeless against a DeathStalker? The answer was easy enough to get." He paused, drawing his answer out dramatically.

"You call me a coward," he said, "Coming from a liar like you, that really hurts."

"No need to interrupt yet, I'll explain... How do I say this? It's best to frame it as a question," he said while stroking his chin, "You could have taken that Deathstalker down by yourself, but you didn't, why?"

"I-I don't understand what you mean," she responded in confusion. She could've taken it down, she wasn't injured that day, she wasn't distracted or overwhelmed, so why couldn- didn't she.

"You don't? Okay then, how did you feel when you beat the Grimm with your teammates?"

"This is stupid," Pyrrha said as she pushed past Adam, "You're just trying to get under my skin."

"Trying and succeeding," he said with a smile as the warrior girl retreated for him. She, of all people, was calling him a coward? "You aren't wrong though," he whispered.

"Why do you think we didn't help him?" a girl with short brown hair and a pair of mouse ears asked as she looked at Adam. She was referring to the slave whose corpse was being dragged away by a supervisor, the same slave the two had watched get beaten until he was a corpse.

"'Cause we're slaves too," Adam said back, "And we're smart enough not to forget that."

"Doesn't it bother you... watching something like that?" she whispered, angry at something, "I couldn't sleep for days last time."

"You didn't do anything wrong," he said irritably in return, Why was she talking about this now? They'd been watching this for over a year since they were 'promoted', she always expressed her disgust for it, but she was asking obvious questions, questions that no slave liked to be asked.

"I still watched it didn't I? That's all it takes to have a nightmare?"

"You aren't wrong," he responded, looking away from her, "Let's go see the old man, someone that ugly is bound to chase the nightmares away." It was hard to believe that it was more than a year since they first slept on a real mattress, since they were 'promoted' to higher slaves. A clean bed, a study desk, classes between shifts, food that tasted, it didn't always taste good, but it tasted. It was amazing to even imagine that they were part of this sort of life.

The two faunus ascended from the mines and into the town that rested above it. This town held all the mines 'employees' from the lowest of slaves to the senior supervisors. They were entitled to this only because it was given to them, it was their responsibility to never forget who owned them and let that direct their every action. A few minutes later, they arrived at the entrance of a forge, the only one in the town.

"Hey, old man," Adam said as he moved into the smithy, "Dead yet?"

His crass question earned him small punch from Sheena and a horseshoe to his face from within the shack. "Seems not."

"Of course not," said an old man, who limped out of the back of the smithy to meet the two 'brats' at the door, "I'll outlive both of you." Despite his limp, his voice and basically everything about him, the man was actually not that old he was in his 40's at the latest, that didn't stop his being known as the old man all around the settlement, must have been due to his great personality. "Of course, sir," Sheena said politely, as her gaze locked unto a scrap of metal in an corner, "Is that...?"

"Yup," the Old Man said proudly, as he brought it close to her, "It's a piece of Atlesian pyrrhotite, the purest sample one can find." Sheena's eyes turned into saucers in glee as both of them talked away, Adam simply took a step outside the shop while they conversed, he had no idea what they were talking about. Sheena was very knowledgeable, only as old as Adam, but she knew more than even the older slaves. That was part of the only reason the two interacted; he followed her everywhere because it was dangerous to move about the mines alone, especially for a girl, he wouldn't be too much of a help, he was a ten year-old, but he always had a sword strapped to his waist, so he was a deterrent nonetheless. In exchange, she would tell him something new every night, something strange, something exotic, something he'd probably never get to see.

A lot of what she told him was written in books in the small library in the centre of the settlement, but he needed to train constantly or he'd really never get to see any of them in person. Besides, Sheena told the stories better than any books could.

"Move!" one of the older slaves said as he rushed past and pushed Adam to the ground. The red-haired faunus' hand move instantly to his blade hilt, ready to start a fight. "Adam!" Sheena called out, knocking him back into his senses. This was the second part of their arrangement, she was there to make sure that Adam didn't do anything stupid.

The boy seemed to possess the stereotypical bull's rage, he had never known before, because the apathy kept him under control, but without it he needed something else, because insubordination would not be tolerated. They were still slaves, valuable ones, but slaves nonetheless, and there would be no hesitation to toss them out if they ever forgot this fact. That was where Sheena came in, her semblance [Suggestion] was a vocal one that was able to create suggestions as the name implied. So using a keyword, she could influence another to a particular action. In Adam's case, she only needed to call his name to calm him down.

"Thanks," he said as he got up to his feet, "...Again."

"No problem," she said, "Will you be okay by yourself? I need to go get something alone." This had been happening of recent, her leaving without any explanation by herself. He was naturally helpless to complain, because it was a verbal agreement, and he couldn't as well force her to stay. "When will you be back?" he asked in reservation.

"Soon," she answered, more vaguely than was fair, but Adam simply shrugged it off, she wouldn't tell him more if he pressed her, he only hoped that she wouldn't do something stupid.

"The little lady's shook," came the old man from within the smithy, "What happened?"

"Saw someone get killed," he responded unworriedly, "Probably just buck-breaking." Buck-breaking, few words have ever embodied the wickedness of man like those pair, slaves need to be reminded, needed to be reminded that they were slaves, they were less than men, they were property and that their only purpose was to carry out whatever task they were given. How did you remind them of that though? How did you remind them that they were nothing? Well, you showed them.

Supervisors picked slaves at random and tortured and degraded them, it didn't matter if the slave had done anything wrong or not. Some supervisors seemed to enjoy it, some were sympathetic, some didn't care, they were property, it didn't matter.

"I see," the old man said sadly, "What a shame."

"Lemme guess, you think that I should have done something too?"

"What do you think the source of all evil is?"

"Don't really believe in that," Adam said, he knew the word, but it was one of the more complicated ones, it had so many different meanings, "Don't understand it well enough to say... Creatures of Grimm? Bad people, maybe?"

"Evil comes from complacency, when we don't actively fight darkness, it spreads and consumes and breeds evil."

"I'm okay with that," Adam said, looking at the old man squarely, "Do you know why I don't react to buck-breaking? Because the same would happen if the cards were turned, because I'll only end up getting myself killed. I'm not going to give my life away for anything or anyone, especially when it's not going to yield anything."

"You and the lady won't be together for long," the old man said as he retreated into his shop, "She sees the world much differently than you do, she should, she's seen a whole lot more than you have."

"Perhaps," he said in response, thinking about the future wouldn't do much for him, for now, it was okay just watching the sunset.

"You didn't have to wait for me," Sheena said on seeing Adam at the entrance of the smithy. "If you insist," he said as he rose to his feet, "Finish whatever you were doing?"

"Uh, yeah," she responded nervously, "Sorry for keeping you waiting."

"The old man wanted me to give you something," he said as he pulled something out from his pocket.

"Are you kidding?" she said as she saw the bright red pyrrhotite sample he had retrieved from his pocket.

"What does it do?" he asked, "Other than glow that is."

"I'll show you once we get inside," she said as she led him back to the slave quarters.

"Clasp it in your hands," she said excitedly, as soon as they entered his room, "Now pour your aura into, only a little, slowly if not it'll be problematic." Her directive earned her a cocked eyebrow from the red-haired boy, but he did as she said. Suddenly, the mineral's glow bathed the entire room, "Wow!" Adam said, wide-eyed.

"That's not all," she said as she placed her hands under his. There was a gentle hum in the air, small pieces of metal in the room started moving slightly and the two children's hair stood on end and waved almost like they were underwater.

"It's kind of romantic, don't you think?" Sheena asked.

Romantic? He wasn't sure what the word meant, but he couldn't ask her, it might ruin the mood, not to mention he never asked her for more than one thing every night. "Yeah," he said, hoping she couldn't tell that he didn't know the word, even though she always did.

"Adam," she said silently, "Do you want to kiss me?" Now he knew that he knew what this word meant, if only his brain hadn't shut down. She took his silence as an answer, and leaned in towards his face, her hair waving into his, meeting before their lips did. It was a short kiss, shorter than an FC Barcelona player, but it was electric, though that may have been the pyrrhotite. "By the way," she whispered into his ear, "This is what 'romantic' means."

"I'm sorry for that," Sheena said as he escorted her to her room. Adam had been struck dumb since the kiss, if that was what it was called, he couldn't remember what the word meant for the life of him. "It's okay," he said, not wanting her to feel too uncomfortable, "I mean, it's... better than okay." He was scratching his head in a nervous gesture, she didn't know he had nervous gestures, he didn't know that he had nervous gestures. It was all so strange.

"See you tomorrow," he said as she walked into her room. She didn't respond, it was strange, but so was the entire night, so he just shrugged it off and went to sleep.

At least he tried to; he just couldn't remember what a 'kiss' was. He finally rose from his bed, determined to find out. He slinked out of his room and went towards the library, it was a good thing that it was always unlocked. He rushed in, scanning the sections for a dictionary. Even though he wasn't very literate, Sheena had ensured that he could use one, and armed with the pronunciation of the word, it only took him several minutes to find it.

It read: "To touch with the lips or press the lips against, usually to express love or affection or passion, or as part of a greeting." So, they had certainly kissed, but what did that mean? He checked another dictionary, it had nearly the exact same definition, but the sentence attached to the definition read: "Kisses are the messengers of love and tenderness." Did that mean that she loved him? Did he love her? Did they love each other?

"Love: an intense feeling of affection and care towards another person," he whispered to himself, at least he could remember what that meant. Since they kissed, that meant that they loved each other and that meant... He had no idea what that meant, but he'd find out, if he had to spent the whole night there.

"Are you okay?" Blake asked, managing to locate her former partner, who was seated in the school garden, caught up in his reverie, "Ruby was convinced that you had been kidnapped, I nearly got carried away for a second myself."

"Why did you join?" Adam asked, knowing that she'd understand what he meant.

"You already know I was born into it," she said, "It seemed like the right thing to do. Having a part in liberating your entire race... sounds like the stuff superheroes do doesn't it?"

"Why did you leave then?" he asked, not answering her question.

"Before you came, we weren't making an impact," Blake said, "...Once you did, we did make an impact, but with the blood of others. It was like no matter what we did, we always got it wrong."

"And now? Are you going to give up because your other attempts failed?"

"Never," she responded quickly, "...But I don't know what to do, to be honest. For now, I'm just here to keep my head low, and figure out my next move. I wasn't fit to be a soldier, not in that kind of war. Who knows what I'll find out about myself?"

"Interesting," he said as he rose from his seat, "Thank you for that."

"Any reason for the query?" she asked as she kept pace with him.

"I've been having doubts of my own. You helped me understand something."

"And that is?"

"That I don't understand," he said with a small chuckle, "And that for the first time, I'm in a place where I can take time to understand, so I'm going to try my best to do so."

"What's got you thinking so much?"

"I couldn't say for... sure," the pause in his sentence was as a result of seeing Pyrrha Nikos, for the third time too many today. Was she stalking him?

"Could both of us talk... alone?"

"I'd really rather not," he said until Blake grabbed him by the ear and pushed him toward her. "So you would betray me in such a manner?" he asked her.

"Be grateful, it'll give Ruby time to cool down," she said as she walked away from them.

An awkward silence settled between the two redheads, he stared at her from behind his mask. She really reminds me of her, he thought, he felt that he had been repressing the thoughts, but he saw it more and more with every meeting. She had the same innocent eyes, the same self-righteousness, the same carelesssness. Perhaps that's why he was so aggressive against her.

"You asked me how I felt after we defeated the Deathstalker," Pyrrha said to Adam.

"Actually, I was just venting then, so there's no need to bother yourself with what I said."

"You're a great leader," she said, "If you believe what team WRBY says. I want to be something like that, and a certain old man brought it to my attention that the only way to do that is to tackle my flaws."

"Please," she said with a cheesy main character bow, "Help me do that."

Adam rolled his eyes behind his mask, but still decided to help her. "You felt good after defeating the DeathStalker with your friends, you felt like you were part of a real team," Adam started, "However, whether you did it consciously or not, you held back against the DeathStalker, allowing your friends to chip in and consequently making them feel as though you weren't some unapproacheable demigod. You didn't want to scare them off with your excellence, so you nerfed yourself, so to speak so that you would accept you."

"Don't get me wrong," Adam continued, "As a leader, you're going to have to nerf yourself a couple times to make your team look better or to allow them do more, but your intention wasn't teamwork, you didn't give your best, and one of your friends could've gotten hurt just because you wanted to fit in."

"Thank you," she said labourously, it wasn't easy to learn dark truths about one's self, "What about the other thing? You said that my reaction earlier confirmed something for you, what is that?"

"Nothing important," he said, "I'm going to keep that to myself."

"Can't convince otherwise?" He shook his head in response.

"Sorry for calling you a coward," she said apologetically.

"Don't be," he answered back, "Few words have been spoken that were as true. I've been a coward for a long time."

The sound of bells woke up the whole of Campis Inquinavi, bells were never good, all the slaves descended into the mines, ready to do whatever was required of them. "Welcome all!" shouted Helena, the most senior supervisor of Campis, Adam had hardly seen her since she introduced them into their new roles about a year ago, if she was here, then it was certainly something bad. "You may not all know this," she continued, "But some of you have been stealing supplies."

Adam's eyes started searching for Sheena urgently; he had a terrible feeling about all of this. "Now, don't get me wrong, I understand, sometimes the rations aren't enough, your friend needs medicine, etcetera. I'd do exactly the same thing... Which is the problem, I would do the same thing, you don't get to make decisions like I do, you don't get to put your needs or your friend's needs or any other flipping person's needs above mine. Men get choices, slaves take orders."

A small group of faunus were led to the stage that Helena was on, and as everyone reading this expected, Sheena was there with them. Adam knew what was coming, he had seen it happen time and time again, Sheena was going to be broken.

Above all else, Adam cared for his own life, he couldn't risk it for her when nothing would be yielded from it and yet, he needed to know; he needed to know what she meant by that kiss. Even during all this, his curiosity still burned, it was a terrible itch, Sheena was the only one who could scratch it, she would be dead or broken if he did nothing now, she would most likely still die if he did do something, both of them would. But, maybe he could get the answer before that happened. He neglected to ask himself if the answer was worth it, he just pulled a throwing dagger from his belt, and threw it at Helena. Since she had placed the younger slaves at the front to 'educate' them better, it was a clear shot. That didn't mean it was going to work.

"Thanks, babe," Helena said to a tall man that caught the blade midair, "You know my weakness is small, low-trajectory knives." Adam jumped immediately after the blade, and struck the man square on the face, but he was an adult with a strong aura and Adam was a kid with a not so strong aura, so it needn't be said how it played out, although I'm going to describe it anyway.

Adam was thrown away by a slap from the man, the slaves moved to restrain him, but the man ordered them to move aside, Adam's lesson was going to be personal. It definitely would have if the boy hadn't been knocked silly by that single blow. He couldn't stand, but he really wanted his answer, so he did, or tried to and collapsed once more. At this rate, both of them would die and he would not get his answer. His body was being rained on by a flurry of kicks and he really wished that his sword was a shield, because most of the blows missed or glanced it.

He was too determined to lose, but he was losing either way. He just really wanted his answer, and his aura was reacting to it, while it had been whittling away slowly at first, it suddeny started to grow with each hit.

Suddenly, the growing aura burst out in a red wave, pushing back the man attacking him and others in close proximity. "Sheena," he whispered as he somehow got to his feet before falling back down and passing out.

He woke up in a nice, furnished office, at least it was nice until his gaze locked unto the Senior Supervisor, Helena. "Adam," she said with a machivillean smile, "Let me explain what is happening. During your attempt to... I'm not sure, take out everyone in the mines, then escape right into the arms of the Grimm, I guess, you exhibited what seems to be your semblance. I've explained this before, a slave with aura is really valuable, but a slave with a semblance is... well, more valuable than that. That is why you're still alive."

"Could I talk with Sheena?" he asked politely after making sure she was done.

"Who?"

"She's one of the people you were going to punish this morning," Adam said.

"How cute," Helena mocked, as she grabbed a fistful of bright red hair and tugged, "But I've explained this to you before, slaves don't get requests."

"But they do get oppurtunities," she continued, after letting his hair go, "You have an oppurtunity to increase your status and be on the fasttrack to freedom. The girl is dead by the way, all of them are." Such was the life of a slave, so inconsequential that mentioning that a whole group of them were killed didn't warrant being said in another breath.

Adam was shocked, but that much was to be expected, he didn't understand why he imagined that they would not be punished after his unsuccessful breakout attempt. His temper didn't flare like it usually did, there wasn't any rage, but whatever it is that he was feeling was much worse, in his anger, he always jumped forward not caring whether he'd win or not, just wanting to get his hands on whoever was in front of him. This time, he was going to win, everyone here, everything was going to burn. "My only purpose is to be at your disposal," he said wearily, exhausted from everything that had happened.

"Good," she said, "There is a punishment attached to your insubordination, follow Nikolai here and that will be all for today." Adam followed resignedly, whatever punishment followed, he was now an asset, it would be terrible, but he'd live, he wouldn't be broken.

"Hey, kid," said the old man as he walked towards Adam who lay on his bed, on eye covered in a bandage, "How're you holding up?"

"I was just branded to remind me that I am nothing but property," Adam said dryly, "I always wanted a tatoo on my face. So much so, that I insisted that they sear it in so that it would never fade."

"I'm sorry," he responded, not sure what else to say. "Before Sheena... left us, she wanted me to give you this," he pulled out that red sample of pyrrhotite the two were with last night, "She said that she thought you were brave a-"

"Brave: Ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage," the bull faunus repeated this sentence a few times, the old man actually thought that he was in shock or something for a while.

"No matter how many times I repeat it," he said, "I can't see myself being 'brave'. I've been a coward for a long time, I'm not going to stop anytime soon."

"What? But, bu-" This was supposed to be the moment when Adam decided that he would fight for equality for his people, that he would never allow the same fates that befell Sheena and him to befall anyone else. "But look where my cowardice got me right?" he said pointing at his bandaged eye, "This is supposed be a lesson right? Engineered by some god or other, to teach me the error of my ways... But I'm too peeved to even care, I don't care enough to acknowledge this lesson. I have other plans."

"Revenge?"

"Slaves aren't permitted revenge. Haven't you been paying attention, old man?"

"And by the way," he said as he threw the sample of pyrrhotite back at the man, "Don't need the momento, I won't ever forget any of this."

"You know," the old man said as he left, "The little lady would be sad seeing you like this."

"It didn't bother her enough to stay. That means she doesn't get to complain." This is when he was supposed to become a hero, but that didn't matter to him, why should he care about something like that? He paid for his complacency, the scar on his face and the hole in his heart were the evidence, the only thing left was to make sure that everyone else paid for theirs too.

That was Adam, he had no answer, no friends, no understanding, but he had a purpose, a mission. It was as hollow and base as missions got, but it was a mission nonetheless.