The steel hinges of heavy ornate doors that seemed to be made of pure iron groaned in protest of its own weight as it slowly but surely creaked open.
Someone wedged their small toes in between and held the door ajar with the tip of her elbow.
After a moment of silent idling, a small patch of fur could be seen perking up and fitting itself through the small crack in between, flicking open to the left as it seemed to be picking up something before relaxing, and then steadily scanned to the right like some sort of sonar, twitching every once and a while just to make sure that absolutely nobody was present in the vicinity that they were about to enter.
As nimble as a cat, a sock-coated toe crept in and landed itself silently on wooden floorboards, before the heel followed shortly after.
With the only response being nothing but pure silence, the figure behind the door let out a small sigh of relief, before gently letting herself in completely.
It happened in a split second.
Cold fingers seized a vice grip around her elbow, causing amber eyes to widen.
Before she knew it, she was yanked into the room, her back slamming into the wall.
Her face scrunched up while her nose wrinkled when she felt the dreadful looming presence hiss and overshadow her with menacing intent.
"Where have you been?!"
Shivers ran down her spine and her blood ran cold.
She recognized that voice.
Once the soreness ceased and her mind stopped spinning, her eyes slowly fluttered open.
Yellow orbs that mimicked her own bore into her built-up courage, obliterating the words that she'd mentally prepared over the course of the last five or so minutes.
She immediately regretted opening them in the first place, wished she hadn't, and tried her best to glue them shut.
Too late.
Kali Belladonna had both hands to her hips, causing Blake to squirm nervously under the sheer intensity of the piercing glare her mother was giving her.
"Mom..." Blake started, trying to sound as natural as possible without choking up. "I'm okay."
It would've sounded like a half-decent attempt... if she were to at least meet her mother's eyes.
"You better be!" She clapped her hands on both sides of her daughter's face, causing Blake to flinch.
It didn't hurt as much as it could've, having her Aura already unlocked, but she felt it nevertheless.
"Do you have any idea how much you made us worry?!" Her mother ran her hands over Blake's ears, before moving to her chest, midsection, and shoulders.
Her hands slithered down the small girl's forearms to make sure there weren't any scars or bruising.
"You could've been hurt!"
"Mom, really I'm fine." Blake's young face couldn't help but twitch as her lips twisted into a frown, then attempted to push her mother away before her arms could stray too far down.
"Don't do that ever again!"
"I won't..." The young cat faunus muttered.
"I need you to look into my eyes and promise me."
"Mooom..."
"Otherwise it's no tuna for a week young lad-! Oh?" Her ears flicked towards the door. "Who's this?"
As fast as it appeared, red hair ducked out of the doorway.
A loud thunk ensued afterward.
Shuffling and a clambering of something wooden getting hastily tossed about could be heard, and it ended with a dull bump of someone falling on their rear.
"Oww..." A pained yet muffled cry could be heard from the doorway.
"It's alright..." Blake called out nervously. "It's just my mom."
A full minute of nothing.
"You can come in now..."
The fresh bruise on his forehead was the first thing Blake and Kali noticed as he poked his head in.
Tiny horns seemed to flatten against his head as he shuffled uneasily in place, hesitating to even take a step into the expensive yet homey wooden tiles that tesselated the room.
He was in rags and its ends were in tatters, and it was clear that he wasn't expecting, let alone prepared, to be dragged to a luxurious place as such.
Blue eyes nervously darted around the room at the ornate furniture he couldn't afford, even in the long run.
"Blakey!" Kali squealed as she bent down to scoop the young boy in her arms. "You never told me you had a boyfriend!"
"He's not my boyfriend!" Blake blanched.
"Is that where you ran off to? A date? Did you take pictures? Oooo, I need to see the picture of that first ki-!"
"MOM!"
"Blake never introduced you to me." Kali ignored the gobsmacked Blake that was denying her mother's assumption so fast her words were a string of jumbled gibberish. "Tell me, what's your name?"
"That's because I just met him!"
"dm..."
"Pardon?" Kali's eyes slowly roved down. "Oh, oops!"
The boy took a loud gasp and his face was flushed crimson as he was released from the woman's ample bosom.
"What did you say dear?"
"I-it's..." The boy's cheeks were matching the color of his hair as he tried to break eye contact, stare down, realize what he was staring at, caught a glimpse of a murderous-looking Blake, then flinched and looked away. "I-It's Adam m-ma'am."
He struggled uncomfortably within her iron grasp, gulping and trying to desperately settle for something else other than the fine assets the woman before him donned.
Eventually, he managed to pluck up enough courage to crane his neck upwards and meet her dead in the eyes.
"Adam Taurus..."
She was...
Mature.
Curvy.
Beautiful...
If Blake were to ever grow up to be half of what her mother was...
A loud and harsh cough cut through his thoughts.
Azure eyes roved over to find a glowering face staring back at him.
"W-what?" The adolescent Adam asked. "It's not my fault!"
"Adam huh?" The woman's tongue teased the top row of her teeth, doing nothing but amplify the healthy thoughts the young boy had. "Tell me, are you interested in my daughter?"
"W-well..." Adam looked away, flushing as his legs idly swung mid-air. "She is... pretty..."
Blake choked.
"How about your dreams?" Kali continued, despite Blake desperately trying to reach out for a flower vase to chug down. "What do you want to do when you grow up dearie?"
"I..." His eyes roved around the room, hesitating whether or not he should tell the woman before him.
Minutes of silence passed, with the only other noise being furious glugging.
Unrelenting amber eyes observed him with sheer curiosity, never once breaking contact and time seemed to freeze.
She blinked idly as if she had all the time in the world.
"I want to protect all the faunuses in the kingdom!" He finally blurted as Kali's smile grew serene. "If I can protect faunuses from all over Remnant, then... " His eyes scrunched shut as he took a deep breath. "Then I can protect Blake too!"
"That's reassuring." The woman sighed as Blake's cheeks grew redder and she found another vase to drink from. "It's so good to find someone who's set his sights on looking after my little girl."
"You mean our little girl."
"Right. Of course dear," Kali rolled her eyes as an even bigger silhouette overshadowed her, way bigger than the small boy could've ever imagined, causing Adam to shrink in her arms. "Our girl."
"Looks like we have an unexpected visitor." Ghira Belladonna bellowed as the mountain of a man crossed his arms. "And this is?"
"This is the boy who protected our child for the past week or so as she ran into god knows where." Kali explained bluntly as she twirled Adam around like a new toy while Blake shrank under her father's glare. "I told you you shouldn't have unlocked her Aura this early into her life."
"How was that my fault?" The bear of a man raised a brow. "All I wanted was what's best for our daughter, and with how careless she can be," He raised a brow as Blake tried to protest, but put her vase down so close to the edge that it wobbled off the table.
It would've shattered to smithereens had her mother not caught it with the crook of her ankles, and set it aside with such finesse and grace without hesitating or flinching. "I think I made the correct choice."
"You knew there was a chance that she would unlock her Semblance soon after. And considering she's our little scaredy-cat..." Kali rolled her eyes. "You could've at least thought this through."
"I did think this through. Besides, what's done is done." Her large husband shrugged back. "Unless you want to shatter her Aura come the morning every single day from here on out..."
Blake looked horrified when her mother's amber pupils turned into slits and her smile turned devious.
Even Adam, who was looking at her with awe just a minute ago, had his hair standing on its ends.
"That was a joke dear..."
The pupils normalized.
"Of course dear." Kali wrapped her arms around her husband's elbow and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Of course."
"Adam Taurus." Ghira let a fresh breath flow out of his nostrils. "Was it?"
"Y-Yes sir."
Cold sweat traveled down the sides of his face as he caught a murderous glint in the man's eyes.
At that moment nobody, not even someone twice or even thrice his age, could blame him.
He was huge!
"To protect all the faunuses in Remnant. A noble cause." Ghira admitted as he crossed his arms, nodding sagely. "What I want to know is not how you came up with such ideals, but why."
"I... "
Ghira just raised a brow.
Adam's shoulder started to shake he delved into a memory he didn't want to remember.
A past wound he didn't want to re-open.
"Mother used to cry." The crimson-haired boy started. "Nearly every single night in her room, I can hear her weep from the other side of the door. She didn't know what to do, alone, without father at her side."
Ghira's face seemed to soften slightly.
"She was so sure that if faunuses were treated as equally as others, we wouldn't have to hide from the public eye due to being different, we wouldn't have to beg due to low earnings, and that dad would someday... one day," He corrected. "Come home."
Adam sighed as he gazed into the distance, before he scoffed. "She was living a fairy tale, but clinging onto that small spark of hope was what kept her going. She kept the pain to herself, never once blaming me for being the bastard child I am, and kept working to move forwards towards her goal."
Adam took a deep breath to keep his voice stable.
"Then one day..." He gritted his teeth. "She collapsed because of me..." Tears stung the edge of his vision. "And she never got back up."
"Don't say that dear." He felt a hand crept up over his neck, stroking it gently. "We love you for who you are."
"We do?"
An elbow dug into giant's ribs.
"I mean... of course we do."
Adam shook his head as a smile graced his features.
"She would've loved you two." He giggled. "Blake told me what you do." Blake fiddled with her fingers in place when both parents in question raised a brow her way. "What you formed. You're just the types of people we'd want to become. Fighting for justice and equality."
"Well," For once it was the older woman's turn to look flustered. "We're glad to hear that."
"Do you think you are strong, boy?"
All three of them snapped to the towering man before them.
"Uh..."
"Do you think yourself strong?" He asked once more. "Strong enough to fight, even when nobody believes you? Strong enough to keep getting back up, even when the world pushes you down?" Ghira's eyes roved over to Blake. "Strong enough to protect Blake, even when there's no chance at all that you'll win?"
"Oh, uh... Yes!" The small boy nodded eagerly. "I'll grow strong and protect her with my life!"
Both their cheeks couldn't get any redder.
Blake covered her eyes with trembling hands.
Louis's POV
"And that was when I felt butterflies in my stomach for the very first time for someone who isn't from a book, movie, or series." Blake giggled in my lap.
She looks so happy.
"My face was so red and heated I thought I'd pass out."
"A persistent boy dedicating his life to his dreams, promising a utopia for the both of you to spend the rest of your lives in." I nodded. "I can see where you're coming from."
"Yeah, he was dreamy that way." She was fond of the memory, I could tell. "A dream that we could rise together and achieve one day... perhaps... just maybe. I was immediately smitten, perhaps even in love."
I gently ran my hand through her shoulders, giving it a good massage.
It really seemed like it huh...
I let her linger within her memories for a moment as I thought of what to ask next.
"From what I've heard so far, that sounds like it could've been your happily ever after." I pondered. "So what happened?
She let out a long-drawn devastated, yet at the same time conflicted, sigh.
"My dad." She said. "My dad happened."
Flashback
"Then prove it."
Blake's eyes widened.
"Ghira."
"Dad!"
"I need to make sure he knows what he's getting into." Ghira's gaze sharpened. "Of course if you're able to prove your words, I have no reason to-"
"I'll do it."
Blake's eyes widened.
"Adam!"
"Dear." Kali looked down and a concerned frown replaced her smile. "You don't have to-"
"I'll do it." Adam repeated, even when Blake stood in between her parents to stop Ghira from getting any closer.
"Adam..."
"Have a little faith," Adam shot her a thumbs up from under Kali's grip. "Will you?"
Later...
Blake's POV
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Blake."
One hand reached out to cup her face, before it trailed down, causing Blake to purr as she basked in its warmth.
It eventually made its way to her chin, where he tilted her head gently so that she could meet his eyes.
She unknowingly licked her lips.
"You said that you believe in the words that I wrote on those signs." He gave her a lopsided shrug. "Even if it sounded dumb."
"It was." She frowned in disgust, almost causing Adam to burst out laughing. "'Better to be beasts outside than in?' You have got to work on that."
"I will." He promised as he took a wooden weapon off a rack and brandished it. "But I've got to do this first."
"Don't force yourself," Blake warned as her mother stood beside her, nodding in agreement. "My father isn't one to hold back."
"Wouldn't count on it." Adam smiled back, causing her heart to flutter.
This idiot...
Even if he knows there's no way he'd win...
"I would appreciate it if you flirt with my daughter after you've won."
Ghira took off his long, purple robe that extended all the way to the floor, leaving his bare, muscular chest out in the open for the world to see. His beard was lightly trimmed yet did nothing to soften that gruff and solid look he had.
His face was almost chiseled and his entire upper body solid hard like bricks, with his fists looking like it needed weapon permits to use.
"Whenever you are ready..." Adam braced himself as he held out the wooden katana with both hands to the side of his head, donning a posture of a swordsman who was slicing in wide arcs. "Sir."
Adam's POV
"It takes both brain and brawn." He warned. "Your move."
Ghira stood still as Adam circled him with the prop of a blade in his hand.
Even if it's made for sparring, a full swing would still leave a bruise if there was enough momentum behind it.
Adam roared as he charged in, starting with an overhead swing as he felt weightlessness for a brief second, and aimed the burly man's hip.
A loud crack reached his ears, indicating that his attack actually landed.
He then dodged back in case Ghira decided to counterattack and then lunged back in, thinking that the man had overextended.
His feet skidded to a halt mid-swing .
Ghira hadn't moved at all from where he stood.
"Powerful." The beat of a man nodded. "Again."
Adam, either taking that as a command or a challenge did as told, yelling as he landed blows on the man's belly and thighs that seemed to be made of iron, before landing a third and fourth on his right calf.
When Ghira didn't budge, he drove the butt of the pommel on his sides before getting both of the man's forearms, and finally, drove the blade up to Ghira's face.
"What's wrong?" The mountain of a man taunted unmoving as the tip of the wooden blade dug into his forehead. "Out of breath already?"
"Raaaaarh!"
His hair flashed and glowed bright red as his swings became swift yet reckless, powerful yet uncoordinated.
His eyes were full of rage and desperation, with his teeth were gritted and his blood beneath his skin, boiling.
Rage flooded his senses numb as he took one last look in Blake's direction, then leaped back into the fray.
I have to win.
I must win.
I will win.
For her.
He held the blade with both arms, aiming the point of his blade onto Ghira's navel, and then noticed a dark shape rapidly barreling towards his face.
Blake could only watch in horror as Adam was sent flying.
"That one actually hurt a bit." Ghira admitted as he flexed his muscles. "But that's nowhere near what it takes to take me down."
Adam rubbed his sore jaw as a drop of blood trickled down the sides of his nose and down his split lip.
"It's your loss." Ghira concluded as his eyes narrowed.
Gone was his gentle, soothing voice, replaced by a more hostile and protective tone that spelled kill or be killed.
"I'm done fighting. I've seen enough."
Adam scrambled and charged back in.
"Adam! Stop i-!"
He was sent flying again by an elbow to the face.
Three more times he closed the distance, and each and every he was tossed back like a ragdoll, with his hair now practically glowing and defying gravity as if it were on fire.
His tattered clothes had splotches of blood in random places around his body, which was still holding itself together despite the constant abuse it's been through.
"That's enough!" Both Blake and Ghira yelled, with the former being more of a desperate scream and the latter squaring his feet and adopting a defensive pose.
"Never!" The air around Adam's body seemed to radiate with power as he held the blade in a strong stance barely out of his opponent's range. "I haven't given up yet!"
The crackling of lightning resounded all over the sparring room they were in, filling the walls of the room with a bright crimson glow.
"And as long as my body is still capable of moving," He snarled as he squared his legs. "As long as air still flows through these lungs... I never will!"
"ADAM!"
"Raaaaaaagh!"
Crimson light flooded the room, before it became too hard to look at and caused her eyes to scrunch shut.
Blake's POV
Her whole vision turned white, and for a moment Blake couldn't tell if she had her eyes open or closed.
The ringing in her ears caused her to reach out blindly in hopes to find anyone or anything to hold on to.
Once she managed to blink the dots out of her eyes, the first thing she noticed was the wavy, flickering silhouette that was somewhat forming before her like smokes from a flame.
"It's done."
The whites in her eyes receded while the shadows slowly came into clarity.
She heard faint gurgling.
Blake gasped.
Her mother sighed.
Ghira glared down at the boy who had his body pinned down by his sheer mass.
"You. Lose." Her father announced as he slowly lifted his knee off of his ribcage, and at that moment, Adam gagged...
I...
Is that blood?
"As promised, you shall take your leave."
"Grk..."
Adam looked like he was about to get back up to continue the fight, but Blake rushing up to his side prevented it otherwise.
"Are you..." Blake gulped as she held his back to slowly prop him up.
Ghira slowly stepped away with his eyes narrowed.
"Don't ever return."
"Wha-?" Blake couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Dad! That wasn't part of the deal!"
The moment Adam sat up, his eyes welled up the moment he met amber eyes.
He stared into them intently and then...
Scampered out of the room without saying a word.
Blake made to chase after him, but was stopped in place when her dad grasped her arm.
"Blake."
"See what you did?!" She cried. "I thought it was just a spar!"
Her father stared behind him.
"So did I."
Huh...?
Ghira's face turned from solemn and spite to concern and twinge of fear as he took one step to the side.
Blake's eyes widened and she back-peddled, and slipped on her rear in the process.
The entire back of their room was cleaved in two with charred remnants of blazing red ember coating the sides of the now gaping hole.
The scent of burnt tinder filled their noses.
"Not only would I have lost, but I would've also gotten seriously injured if I hadn't stepped away on time." Ghira snarled. "He's unstable Blake."
Adam...
Adam... did this?
"You can tell a lot about someone based on how they fight." Her father inhaled a sharp breath at the havoc behind him. "He wasn't aiming to protect..." His eyes narrowed. "He was aiming to kill."
No...
He wasn't going to kill.
He was doing it for her.
She had to go.
She had to find him!
Blake didn't hear anything her father said.
More specifically, she didn't want to.
Amber eyes glared, bored, and spat up at him like acid.
"Because you cornered him like a rat!"
"Bla-"
Her shadow dissipated into nothing in his arms.
Kali smiled. "Now do you think it was still a good idea to unlock her Aura?"
Ghira could do nothing but let out a frustrated groan.
Adam's POV
He pushed the heavy doors open with his trembling hands as his whole frame shook.
His nose started to clog as he heaved in a shaky breath.
His gaze trailed down to the wooden plank that he left on the front porch, and at that moment he wanted to do nothing more than kick it into the sea and let it sink to the bottom of the ocean.
His vision was blurry and burned with tears that were prickling his eyes.
"Adam!"
His eyes snapped open.
"Stay away!"
He scooped it up and sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him without looking back.
With his windpipe now clear, he was able to take in all the air that was needed to get out of there as far away as he could.
He was foolish to think this was ever a good idea.
This wasn't a fairy tale.
This was the real world.
In the real world, happy endings just didn't exist.
He really was his mother's son.
How naive.
To think that if he went into a rally, coincidentally met a really beautiful girl, and talked day in and day out, camped and huddled nearby a fire together...
And after a few days, thought that she might be the one.
It was just one of life's many illusions.
Not only was he embarrassed in front of a girl he liked...
He was embarrassed in front of a girl he liked by her own father.
Why didn't he just say no and return home?
Alone.
Where he would go back to working for low-paying income for the SDC branch in Mistral?
Where everything would be ok?
"Stop running!"
"No!"
He found a corner to work around, skidding and nearly tumbling as his hand burned with sand and gravel embedded within its callouses, planting and dragging the ground for a good meter or so before he took a sharp turn into a downhill slope which worked to his advantage, dashing when he can to get as far away as possible.
I'll come back...
He'll come back for her.
He'll come back when he's stronger.
Only then will he prove to that man that he's worthy.
And he will be worthy.
He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn't realize the rapidly forming silhouette until it was already too late.
They tumbled down a ramp, rolling and knocking each other about into a pile of limbs, before he felt a sudden jerk as something impacted a base of a wooden hut and let out a pained cry.
That...
That was Blake's cry.
Adam's mind snapped back to reality.
He glared at any other obstacle that could possibly be fatal, before he grasped Blake tightly in one hand and angled his body in a way to let the side of his head knock onto a wooden cart.
He felt nauseating pain, followed by warm liquid that trailed down the sides of his face, but he didn't care.
He didn't see it, but he was sure it was a wall of sorts, for he could feel his pelvic bone getting shattered.
White-hot pain lanced up the sides of his legs, but again, he didn't care.
Jabbing both the signboard and the wooden blade into the ground, he yelled aloud as he dug into the soil to bleed their momentum.
Come on...
Come on damnit!
After a few seconds, his legs finally found purchase, but not before he heard something snap.
Wind no longer roared in his ears, and he suddenly found his surroundings suddenly being muted and blurred, followed by shrill ringing that wasn't going away anytime soon.
Through the pain that was rapidly spreading from his knee, he finally slowed their momentum into a complete halt while Blake clung to him tightly.
"Hnnngh..." The girl hissed as one eye fluttered open.
Silly girl...
"You could've killed us both."
"I would not have if only you stopped running!" Blake pouted as she realized what she was doing a drew away.
"Why are you chasing me?" Adam frowned as he tried to hold the tears in. "I've... lost. Now I must pay the price."
"That might be the deal between you and my dad." She said as she crossed her arms. Gods she looked intimidating.
"But I'm willing to go wherever you're going." She concluded as he felt a warm palm rest upon his cheek, forcing his eyes to meet her own.
She looked...
Graceful.
Lithe.
Amazing.
Beautiful...
Blake then took her arms in his, and he could only hope that he didn't bleed himself out from the embarrasment of having a woman of his age comfort him.
"You won't have to be alone." She grinned cheekily. "I'm with you till the bitter end."
Adam broke down on his knees.
"You promise?"
She felt her arms wrap around his body.
"I promise."
Louis's POV
"Cute."
"Dumb." She countered with an expression I could only describe as pinched. "I made a promise I can't keep. Gave both of us false hope when he needed me most."
"Yeah well... sounds like he needed it at that moment." I pointed out. "So you just did what anybody would've done."
"Yeah..." She agreed as one tear fled her eyelid and cascaded down the side of her face. "He did need comfort at the time... Badly."
"So... he snapped after?" I asked. "Because you two couldn't officially be together without pissing your parents off?"
"No..." I felt her shiver, even when the windows are closed and the air conditioner wasn't active.
She hugged her arms and rubbed her shoulders.
For once it seemed like she's recalling something...
Traumatic.
"You don't have to if you don't want to..." I tried. "I've got a decent grasp on his character to con-"
"A bit too late to back out now." Amber eyes pierced my own. "Don't you think?"
I gulped, and waited for her breaths to stabilize.
"After we fled Menagerie we... we went on expeditions together. Just the two of us." She closed her eyes. "At times it was... romantic, though for the vast majority he was so focused on the task that he somehow almost always missed the signs I was giving."
"Other times... it was..."
She let out a shaky breath, and I can't help but give her ears a gentle squeeze as both a form of comfort and support.
And so, she reciprocated by summarizing her traumatic past in just three words.
"It... " She buried her face in my chest. "Was cruel."
Flashback
Blake's POV
"Go!"
Dozens upon dozens of faunuses poured out of the room as Adam gestured in his direction towards the sole exit.
"Go to the docks, you'll have ships waiting to get you out!" Blake shot at the padlock, ushering a ram faunus that must've been not more than twelve years old.
They've been doing this so many times they've lost count.
Three years.
Three damned years of finding concentration camps around Mistral and Atlas territory.
They haven't even touched Vale yet.
Three years of clearing them out, and yet the amount of incarcerated faunuses didn't seem to decrease even a little.
"Was that all of them?" Adam asked as he jogged up to her side.
"Seems like it." Blake nodded as the pitter-pattering of hundreds of bare feet on mud slowly faded beyond their hearing. "We should check the ba-"
Her ears rang, before sharp pain erupted from the back of her head.
"Blake!"
She saw a flash of red as Adam charged beyond her blurry vision, only to be thrown back into a wall that cratered upon impact.
"A...Adam!" Blake cried out weakly as she held out her hand.
A large boot landed next to her head, before she felt another blow on her midsection.
Something cracked.
The skin around her stomach started to turn blue as she started seeing double.
Despite being below the large figure, she couldn't make out even a singular feature.
"Do you have any idea how long it took for me to gather that many faunuses?"
Blake coughed out blood as she was forced to curl up into a ball unless she risks choking on her own blood.
Everything hurts.
"Years."
She felt like she was just hit by a truck.
"They... " Adam seemed to have suffered a similar fate, if the faint dripping that her faunus traits picked up were still accurate. At this point everything was muted, and everything was blur.
"Were never yours to began with." Her partner finished as he dragged his bloodied arm out of concrete, before grains and dust sprinkled onto the floor.
"Tch..."
Even though all she could see was a looming shadow, her ears picked up multiple footsteps that were all gathering behind her.
"Round 'em up and put them in better cages." The large man, and she knew he was built because of how big his shadow was, supported by how much her body was aching right now. "But I want them alive."
"Alive. Sir?"
"Yes you dimwit!" And she heard a loud smack of flesh on concrete ensue. "How am I supposed to make money if they're dead?!"
"But si-!" Another voice protested.
"No buts!" He roared angrily and stomped the ground to stop any further protests. "I want them alive and that's final!"
Whoever took the hit must not have Aura, for she heard something metallic clamber on the ground afterward, followed by a dull thump of what could only be a body.
"Make it so that they work extra hard. I need to make back all that I've lost today, and more."
"Yes sir."
A dozen or so figures strode in front of her casually, with most disregarding her completely and others staring behind their shoulders with lecherous intent.
Soldiers...
Atlesian soldiers that wore no badge or tags walked over her body and into her view, with one tanned one craning his neck out of sheer curiosity.
He wasn't meeting her eyes.
"Hey." What she assumed was his partner called out. "You could have fun with her later. This one's a problem."
They turned around to see two of their squad members knocked out, before she could see a streak of red as Adam slashed at another and overextended, barely keeping up with his own balance.
"My name... Is Adam. Taurus." He roared and cleaved one of the shock poles that they brought forth to try and subdue him with in two.
It was a weapon he crafted out the moment they decided to set out together, and it had served them well on their journey thus far.
The red blade swished across the air as he brought it down with one arm, disarming a guard that was aiming a rifle at his face, before he drove the butt of his pommel onto the guard's face, knocking him out.
"You would do well to remember that." He snarled before someone actually managed to get through his guard and landed a nasty shock on his calf.
The bull faunus let out a pained cry.
"Adam!"
Blake tried to crawl in his direction, only to be halted by someone grabbing onto her legs to pin her in place.
He stumbled forwards with a cry, before jabbing the red blade in the ground for support.
Both his legs were trembling, and he looked out of breath.
They weren't exactly prepared to face men of this caliber.
The rest surrounded him with sparking sticks that looked like it was overcharged with Dust.
Schnee Dust.
"Taurus... huh?"
Adam froze as his azure eyes snapped to the large man from before.
"Now where have I heard that name before... " Blake felt him stroking his beard. "Ah!" His fingers snapped. "Now I remember." The man turned around. "Yes, she was so soft, so gentle so... fragile."
Adam roared as he abandoned all sense of sensibility and charged directly for the man behind her.
"Adam... don't!"
"Shush now girlie, if you know what's best for you." The one massaging her legs sneered. "Then again, anything we offer will always be better, so if anything... be grateful!"
Who... are these people?
Why...
Why... are they here?
"She didn't even notice the aphrodisiac I put in her drink one day." She could make out a long, unkempt beard in the shadows of flickering light that hung above her. "And guess what? She went home overdosed, and never returned! AHAHAHA!"
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Adam seethed as he seemingly ignored the pain of ten or so shock rods piercing his back. Three or so guards struggled to push him back, and even when he abandoned his weapon long ago, they still seemed to be struggling to keep him in check. "I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!"
"Then come." Blake felt the presence kneel down on top of her.
No...
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!" The red-haired teen managed to break through the ranks and lunged for a good meter before more shock rods were planted onto his sides, driving him to his knees.
He convulsed for a moment, yet managed to cover a bit more distance before a dozen more shock rods connected to his body.
It was a miracle he was still alive with all the lightning Dust coursing through his veins.
"Feisty." The asshole praised as she felt a large finger trail down her back. "I like that in my slaves. You really are your mother's child."
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
His hair started to glow.
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
"Oh, I'm sure you will." He snickered lecherously.
Adam could barely reach out for her fingers as she reached out for his.
The air around them stank of fresh ozone mixed with the disturbing smell of burnt hair.
"A...dam..."
"Blake... just wait!" Despite barely being able to move, he managed to sock one weakly in the jaw before another replaced his position almost immediately afterward, and she heard another zap impact his unprotected back. "Wait for me! I'll get us out of here, just save your strength!"
Even though she knows there was no escaping...
She clung desperately to his words.
What more can one even do in the useless state she's in?
Adam's face dropped to the ground.
"A...dam..."
The soldiers dragged him roughly by the shoulders, with one even kicking his knees in place so that he could be held upright without too much effort.
His back was kicked so that he was arcing forward, witnessing anything and everything that was going to come next.
"Now now..." The edges of her vision started to darken. "You're a wild animal. And wild animals have to be contained. But first..."
It was but a small, bright, and glowing dot danced at the edge of her vision, but with the way the soldier was holding it out before his face, it wasn't a scroll.
It had to be either poisonous or hot.
"We need to make sure you're property. Our property." His voice grew more and more distant. "Not someone else's."
The yellow substance made contact with Adam's face.
His tortured screams filled her mind, with the last thing she saw in her ever so dimming vision being Adam's spasming body as the soldier drove the rod further in, charring his flesh.
He didn't stop even as Adam's eyes bulged out of his sockets and screamed his throat out.
One hand reached out for him.
"I'm... Sorry..."
And then...
Darkness overtook her vision.
A/N
Huh, probably the first time I wrote a backstory this long, hopefully, it wasn't too much fresh information to take in.
Also, 1 or so days overdue... since I planned to have this out on Monday but well...
Stuffz.
Anywho, hope you enjoyed it as usual, and thanks for reading!
Pa treon . com (/) R26
Reviewer Sessions
lilbigstoryteller: Ah, not judging a book by its chapters but by how it is overall. I can respect that. Hope this story would be worthy of your time.
Kage-kitsune9001: And there's your origin story, or half of it anyway. Enjoy!
paradox0.5white: Unsure of that yet. Training montage for what exactly?
WPUrchezem23: Can't promise writing 'frequently' but I'll update when I can. Glad to see people enjoying this story as usuals.