The prompt this week was "In a moment of quiet no one thought would happen, Adam and Blake have a frank, honest discussion about their past, relationships, and Faunus Rights."
The Seer Grimm carried Blake down the dark, musty hall of the castle closely following Tyrian. The tendrils wrapped around her limbs were unyielding despite their delicate appearance. She had struggled against them for a while, but she gave up when she realized she was just wasting her strength.
Finally Tyrian stopped in front of one of the cells of Salem's dungeon and unlocked the door. He grinned wickedly at Blake before moving aside to allow the Seer into the cell. The dungeon was barely lit by the tiny and infrequent windows, but it was enough for Blake's Faunus eyes to make out her cellmate.
"I'm going to kill you when I get out of here!" snarled Adam as he struggled against the chains holding his wrists above him. "Both of you!"
"Oh, I'm just shaking in my boots!" replied Tyrian with a grin. He moved to chain Blake up on the opposite side of the room from Adam, the Seer Grimm holding her in place as he did so.
Blake knew that imprisoning her in the same cell as Adam was some kind of sick joke, but she wasn't sure if the joke was on her or Adam.
Adam continued to shout at Tyrian until he finished chaining up Blake. Then the scorpion Faunus kicked Adam in the stomach before leaving the two prisoners alone in the darkness.
After that Adam turned his verbal abuse towards Blake. He screamed at her, threatened her, and demanded that she answer him. She remained silent through it all, not even looking at him for the half hour it took him to wear himself out.
Neither Faunus said anything for a long time after that. Until Blake finally thought of something she wanted to say.
"Did I ever tell you why I'm scared of dogs?"
Adam's mask had been taken from him, and even in the dark Blake could see the full surprise on his face. It took him a few seconds to respond.
"Yeah, the police dog that attacked you at that rally. What were you, seven?"
"Yeah, that's right," Blake answered, a little surprised that he remembered. "A while ago I was thinking about it, and me being scared of dogs because of that, it's kind of like how the humans are with us, isn't it?"
Adam glared at her.
"Are you serious?" he demanded. "Are you actually serious right now? Humans hate us just because of who we are."
"Maybe some of them do," Blake agreed before he could continue. "But I think some of them feel like they have a good reason to be afraid of Faunus. And thanks to you a lot more of them feel that way."
"I'm only giving them what they deserve!" Adam shouted.
"Really?" demanded Blake. "You're telling me everyone at Beacon was just getting what they deserve? You're telling me Yang deserved to lose her arm?"
"Your partner?" sneered Adam. "I'm sure she was just an angel. After all, she had Faunus friends."
Blake groaned with exasperation and shook her head, wondering why she'd expected anything else from Adam. But the former White Fang leader wasn't done.
"If Beacon was so great, why did you hide your ears while you were there?"
"It wasn't perfect," snapped Blake. "I never said it was. There were plenty of people who were really awful. But I don't think indiscriminate murder is the best solution, especially when you also start targeting any Faunus who disagrees with you!"
"You and your parents stood in the way of progress," Adam growled. "I was getting justice for the Faunus race, and you stood in my way."
"What you were doing was not justice," Blake countered. "Justice is making the world a better place, not filling it with more hate and suffering."
"I'm hurting them so that they can't do the same to us!" Adam shot back.
"You're making them want to hurt us more!"
"As if they need a reason to hate us!"
Blake hissed, struggling to control her rising anger. When she felt her emotions were under control again, she spoke softly.
"What about Weiss?"
Adam sneered.
"The Schnee? What about her?"
"We were the thing she grew up being afraid of," Blake said frankly. "Like me with dogs. The White Fang was like the police dog at that rally."
Adam scoffed.
"What because we stole from her daddy's company? We were just taking back what-"
"Adam, we killed her uncle," Blake interrupted. "When she was twelve."
Adam actually stopped for a moment.
"We didn't," he muttered. "I was fifteen then. Not that I wouldn't have; that bastard had it coming!"
"You think she knew that?" asked Blake. "You think she understood it? To her it was just us hurting her and her family. Her father was awful enough before, you think he got better after his brother was murdered?"
"Oh, am I supposed to feel bad for the Schnee princess because her daddy wasn't always nice to her?"
Blake sighed.
"Adam, I don't know everything that you've been through. You've told me some, but I don't really know. But I want you to imagine for a second the people who put you down and beat you and tried to turn you into a slave, and I want you to imagine all of that coming from your own family."
Adam opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. For the first time since Blake had met him, Adam really didn't know what to say.
"And you know what?" asked Blake. "That isn't an excuse for Weiss to decide that Faunus are all criminals. It was still wrong for her to think that. But more violence wasn't going to change her mind. And she did change her mind! What she needed was to meet a Faunus face to face and see that we're not monsters."
"And now you think you can change them all?" asked Adam. There was still scorn in his voice, but it was softer now, less certain.
"I think I can change enough of them," Blake answered. "It might be slow, but I'd rather crawl forwards than sprint backwards."
"Naïve," muttered Adam, looking away.
The two Faunus sat in silence after that. Blake just let Adam think about what she'd said.
You need to be punished for everything you've done, Adam. But at the same time, I want to see you change. I have to believe that you can because if so… then I know anyone can.