A/N: Hello. Thank you all for the support you are giving me. I never thought that my stories were that good. Thank you.

This story is close to it's climax. Adam will be facing his past, along with others. And what's going on in Atlas to change it for the better?

Ahh. It will be glorious!

-0-

Waves

Saphron pushed into the clinic breathing hard. She never thought that she would want a vehicle but now was a different story. She didn't really travel outside Argus what with the grimm and all so she thought it was fine to walk wherever she needed to go. Screw that noise. Next time she actually seesTerra it will be priority number one.

The nurses seemed to be running in all different directions, caring for the patients as they went. A bruise here, a broken bone here. One nurse who was trying to write down numbers from different patients dropped her clipboard on the floor, tripped on it and ended up on the floor.

Saphron got out of her stupor to help the nurse up. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Thank you, yes. With Nancy occupied and Doctor Bronze not here, people become babies. It doesn't help that Nancy is relentless. I don't think this place would run without her."

That was high praise for Nancy but Saphron was more unsure about what she could do to help. "Well, I was called in. I don't know how to do much but I'm probably better than nothing at least. How can I help?"

Saphron held out her hand with a smile on her face. The nurse smiled back. "How good are you with numbers?"

-0-

Adam sat on a medical bed in a back private room. The entire clinic smelt like anesthetic. It was worse in this cramped room. "What do you mean inevitable? I should have realized I wouldn't get any help from a human!" Adam said trying to get up only to be held down by Nancy.

"Listen! Both my father and I suspected something like this would happen, but we thought it would take years or even decades for problems to arise." Carl Bronze scratched his head, "This...this was not expected"

Adam sneered. "So I have no choice!?"

"You always have a choice. That wound in your chest is finally starting to heal. Whoever stabbed you is stubborn because their aura fought yours the entire way" Adam agreed with the doctor on one point. Blake was stubborn. She was the pain in his body, his soul. Apparently more physically now more than fictitiously.

"But that brings up the problem with your aura" He put up several charts on a small lit screen that showed different pictures of Adam's chest wound. "I don't know whether you were a huntsman, warrior, soldier for hire...whatever. All I know is that you were taught to have your aura heal your wounds"

Adam felt like rolling his eyes. It was aura 101 all over again. "Of course it heals your wounds! That's basic aura manipulation." Adam went to concentrate on his aura. As soon as he did, pain shot through his body, emanating from the wound Blake gave him.

"NO!" Carl Bronze signaled Nancy who punched Adam in the face. "Do you want permanent damage!? I just got done explaining this! Every time you use your aura it causes a feedback loop to quickly heal your body." The doctor looked at Adam. The man may have been bad in the past, but her was a patient now. Even though the world may have congratulate him on getting rid of a large threat, all Carl saw was a broken man, with a broken body. "Your body isn't healing you anymore, its hurting you"

Adam wanted to retaliate but when Nancy had punched him, even though it hurt, the pain he felt lessened when he lost concentration on his aura. Now he could feel the weight of what the doctor was saying, while also not feeling something else. His feet were numb. It wasn't like his aura burst back at the house, but it was still telling. "How long do I have?"

The doctor pondered and shook his head. "I may be a doctor, but humans are complex. That wound should have killed you outright. Right now I would call you lucky to be alive. How much time you have left before you can't use your aura anymore…." The doctor shook his head.

Adam stood back up, grunting as his weight pushed down on dead feet. As he pressed down his left foot felt like it had pins and needles and soon was back to normal. His right foot seemed the more stubborn of the two, keeping his weight but still feeling slightly numb. Slightly disconnected.

"You chhav been through many harships. You need to take kare yourself" Nancy said helping him stay up. Adam glared at her but only saw a caring look.

Adam looked at his situation. Bleak, that was normal. The problem was usually it didn't matter if he got out on top because in time he would get what he wanted.

This time though? He lost Blake. Almost died. Got indebted to several humans. Sherry….. Things were bad because for the first time since his youth he felt something he swore he would never feel again. Vulnerability.

"Listen Adam" The doctor said slowly. "You can't use your aura anymore. The more you use it, the more your body will try to heal what isn't hurt. Its trying to fuse bones, restitch muscles, reactivate electrical pathways. If you continue you will loose everything below your wound."

"What do you mean loose?"

The doctor knocked on his wheelchair. "You'll be stuck in one of these"

Adam wasn't going to hear it. His own worst enemy was his aura? Go figure. Adam stumbled out of the small room, throwing open the door. He was surprised that neither the doctor nor Nancy stopped him from leaving.

He got back to the main room. The nurses were moving around but seemed to have things under control. He looked around form Sherry, but couldn't find her.

He grabbed a nurse that was writing numbers down that were told to her by another nurse. It startled her. "Where is Sherry?"

The nurse obviously did not like being manhandled by a random patient. She frowned but with a squeeze answered, "She wanted some fresh air. She said she was going outside for a bit." Adam pushed the girl out of the way. "Wait! What about your head?"

In all the details he forgot that he had bandages around his head covering his left eye and scar. "Its fine, leave me alone!" he said just a little too forcefully before pushing through the nurses and out the front door.

He looked around again. It was pitch black outside but his faunus senses gave him some leway. His senses were never as good as Blakes, but he could still see better than a normal human. Sherry wasn't there. He looked to where they parked the truck. It was still there, so Sherry had to be at the clinic.

A nagging on his senses told him something was wrong. His body may have betrayed him, but he still trusted his senses. They were finely honed after years of training and battles. Adam turned towards the small group of people that moved out from an alleyway. "Hello Adam"

"What do you want?" Adam was not in the mood. He was still trying to deal with his emotions. The new information needed to sink in.

A squeaking voice came from underneath a dark hood. "It is not what we want, but what are lady can provide for you" The man Adam expected to be human took his hood down revealing overgrown teeth and tiny ears. "Are cause will be your hands. Our lady all the support you'll need"

"Don't want to hear it" Adam groaned. Religious fanatics, great. After dealing with Cinder and her team, he didn't seem keen on trying again. He kept a look out for Sherry. Maybe she had gone to get something to eat or drink? Not like she didn't know where places would be. He looked over, noticing that the faunus was still their, flanked by six lackeys. Wait six? There was only two before.

"The faunus need you. The White Fang-"

"Betrayed me when I needed them most. Left me to my own when together we could have changed the world. Cost me the only love I ever had!" Adam spouted off. Each accusation driving more hate into his thoughts. He would have made the humans pay. Blake would be safe and not betray him.

The mouse chuckled and got closer to Adam, his posse following him step by step. A quick grabbing of Adam's weapon stopped their advance. "The White Fang needed to be destroyed. It wasn't the true organization. A Parody at best. A retelling of what our lady started long long ago"

"Back off. I'm still not interested in you or your 'lady'. Scurry along before I introduce you to Wilt." With that Adam hoped they would leave, but they stayed still.

"I think you are coming with us Adam. Our lady can give you what you've lost." The mouse had a little smirk, clearly amused with something.

"Try me. I could take you all on at the same time without breaking a sweat" Adam threatened. There was no one around. The streets were dark and quiet. A little too quiet for a city this size, especially for this inner city area. Where was the night life? No homeless? Not even any random passerby?

"Oh no." The mouse squeaked. "We would not harm you. The lady wants you. But we have someone for you. Your pet was all alone, so we gave her a home"

Before the mouse faunus could say anymore he found himself on the pavement. He screamed. The people that were crowded behind him backed up noticing their leader went down. Adam was next to him, sword drawn. "Who?"

"The human girl that was with you"

Adam put the tip of his sword underneath the man's chin. "Choose your next words very carefully"

"We wanted to help you. She was making you weak. Together we faunus will rule right? You can keep her if you want to. I'm sure our lady won't mind. But but but, she is with our lady now so you w-will have to go to her to get her back….please don't hurt me"

Adam seemed to pause for a moment. He took the sword out from under the mouse's chin. He grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, dragging him up off the ground completely. He sheathed his sword. The mouse faunus seemed relieved. "Wrong answer"

Adam punched him in the face. And again. And again. And again. The mouse was unconscious, with blood coming from cuts and bruises Adam had given him. The entire time Adam was beating him the group just watched on like they were waiting for something. With one final punch he dropped the now fully culled faunus on the puddle of his own blood. "He's not dead, but he can be" Adam stated without regret or sympathy. "Where is Sherry?"

"We can bring you to her" one of the robed figures said hastily.

"Good"

-0-

"Honey, I'm home!" Terra said it with the most energy she could muster. She knew that Saphron would see through it instantly but that didn't mean Terra wasn't going to try.

"Terra is that you?" She heard someone whisper as loudly as they could, "I'm in the living room with Adrian. He's sleeping"

Terra tried to place the voice but couldn't. It was hard because it was a whisper, but the fact that an unrecognizable voice just said they had her son in her house. If they thought that Saphron was the only one that could go off on a person, they were dead wrong. Emphasis on dead if they hurt Adrian.

Her maternal instincts kicked in, throwing her exhaustion to the wind. Terra grabbed the first thing she could reach and ran into the living room. She held it out towards the intruder, not giving an inch….

Terra was confused.

"I'm glad your back" Whispered a very...frazzled Yang Xio-Long. He eyes were red and one of them were twitching. There was one ear-plug in her left ear closest to Adrian. Her hair also seemed to be unkempt in areas. "Adrian is a handful. Ruby was more understanding, though I guess she was older when I took care of her….What are you doing with that umbrella?"

Terra looked down to notice the object she grabbed was the bright pink umbrella Saphron bought last year during the rainy season. It had sat at the door left ever since. She put it down before remembering a crucial detail about Yang that her brother-in-law told her about in one of his adventure stories. "Sorry….but why are your eyes red. I thought they only did that when you were mad?"

Adrian shifted and rolled his head closer to Yang's chest. He opened his hand and reached out, grabbing a handful of Yang's hair and pulled it out. Opening his hand, he let the pieces fall down to the floor where it met with several others that were already there. Adrian then rolled back over.

Yang's eye twitch sped up a little before being dialed back. "Let's just say he likes to pull hair" Yang gestured to give Adrian to Terra.

Terra felt some exhaustion come back since her adrenaline had calmed down, but happily took Adrian from Yang. It had been so long since she had seen her little boy. Since the attack really. Hours upon hours of fixing problems with the Atlesian technology and nights spent sleeping at work had kept her from personal attachments. She wanted some mom time.

It was harder than she admitted. Her boy was growing up so fast. She wanted to stay like this for a long while. She didn't know when she would get it again.

Yang sat next to her watching Adrian sleep.

A knock on the door snapped both girls out of their daze. Yang looked at Terra before the knock happened again. Louder. Yang walked to the door and opened it a crack. At some point in their daze it had started raining. A crackling came down outside the door.

"Can I come in?" A familiar feline voice asked Yang with a smile

-0-

The overcast day had not put a damper on the celebration. Not that anyone was celebrating. It was a bearable cold that swept through the Mantle streets as the Atlas military had set a large platform up in the middle of the square. Several citizens had crowded around the stage to see what was going on.

On stage Winter held the spotlight. Team Junior (JNR) Flanked the stage trying to look like they were experienced huntsman.

"-And with the ever-increasing threat Remnent faces we of the Atlas military do grant the Specialist Rank Two title to Specialist Cordovin!" Cordovin in all her minute stature walked in full ceremonial uniform onto the stage. She was smiling as Winter presented her with her Specialist pin. Crodovin was so disappointed when she heard they put the rewards presentation in Mantle instead of Atlas. She was even more upset that Ironwood wasn't presenting it to her personally.

But oh did she revel in the fact that of all people chosen as his replacement was Winter herself. The smugness she worse could not leave her face. She tried to be as thankful as she needed but was defiantly going to get mileage out of this. Who wouldn't?

"Thank you for the honor of-"

Winter cut her off while handing her a paper. "And now as Specialist Cordovin's first act in her power she will dole out punishment!"

What? This wasn't right. It was customary for Cordovin to give a speech and then for there to be a reception with five star cuisine. The best Atlas had to offer. What was Winter trying to pull?

Four men that were tied together by one long rope were brought up to the stage. Winter seemed to be waiting for something. A flash from Winter to the paper she held told Cordovin what was expected.

'READ ALOUD' was prominently put across the top in the generals own handwriting.

"B-By the command of General Ironwood I hereby strip these four men of all their military titles, honors, and the like. They are hereby dishonorably discharged from service in Atlas and an investigation is placed to authenticate the authority they performed under." Cordovin swore she knew these four. A quick glance at first didn't show anything to distinguish them.

"The charges are as followed:

Assault and Battery of a civilian(s)

Sexual Assault

Terroristic threatening

Theft

Dereliction of Duty

Unauthorized use of Deadly Force

As pronounced guilty on all counts by the military court of Atlas"

The groups of people that seemed to have no interest in her awards ceremony were now cheering that the four men were kicked out of the military. Cordovin was right. These four were promoted by her. She remembered them now. They were prime students in Argus that were quickly put up the ladder to to their...disinterest in the handling of filthy faunus. She was sure they were going to the top. Then the faunus would learn their place.

She looked over. Winter was smiling now, both hands held behind her back in a military fashion, staring directly at her. Cordovin was not just frustrated. She was livid. These fools ruined her moment. Winter knew. She had to have known these people were promoted by her, that's why this was happening. If she knew, then Ironwood knew. That was not good.

Cordovin kept her look on her face of a dignified soldier. Why wouldn't she. She could not look weak in front of her rival. If you looked close though, you could tell something was wrong with her. She was far too pale, even for her own marble skin. She was shaking even in her stuffy military garb.

That paper said there was going to be further investigations. If they already knew who promoted them, it was only a matter of time.

She was in Atlas for celebration.

She was on thin ice.

-0-

A/N: Things are ramping up, mostly for Adam.

The 'Men' that helped with Blake and Yang have been compromised! I am sure that they will change their ways given all they will certainly go through.

Adam, don't you know! Never take it out on the messenger!