Chapter 22
It was late afternoon as the group gathered once again. "Alright students! Ms Rose and I shall check the perimeter while the rest of you set up a campsite!" The Doctor passed his pack over to Yang and pointed to a nearby three-story building. "That one should do nicely!" And then he was off again. Ruby shrugged and followed, taking Zwei with her.
Yang sighed and started the trek towards the building. The first floor was covered in refuse and would take them far too long to clear a space to sleep. The second was better in that there was less debris on the floor, but the walls had large holes in them and she didn't fancy dealing with the wind. Unfortunately, the final floor was a no-go, too little floor left to sleep on. So they got to work clearing a space on the second floor. After a few minutes, Adam slowly shifted over to her.
"Yang I wanted to talk with you."
Yang smiled. "Oobleck have a chat with you too?" Adam nodded as he pushed a desk towards the wall. "He asked why I became a Huntress."
"What did you say?"
"That I was in for the adrenalin and excitement. You?"
Adam considered for a few moments. "I told him the truth. That I am seeking redemption."
"How'd he react?" Yang asked as she gathered the remains of a broken table.
"He told me that just by being here, by choosing this path I was already redeemed. That I've already atoned for what I've done." He started moving a cluster of rocks towards the centre of the room for a fire pit.
"That's… a new one." Yang wasn't entirely sure of what to say. "Do you agree?"
"No, I don't. It seems too easy. Too simple. To just make one choice and be forgiven? No, it's not enough." Adam moved the stones into a vague circle.
"Maybe that's the point. Because you think it's too simple you keep working at it so you stay on that path?" Yang dropped the gathered wood next to the circle of rocks. "I don't really agree with the idea." She scowled and looked out of the broken wall into the darkening sky. "If all it takes is one choice, then it doesn't really mean anything. You aren't really atoning, you just decided to do better and then boom! You don't have to worry about all the things you've done."
Adam nodded, looking thoughtful. In the following silence, Yang's mind wondered. If Oobleck is right, what would that mean for Raven? If she just decided to change would that mean I have to accept her as my mother? Let her be near Ruby? No. I'll never let that happen. Even if she saves the world from the Grimm I don't think I could forgive her.
Yang took a deep breath and took her growing frustration out on the debris. It didn't take long to clear and soon enough they had a small fire and their bedrolls set up nearby. It wasn't what she would call comfortable, but it is serviceable. Oobleck and Ruby returned soon after.
"Ah, good work team! Now, when in hostile territory you should make sure that you always have one person awake and keeping watch for Grimm! Sort out the watch order amongst yourselves and prepare to rest! Tomorrow we continue our search!" Oobleck vanished in a blur, leaving the team alone in the camp.
"So we don't get a full nights sleep?" Yang sighed.
Adam scoffed. "The other option is that we die in our sleep. I'd prefer to be a little tired."
"I'll take the first one!" Ruby said with a raised hand.
"Alright. I'll take the second then. Wake me up after a couple hours, alright Ruby?" Yang said as she pulled her sister into a hug. Ruby whined and scrambled to escape her grip. Yang let her go, sat down by the fire and helped Adam cook their canned dinner.
The sky grew dark as they ate their bland meal.
Adam sighed as he lay back on the bedroll. Sleep hadn't come very quickly this night and from the sounds around him, he doubted the others were having it any easier. Ruby sat quietly in the hole in the wall, watching the world below with her dog.
"Hey, Adam… you awake?" Yang hissed at him. He sighed again.
"Yes."
"Why do you think he was asking about our reasons? Well, you I get…"
"Checking if we were just children playing at this or if we understood the gravity of the job maybe?"
"Maybe… Hey Weiss, are you awake?"
"Of course I am!" The other girl hissed back. "I think he…" She paused for a moment and let out a sigh "I said I want to honour my family's name. I meant it of course but… I… I want to change things. My father has taken the company into a dark area. If I had just stayed in Atlas, either as a Huntress or taking an office job or something else… I don't think anything would have changed. I would have been another cog in his machine or so close I wouldn't have been able to be myself. My father didn't start the SDC and I refuse to let him be the end of it."
Adam chuckled. "Good. Keep that fire." His smile faded. "I came here to change. To be better without really understanding what that would mean. I still don't know. But before that I wanted to change the world, to make things better for the Faunus. I did whatever I could to achieve that… But I eventually stopped caring about morality and that disregard led to Blake becoming what she is. She took my idea of a perfect world to heart and now she will do anything to reach it. But that world isn't perfect for everyone."
"Adam… I'm sure you'll show her she's wrong." Yang's voice was filled with worry.
"I hope so…"
Yang fell back to her mat with a groan. "At least you both have goals. I'm just going with the flow. It's worked well for me, but I don't think it can really last. I'm not like Ruby, I don't want to be a Huntress to help people. She's always wanted to be a hero like the ones in her books. Helping people and saving lives without asking anything in return. Even before she could fight, she knew what she wanted. That's why she trained so hard to get to where she is."
"She's just a kid." Weiss replied.
"She isn't. None of us are. She knows how important this job is, just like we do." Adam sounded almost annoyed.
Yang sighed. "We're in the middle of a ruined city armed to the teeth. We aren't kids anymore."
"We chose this life, this job. Now we have to do it." Adam replied.
"If it is just a job, then maybe we need to stop romanticising it. This is a job to protect people. Our personal goals have to come second." Weiss said, sounding just as sad as Adam felt.
Should he put being a Huntsman before saving Blake and the White Fang? Haven't I already? We hunted them down but we did it around school. It wasn't our focus. Not really. It hasn't been my focus for months.
Adam fell asleep, wondering what he was going to do.
"Zwei!" Ruby hissed, chasing the corgi through the ruined streets. He'd woken up and runoff, so she had to give chase. I wish I'd told Yang!
She turned the corner and found the corgi relieving himself on a fire hydrant. Ruby facepalmed. "You could have done that closer to camp!" She waited patiently for him to finish before grabbing the dog, who looked at her innocently. "That might work on Weiss but it won't on me mister!"
"Hey did you hear that?" A voice called from around the corner, followed by footsteps. Ruby dashed back around the previous corner.
A pair of White Fang members turned the corner and looked around. They stood around for what felt like hours before turning and walking back. "We gotta follow them!" Ruby hissed quietly, putting Zwei down and following the pair.
Several minutes passed before they finally stopped, meeting up with another pair of grunts outside of a subway entrance. Are they using the underground railway? That would be a good place to hideout. I need to tell the others!
As she took a step back the ground groaned. Ruby stared down in horror as the ground gave way, sending her toppling downwards. She pushed Zwei away, throwing him onto solid ground with Crescent Rose.
Ruby slammed into the top of a building. She felt her consciousness fading, the world was being consumed by black. As she heard muffled voices and felt herself being picked up all she could think of was the hope that Zwei was safe.
Ruby groaned as she began to wake up. She was being held up by a pair of White Fang members and as she raised her head she came face to face with a familiar criminal. "Well hello there, Red! Long time, no see."
"Torchwick…" Ruby was still getting her bearings. They were within a large cavern, filled with buildings and a massive tunnel. A large train sat waiting on the tracks.
"So Red, how'd you find us?" Torchwick asked, using his cane to bring her back to face him. His mouth twitched into a cruel smile. She didn't answer. "Oh, not gonna confess? Maybe I should beat it out of you then!"
"Torchwick!" A voice called from behind him. His face turned into a scowl for a brief moment before returning to his smile.
"Kitty Kat!" He called back as he turned to face the voice, allowing Ruby to get a decent look. She swallowed as she recognized the new figure.
"If she's here, the Traitor won't be far behind."
"There wasn't anyone else around the area, your little soldiers checked."
"We don't have long before he'll catch up. Go ahead and prepare the train. She might not like us starting early, but it's better this goes off at all." Blake stared at Torchwick, who eventually relented.
"Alright, then. You get to deal with the intruder then." He said with a bow before heading onto the train.
"Blake…" Ruby said, gaining the woman's attention.
"So he told you about me? Surprising. I thought he would have kept that a secret. What else has he told you?"
"That you're an idealistic and smart girl. That you love books. That you wanted to change the world." Ruby smiled as she spoke.
Blake folded her arms. "So more about me than about himself." Blake smiled. It made Ruby feel uneasy. "Did he tell you about his biggest secret?" She said as she leaned in.
"W-what do you mean?" Ruby said, unsure of what she meant.
Blake laughed and leaned all the way in, grabbing Ruby's chin and forcing her to look into the voids where her eyes should be.
"So he never told you about his scar?"
A/N: Dun dun duuuun! That's right, Blake's here! After a couple of character-driven conversations, we get one of the bigger changes. The first two scenes were pretty hard really, especially getting Weiss' stuff across without being just canon. But yeah, Blake is here and doesn't take chances with Adam, though she does take a chance to mess with Ruby. What will come of it I wonder?
I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time!