Chapter 57
The elevator's soft whirring did nothing to ease the tension between those aboard. Raven, Vernal and Lionheart stood in the centre, their weapons sheathed, while Qrow and JNPR surrounded them with weapons drawn. Oscar looked around them, worried.
Are you alright?
I think so. That fight was… tough. But I'm alright. I'm just worried about all this.
Understandable. I'll stay in control for now in case anything happens.
Okay. I… I do want to be in control but… I'm scared.
Oscar, despite not being in control of his own body, could feel the smile that came onto his face. I understand Oscar. You'll be in control one day. This is simply me ensuring we survive.
I know. I… thanks.
Oscar went silent, leaving Ozpin in control. It was a feeling that, despite the hundreds of times he'd done it, never felt right. Once they merged the body would feel like his own, but until then it was as if he was stealing it.
It just felt wrong.
Ozpin shook himself free of such thoughts and focused on the job at hand. They had to secure the Relic, see Raven off and hand Leonardo over to the police. All before Oscar's tired body gave in to exhaustion.
The silence stretched on and on and on. The tension only rose as they went deeper into the mountain. I wish we had some elevator music playing. Oscar sighed.
Ozpin couldn't help the chuckle that built up within him. Everyone gave him a confused look but he ignored them with a smile. Well, I'll be sure to install some next time around.
Eventually, they arrived at the bottom. Large gilded gates opened, letting them out into the massive cavern that housed the great tree and the gateway to the Relic of Knowledge. Golden leaves glimmered and glowed, joining the stone path in lighting up the space around them.
The dim lights in the rock beneath them grew in strength and brightness as they walked closer to the tree. Qrow nudged Vernal forward, but Raven was the one who walked to the great door before them.
"You didn't…" Qrow whispered, sorrow and anger in his voice.
"She was weak. Pathetic. She didn't deserve this power. I gave her mercy." Raven replied with a cold tone. Her hand touched the metal and filled it with life. A bright blue glow in the form of vine-like plants spread across the door, followed moments later by the sound of each part opening.
Soon enough the door was open, revealing a desert land within the tree. Raven stared at the Relic hovering within before she sighed and turned around. "Done. Take the Relic and leave me alone."
Qrow growled. Ozpin just nodded, stepping between the siblings before anything could happen. "You may go Raven. Just remember not to cause too much trouble."
"Yeah, whatever." The woman groaned with a roll of her eyes. Her sword flicked out and cut the air, forming a whirling portal of black and red. Raven and Vernal entered without a parting word. The vortex vanished and Qrow let out an explosive sigh.
Ozpin shook his head for a moment before he entered the inner Vault. The desert was hot, as if he had been transported right into Vacuo. It's been a long time since I entered one of the Vaults.
Really?
Yes. Several decades. The last time was just after the schools had been founded. Soon after the Vaults were made in the first place.
Wow. That lamp looks beautiful…
It does. Ozpin smiled. Internally, deeper than even Oscar could read, he thought of Jinn. She would likely be sighing in exasperation at the thought of him taking the lamp once more. But it was too dangerous to allow anyone else access. Thankfully nobody else knew the name and without that, you couldn't summon her.
The gilded lamp was light in his hands as if its weight was in opposition to its size. It was as if it hovered in his hands. The Relic began to shrink as he willed it to be a more manageable size. He then clipped it onto his belt and turned to the others.
"Time for us to head back. Leonardo we will need to have a long chat soon."
"..." Leo didn't speak. He simply looked between them all with a guilty, worried look.
How far you have fallen, old friend.
The hug was both too short and too long for Adam. He wasn't much of a hugger so he wanted it to be quick, but it had been so long since he'd seen them that he wanted it to be longer. Instead, it was only a moderate amount of time. Eventually, they had to pull apart.
"Ahh! I can't believe you're here!" Ruby exclaimed.
Adam smiled. "Hm. I came because of the White Fang. But I suspected I might run into you all. I didn't really think it would happen, however. So… we can skip the details, but I could do with a quick overview."
Weiss folded her arms. "Basically Cinder is part of a group working with a being of pure hatred and they want specific items from each academy. The headmaster here, Lionheart, betrayed us and joined them out of self-preservation."
"And the kid is important for a few reasons." Yang added. "Oh and I suppose my biological mother decided to betray us as well." She spat the latter sentence, anger apparent in her voice.
"I see. I came to stop Blake and the White Fang from destroying the academy, which could have caused a second Human-Faunus war. One we would lose." He sighed.
"Did you stop her?" Yang asked.
"Yes. She retreated but I stopped her. I… I let her go. I thought you all needed my help more."
Yang's eyes widened. "You let her go to help us?"
"... Yeah." He shuffled uncomfortably. "I've had a lot of time to think about things and had a lot of help along the way. I've tried to grow and learn since I left Vale. My new goal is to help make the world a better place. Stopping Cinder was more important than capturing Blake. So I let her go."
Yang smiled. "So that means you're sticking with us?"
"Yes. I'll leave the hunt for Blake to Ghira."
"Ghira?" Ruby asked. Adam simply turned and waved for them to follow.
The courtyard was a mess. Airships spun around the area, their searchlights scattering around the area in search of any who tried to escape. The people of Menagerie were taking plenty of White Fang captive. Ghira and Kali were talking with SSSN, who all looked tired and battered as they sat on the ground resting.
"Ghira! Sun! What did I miss?"
Ghira waved Sun down as the blonde tried to stand and then came over himself. "Adam. We won. We captured most of the White Fang who were a part of this operation however Blake and her direct subordinates escaped. I'm taking our forces and going after them. Sun and his group are staying. Some lady came out and hit them with a lot of fire so they need rest."
"Cinder. Damn. Alright then. Ghira… good luck."
Ghira smiled. "Thank you. I'll probably need it. I've been listening to our captives and apparently, things aren't going well in the White Fang."
"Oh?"
"Multiple factions all angry at Blake. Sienna is locked up. We're going to go free her before we hit the main headquarters. We could use her help."
"I see. Could you tell her I'm sorry?" Adam's question caused Ghira to raise an eyebrow. "She did a lot for me and I… well I wasn't the best person back then."
"Hm. I'll tell her." He smiled and looked behind Adam. "So… is this your team?"
"Yes." Adam smiled and introduced them one by one.
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you all and thank you."
"You're… thanking us?" Ruby asked.
"Of course. You turned Adam into a good man. A man I can actually support." Ghira said it nonchalantly, but his words sent a shiver through Adam.
"Ghira..." Adam's eye was wide in shock. Ghira saw and let out a short laugh.
"You've changed and it's thanks to these fine ladies that I may have a chance to hug my daughter again. They changed you, and you brought about a world where I can see us as a happy family once more. So thank you. All of you."
"No problem sir!" Ruby beamed at the praise.
"It was only natural. I couldn't just let him stay as his brooding self." Weiss grinned.
"Yeah, we couldn't just not do something about him." Yang agreed.
"Really now? And here I thought I changed the most after I left you all. Strange."
"Oh no, it was definitely our influence." Weiss countered.
"One hundred percent."
"Yup all us."
Adam laughed at the trio. Or was it laughed with them? The latter probably. Adam looked to Ghira. "Thank you. For everything you've ever done for me. I hope you can get through to Blake."
"You put a dent in her ideology today. I think I can make it through now. Go and rest. We'll take care of everything else."
"Thank you…"
Soon enough the others returned from wherever they went and handed Lionheart off to the police. The two women were nowhere to be seen. Afterwards, the young boy collapsed while saying something about taking a relic to Atlas. Adam sighed.
"Probably about time for the details."
Yang returned his sigh. "Yeah. Let's talk back at the house."
"So… who should start?" Ruby asked with a worried chuckle. The team was arranged around the living room of the house they'd been staying at. Adam raised his hand.
"I get the feeling you all have some big secret that will shake the very foundations of my understanding of the world, so I think I shall start."
"Where'd you get that idea?" Yang raised a brow at him.
"Nora was giggling while collecting a dozen whiteboards and I've heard words like 'relic' several times tonight. Also something about Cinder wanting to destroy Huntsmen academies for some random items. Obviously, it's something big."
"Fair." Ruby shrugged. "What do you want to talk about then?"
"Well… most of what I've done since leaving Vale was travel, think about things and do some fighting. But what I think you all need to know is just who I was before Beacon and what made me that way." He looked at them all one by one to see them nod.
He took in a deep breath and began. He told them of being raised in a mining camp. Of joining the White Fang and falling for Blake. But then he got to what was truly new to them. His body count. Before now he'd never really talked about how much hatred and spite he had nor how many he'd killed because of it. He laid that all on the table now.
The others looked a little sickened by it. They had to reconcile the man before them with a violent murderer.
"But… why? Why were you so angry?" Ruby asked, her voice small and quiet. Yang bit her lower lip. He'd already shown her after all.
"Well…" He paused for a moment, breath hard to come by. "Weiss. Please know that I show you this now not to hurt you, but to help you understand."
She looked confused as he reached up and undid his eyepatch. As the cloth fell away he heard gasps from the two who hadn't seen it. When he looked up it was to see tears in Weiss and Ruby's eyes.
"You…" Weiss began. "You were branded? My father let you be branded! YOU WERE BRANDED!" What began as a quiet, tearful whisper quickly exploded into righteous anger.
"The man who did it is dead. I'm sure Jacques never even heard about it."
"I don't care. My father let this happen on his watch! I can't believe he would let this happen! If this ever got out the SDC would be slammed by the media! We'd lose all credibility!"
"Thanks." Adam sarcastically drawled.
"I'm talking from his perspective, you dolt! He has no reason to allow this to happen! The fact it led to one of the strongest terrorists we've ever had to deal with should be reason enough to call my father an imbecile!" Weiss'eyes glowed with anger. It made him smile.
"Thank you. Seriously this time."
"Well seeing as we're going to Atlas now I think we'll find the time to teach him a lesson. You and I hanging out together should be enough to get him to act irrationally."
Adam laughed. "I can get behind that."
"So…" Ruby interrupted. "You really did kill people?" Adam's jovial mood died in an instant.
"Yes."
"Bad people?"
"Most of the time? No. No most of them were fine people. Just worked for the wrong company at the wrong time."
"Oh…" Ruby swallowed hard. "I… I don't really get that. Why you would ever want to kill people. But… I know who you are now. I know you aren't going to kill anyone else. Right?"
Adam looked deep into her silver eyes and there he saw hope. Hope that he would never kill again. He smiled. "Ruby. The only time I will ever willingly kill again would be to protect the people I care about. But that's only if I have to. If I can avoid it then I will."
Ruby looked back into his eyes, his good and his bad, and then nodded. "I don't like what you did. But I believe that you aren't going to do it anymore. So we can leave it at that."
"Thank you…" Adam was surprised by how much her words had hit him. His voice had died choked out by her acceptance.
Yang looked at him for a while before she sighed. "Welcome back Adam."
"Glad to be back." He smiled and pulled his eyepatch back on.
At that point, Ruby stood up. "Nora! It's time!"
One of the doors barged open and JNPR came out, bringing an assortment of whiteboards with them. Adam swallowed as Nora set them up. The ginger turned to face him with a manic grin.
"Now begins the Nora Catch-up Bootcamp! When I'm done with you you'll know everything we do! Are you prepared!?"
"Uhm… I suppose?"
"Good! Now it all started…"
And so she told him everything they knew. That was the day he learned about Salem, Ozpin, and just what Huntsmen existed for.
A/N: And so V5 ends and the Relic is claimed. Plus Adam opens up and reveals everything. Weiss explodes in anger at what Jacques has done, Yang(having heard most of it already) lets the others take the talking stick and Ruby... well she doesn't really understand why Adam did what he did but she knows he's changed. Of course, she's not naive or anything. It's just hard to reconcile "Adam, the Brooding Ex-Terrorist" with "Adam, the Mass Murdering Terrorist". Hard to blame her tbh. Oh yeah, the whiteboard thing comes from the V6 commentary. Apparently, they wanted to show Nora using whiteboards to explain everything to Blake, but it never happened for reasons such as "re-explaining everything just for a joke". A good choice really.
I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time!