0-0


Someone was sneaking around. Adam's eyes snapped open. He flung the covers off of himself and rose, ready to strike down whatever was coming for them before his mind could even catch up. He prepared to snarl out either a curse of these humans or a demand for assistance when a hand slapped itself over his mouth.

"Shh!" Spotting Yang's golden mane and no gauntlet on the hand covering his mouth was what saved her arm.

Adam slapped her hand away from him with Wilt, earning a concerned, faintly amused look from the girl. Before he could question her look or complain about her actions however, Yang jabbed a thumb behind her towards Ruby.

... Who was sneaking up on the slumbering Schnee, a whistle in her hand and a devious gleam in her eye. He kept his glare on Yang. By all means, he could've stopped the girl from scaring the Schnee. He probably could've even saved himself the headache such a sharp noise would undoubtedly cause, too. But he didn't. As the heiress screamed, threw herself off the bed and landed flat on her back, Adam confirmed that the whistle-induced headache was absolutely worth it.

"Gooood morning, Team RWAY!" Ruby's voice added to the Schnee's annoyance and Adam's headache.

Still worth it.


The decision to 'decorate' the room while the sun was barely above the horizon was one mostly made by Ruby and Yang. However, even the Schnee had gotten into changing the room to her desires. Adam's decorations were different. It'd taken a half-hour of shuffling and minute movements, but he'd finally gotten one of the desks just how he had it in the White Fang. Were his mask not in the bottom of his bag, he would have known the place it would have sat down to the inch.

When he'd finally turned around and acknowledged the rest of his team's existence, he'd wished he hadn't.

A line had been drawn across the room: on one side of it, there was his bed and his desk, clean and in a corner. And on the other side... the rest of the room. Gaudy paintings and crooked posters now adorned the walls, a curtain was thrown up and accidentally cut in half by Ruby, and at some point the girls had managed to pile their beds on top of one another to try and paradoxically clear space.

"This isn't going to work," Adam and Weiss both stated. He grimaced at sharing the same thought process as a Schnee and the glare she shot him didn't help his agitation.

"Maybe we could ditch some of our stuff?" Yang suggested.

"I'm sure Schnee has brought enough to fill a room of her own," Adam added.

The Schnee crinkled her nose in disdain. "Any ideas that don't involve throwing away my things?"

Ruby perked up, ignoring the heiress' words entirely to throw out her suggestion of, "Bunk beds!"

Wow. Adam was faintly surprised he didn't think of that himself, considering his military background. Oh wait, he wasn't, because, "Where, exactly, are we going to get the materials for that right before class?"

Ruby looked at Adam like he was asking what two plus two was. "We've got everything right here, duh!" She waved her arms excitedly. "Come on, it'll be easy!"

"Obviously," the Schnee interrupted before he could refuse, "he sees how silly and dangerous this would be. You agree with me, right, Adam?"

Agreeing with a Schnee.

Really, she brought this entirely on herself.

"This can theoretically be worked out," was Adam's non-agreement with either of them. Two yay, one nay, one abstain. Bunk beds it was, then.

The Schnee threw her hands up in exasperation and, instead of helping like in a good democracy, decided to storm off under the excuse of getting ready for school. Leaving her bed unprotected was a poor idea: Adam now had all the time in the world to cut off the tops and bottoms of her bedposts, leaving it laying flat on the ground, and using them to build up his own. Having been on the streets and in a terrorist cell built up good carpentry skills: he'd had his bed built in record time.

Just enough time, in fact, for him to also notice that the time for school—his mind still groaned at the thought—was rapidly approaching. As the three were piling out of the door, the Schnee had just arrived, staring past them and into the room with a look of horror. Her eyes traveled from the serviceable bunk bed on the right to Ruby's bunk bed on the left.

Well, she called it a bunk bed, but really it was more of a prototype execution device for the poor sap stuck on the shortened bed beneath it, hung up on rope duct taped and nailed to the ceiling without a single part of it or its supports touching the ground. A death trap, plain and simple.

"Dibs on the other top bunk," Yang said as she passed by her.

"H-hey! Shouldn't we..." She racked her brain for an excuse. "Sleep on the same side as our partners..." The Schnee's voice slowly died out into a mumble: she couldn't even say that with a straight face.

"Probably, but I don't want to wake up with one of you strangling the other," Yang explained as Adam walked by, smirking and mocking her with his eyes alone.

The heiress pouted in the doorway trying to come up with anything that'd let her get one of the better beds besides outright just stealing it at night, but to no avail.

"Don't worry, Weiss!" Ruby threw an arm around her shoulder. "My bed's one hundred percent super safe!"

A piece of tape fell from the bed. It creaked ominously.

Weiss whimpered.


The Schnee had unfortunately regained her composure by the time they were walking down Beacon's wide pavilions. Fortunately, even as she tried to stomp away from her teammates, only being taller than Ruby on account of her heels left her gait just a little too short to truly lose them. That probably explained her worsening mood, too. Wonderful, Adam thought!

"Sooo..." Yang stepped closer to him, a devious grin on her face. "You sleep cuddled up with your weapon at night too, huh?"

Adam turned a glare down at her and snorted, not even bothering to justify that with an answer.

"Ha, see? I told you it wasn't weird!" Ruby, however, appeared to take that as one, all but skipping beside her sister. "It's the mark of someone who actually cares about their weapon!"

"It's the mark of a weirdo."

"It's for security," Adam half-growled, hoping it would shut the two up.

"Oh, sort of like your hat, then?" Yang asked with a smirk. Adam couldn't hide his flinch; he'd been keeping his hat a lot closer than reasonable for a normal person. He hadn't been wearing it to sleep—that'd be ludicrous, even for him—but it laying on his head at least masked his horns. It still looked a bit weird, though. Adam didn't need another reminder of needing to hide his heritage, whether or not it was for their own sake.

"I don't need to explain myself to you." Snarling, Adam strode further forward, passing the Schnee.

As he stormed off, he could hear Yang's teasing voice. Yet, it wasn't aimed at him. "Wow, sis, looks like you sped out of the door so fast you forgot your cloak! I can barely even recognize you!"

"I didn't forget it, I just... don't need to stick out that much. Remember: normal knees!"

Their voices faded, shoved out of Adam's mind as he stormed towards the classes. Along his way, he caught the gaze of 'Headmaster' Ozpin and his assistant. Whereas Ozpin offered a soft smile and raise of his mug even in the face of his agitation, Goodwitch managed to eclipse even his own hidden fury with her glare. Adam scoffed and turned away. This was his headmaster. His assistant headmaster. Watching him and his team of teenage girls on the way to class.

His mind already churned with ways to pay Blake back for this. There was nothing about this that was worth it.


As Adam watched the heiress to the SDC nearly get bulldozed by a weak Boarbatusk—one who was kept in captivity away from negativity, no less—he decided that this absolutely was worth it. It helped that he was in the class of the prestigious Professor Port: he had never met the man himself, but he had heard talk of his charity towards faunuskind in the aftermath of the Faunus War. Shame no one else seemed to respect such dramatic greatness. However, the extent of such kindness towards his kind was put into question by their work here: why would they work under the very institutions that help oppress the faunus?

His internal debate on the loyalty of these professors to the faunus continued even after class until it was interrupted by the increasingly familiar and increasingly annoying shrill whine of a certain Schnee nearby. Irritated that she was not the leader, it seemed she'd taken it upon herself to take it out on Ruby. In truth, he himself still did not have much trust in a fifteen year old still so innocent to lead them all.

He might've recalled the stresses of what little leadership he'd held near her age, but squabbling over what scraps of power they could hold over one another was a distinctly human matter.

"Frankly, I deserve better!" the Schnee's voice echoed as he turned to leave. "Ozpin made a mistake."

... But, he also didn't want to leave that Schnee with the last word. Such was the reason Adam told himself anyway, as he silently strode towards them. Unfortunately, by the time he'd reached Ruby, the Schnee was already walking away with her nose held high. He scowled.

"The only thing that girl deserves is a muzzle," he muttered.

Ruby practically leaped out of her skin and spun to face him, but tried to brush it off with a nervous laugh.

"Uh-huh, y-yeah... real jerk..." Ruby forced a smile, though it quickly faded under Adam's judging gaze. She could barely bring her eyes up to his. She was fidgeting. Ringing her hands. Were her eyes watering? Heavens, it was worse than he thought. Adam ignored the needle trying to worm its way into his heart at seeing this child brought so low already, opting instead for a deeper frown.

If it was any of his soldiers, he'd have given them a clap on the shoulder, a nod of understanding and an order to suck it up: they're better than that. But this was different than facing down a soldier afraid to put on a mask. This wasn't the White Fang, Adam told himself. She wasn't training to be a killer, Adam told himself. Anything to ignore how he could recall amber eyes staring up at him in the same, lost way. Purpose without guidance.

The needle turned into a dagger and, unaware of the awkward, tense silence he'd left behind, Adam let out a great sigh at the same time Ruby did.

"Look, I-I know you don't like me either, but—"

"Enough." It was just too much. Adam turned away. "A leader must be ready to defend their position if they want to keep it, no matter the cost. There's enough trouble with Schnee questioning your authority: don't add yourself to that list of opponents."

Ruby paused. "Are... you on that list, too?"

"... That remains to be seen." Adam looked back towards her. He wished he hadn't. The resemblance was only stronger, now: that desire for warmth and acceptance, the fear of being seen as useless, all too similar to how Blake once was. The innocence Blake held, however, was lost because of him, Adam's conscience so frustratingly reminded him. Those damned instincts were once more starting to dig their way out of the hole he buried them in years ago. Adam wanted to leave it at that, but when faced with that instinct...

"It's only been one day." Ruby beamed. "Some immaturity aside..." Ruby's smile faded, "You have been... adequate." And returned even brighter than before. Adam opened his mouth to speak again, but with a now giddy grin, Ruby leaped over to hug him. Adam cringed at the sudden close contact, eyes darting around for any form of escape from this situation.

"Aha! I knew you believed in me!"

His grimace threatened to return to a scowl, but Adam was able to gather himself and wriggle away from her.

"Simply... keep this in mind: if you do not want to be questioned, give them nothing to question." With that, Adam finally walked away. He had a distinct feeling that more times would come when he would need to tell himself that his help to Ruby was only to defeat the Schnee's want for power. Exactly how long he could fool himself, however, Adam did not know.


Out of sight and out of mind, Ozpin sipped at his mug with a content smile. He'd made many mistakes in his life. Team RWAY was not one of them.

Yet, lurking behind a corner and listening in on their conversation, Yang disagreed. It had only been a day, and she was getting sick and tired of her own teammates brushing off Ruby like that, even if Ruby herself didn't seem to notice. Something needed to be done about this, and not only did she know just who to start with, but exactly how to do it.


Watching Jaune fight was amazing, Adam thought. Not because of any sort of skill on his part; oh no, in truth that made it plain sad at times, but from how much punishment he could take.

The second week in this school had come by and, with it, a number of combat classes. Adam preferred to stay out of it: not only did he not feel like potentially outing himself as far more powerful than he had let on, but battles between the students seemed so droll. Lifeless. Perhaps it was the contained environment, the lack of change, or the campus being so afraid of a little bloodshed that they'd put rules in place to prevent combat after a student fell below fifteen percent of their effective aura, or twenty-five percent for some still too afraid.

It was coddling at best, and what was the result? Jaune, who just got slapped across the face with an explosive-laden mace for the seventh time. With a little more training, that boy could stand with his lieutenant as the most tenacious he'd ever seen. Unfortunately, as Jaune clumsily swung his blade with all his might without so much as budging his foe, it was clear he lacked any of his lieutenant's strength. Finally, Goodwitch just had to call it right there. He hadn't landed a scratch on his opponent, Cardin. Even so, the sheer amount of effort left him panting.

Note to self: if he ever really needed to get rid of some stress, challenge Jaune to a duel.

"Alright! We still have some time remaining, are there any volunteers for the next sparring match?" Goodwitch offered to the students.

Yang's hand shot up like a rocket.

With an amused quirk of her eyebrow, Goodwitch motioned to her. "You've volunteered to be in this ring each day in the past week. I appreciate your enthusiasm, Miss Xiao Long, but after this match, I think we will be letting other students try their hand." She waved her crop. "Any volunteers?"

Only a couple raised their hands. They'd seen just how terrifying Yang was in the ring. Yang, however, wasn't interested in them. Instead, her lavender eyes were aimed directly at Adam. Then, so was her hand.

"I want to take him on."

Goodwitch's amusement swiftly vanished. "I am afraid intra-team fights are not preferred." She took solace, at least, in Adam looking unfazed. "Even so, a challenge requires both sides to agree."

"I'll do it." Adam rose up, and Goodwitch's stern stare turned into a poisonous glare.

"Come on, Miss Goodwitch! Just one? It'll be like... finding out our weaknesses so we can patch 'em up, later!" Yang pressed what little advantage she had.

Goodwitch shifted her jaw. This wasn't good, she thought. Not in the least. She could keep preventing him from taking to the arena even now, but that would only raise questions. Worse, it might just push other students to challenge him... or for Xiao Long to do so outside of school. Heavens knew her parents' team did and did so often. That left one choice.

"So be it." With a short sigh, she set up the battle in her Scroll. She would just have to keep a close eye on their aura levels, and a closer one on that terrorist. Glynda had no lack of faith in her own abilities: she could afford herself a more lighthearted thought on exactly how she was going to tell Ozpin 'I told you so' when she halted the fight.

Soon, their aura levels were displayed above the arena for the audience to see, and both Adam and Yang marched off to prepare.


"Tell me, Yang," Adam began as they walked towards what was all but a stage, "what suddenly possessed you do make a foolish decision like this?"

Yang snorted. "Because I'm getting tired of you acting like you're all 'too cool for school'. You're no different from Weiss," she continued even through the withering glare Adam shot at her. "You both think you're so above it all: teammates, friends, even just talking! Look at you, even in this class—you know, the fun one—you're always staring at everyone like you're some kind of instructor, yourself!" The two split before Adam could respond.

He burned with fury at her having the nerve to compare him to that Schnee in any way, but he kept it hidden deep inside, just like the rest of the hate he still felt for these humans. As they settled and the lights began to dim, Yang made her mission clear to him:

"It's about time that someone teaches you a lesson!" She slammed her fists together, loading the first shells into her gauntlets. "And I'm gonna be glad to be the one that does it!" How typical of a human: her pride or her honor was hurt by him brushing them off, so she resorts to trying to beat him like a dog instead? Adam had no intentions of letting Yang get her way like this, but he did not want to make his power apparent. No. That would raise questions.

He knew exactly what he was going to do.

"Begin!"

The battle began not with a storm of gunfire or clashing of blades, but stark silence. They merely watched one another for any sign of weakness in a quiet contest of wills. Yang, perhaps, believed that he would make the first move and hopefully leave himself open to counter. Smart. Not smart enough.

Adam raised his arm out to one side, Wilt's handle glinting dangerously.

Yang's stance shifted.

Adam dropped his sword.

The crowd began muttering, no doubt seeing exactly what that disrespect was meant to be. And if they could...

Yang's eyes widened, lilac turning to magenta, before she blasted herself towards him as quick as a train with her fist cocked back and likely carrying the force of a whole yard's worth. Adam sidestepped the devastating strike, and the gold glow surrounding her hand did not escape his notice. She'd struck down more than one student in a single blow like that. Yang fired her gauntlets mid-flight, throwing her elbow up at his chin only for him to lean back out of the way. A golden glow surrounded her elbow, as well.

He had an idea.

Yang landed and with yet another burst from Ember Celica, leaped into a flying knee. Golden glow. Adam twirled around this blow and threw his momentum into a roundhouse kick to the back of her head before she'd even landed. He had to give her credit: she recovered quick, rolling to her feet in a fluid motion and launching a barrage of shotgun blasts his way. Each was dodged with cold calculation, leaving him as only a black blur sliding between each burst.

Even so, all it took was being clipped once for him to stumble, forced to keep backpedaling. Even those pellets were filled to the brim with aura.

"Don't let him draw you in!" Ruby called from the audience, unseen in the dark, but not unheard. "He's trying to make you waste your aura!"

Adam did not take his eyes off of Yang, but could catch her aura bar having slid from green to yellow already. She started to straighten her stance, listening, unlike the Schnee would... right up until she spotted him hopping in place and throwing out taunting jabs in the air at her. Adam beckoned her forward, and the anger flooded into her eyes again.

All too easy, Adam thought, even as he narrowly avoided another shot with a tilt of his head. Yang was on him in an instant, forgoing pure power with speed and launching a lightning-fast series of jabs and crosses—well, fast for her, perhaps. Adam easily admitted to himself that each one of these swings would be crippling if she actually hit, but she was predictable and full of tells. She moved in slow motion to Adam, who swayed out of the way of or blocked every strike while only giving teasing little jabs at her chest and abdomen not meant to wound but infuriate.

Ah, of course only now, he would think of the perfect comeback to that condescending mission statement of hers. Adam hated when that happened.

He ducked under a gun-boosted roundhouse kick. Hopefully, he'd find a way to make that work.

The ground shook as Yang fired behind her in an attempt to shoulder-check Adam, but she stumbled: Adam was gone, as if he was never there. Yang twisted around to search for him.

Standing a few meters away, Adam teasingly bobbed his hands like a matador waving his cape.

He was a bull faunus.

He was allowed to do that.

Ignoring the protests of her sister in the crowd, Yang took the bait, blasting forth and, rather than a simple shoulder check, throwing herself from side-to-side with careful shots until she got close enough for an uppercut. He vanished in a blur yet again. Yang spun in place, skidding across the arena floor. Her weight shifted dangerously. She glanced back; she'd almost fallen off the edge of the ring altogether. Her eyes burned with heat and the roaring of the crowd was deafened by the blood rushing in her ears as she glared at Adam again. Rather, glared at his back, for he was strolling away towards his blade, like she wasn't even worth his time.

"Oh, you think you're real funny, don't you!" Yang screamed. Perfect: she'd flown clean off of just 'mad' and clean into 'absolutely livid'! She was left to draw on her own aura for as much strength as she could muster, leaving weak flames flickering to life around her hair and fists. He was at three-quarters of his aura, and she had put so much into trying to lay him out in one blow that she'd brought herself all the way down to sixty percent.

It was time to end this.

Yang threw herself into the most powerful punch she could give without her Semblance, flames scorching the ground from fury and speed alike until she swung up into an uppercut that could floor a Beringel.

Adam grabbed her fist.

The explosion of force and fire cast the entire training room in orange hues, her aura was strained just from the backlash and the sheer force should've shattered Adam's arm for pulling a trick like that... but there he stood. His arm was clearly glowing red from the impact against his aura, but he remained standing: Adam had managed to channel enough aura into his hand quickly enough to negate most of the strike on the spot.

The silence that resounded even outside the arena was broken only by the tinkling of crushed shotgun pellets hitting the ground.

"Teach me a lesson, Yang?" Adam pushed the mind-blanking pain in his arm back and forced his numbed hand to tightly grip Yang's own. That blow was barely meant to be lived through, let alone left standing through, and both of them knew that. It was a strike that would've not just knocked out any first year but likely hospitalized them. Adam was impressed with her ruthlessness. In the shocked silence of the aftermath, however, Adam found an opportunity he couldn't miss:

"How can you teach me when we aren't even in the same class!" He yanked her forward and punctuated his shout by slamming his forehead into hers, sending Yang reeling back. She recovered quickly and reared her fist back for another swing, but it was too late: by the time Yang had even opened her eyes, he had leaped into the air, every inch of red on him from his eyes to his clothes shining a vivid red. Adam gathered all the energy he'd blocked from every punch he'd deflected and stopped, twisted his entire body, and swung his foot into the side of Yang's head.

The buzzer sounded.

"What?! She was just at half!" The Schnee called out in disbelief as Adam landed with darkening rose petals falling around his feet. The small audience let out cheers and cries of shock befitting a group far larger than they: one of the strongest first-years short of Pyrrha herself was left on the ground just trying and failing to get her feet back under her. Yang had been knocked silly by the blow.

Adam only snorted and began to walk away. Yang would make no such foolish mistake again, he thought just as his eye caught the final aura readings. Yang, of course, was at absolute zero.

He was at thirty percent. Fifteen percent away from having lost, just from that single punch. His right hand—the one he'd caught Yang with—instinctively tried to clench, but it was trembling and slow. Adam stopped. Even if he had been holding back, bringing him to that point was no small feat: were she not so cocky at first, he could've actually lost their duel by Beacon rules whether or not if he still would have had Yang dead to rights in a real fight. Adam begrudgingly had to admit it: even if her goal was childish and insulting, Yang was a good opponent.

Honor wouldn't let him walk away from one so easily.


One second she was getting ready to throw a punch, the next, the world was hazy, wobbly and faintly rose-scented. Yang didn't even know what happened until she noticed that she could see the rest of the class outside the field: she'd lost. And then it all came back to her. With a groan, she tried to push herself back up to her feet, but her legs just weren't cooperating with her anymore. It was like they were made of metal. Oh, she was going to kick Adam's ass when she could walk again!

The world started to come in focus just as she felt someone start helping her up. That scent of roses came back.

"Ugh... thanks, Rubes..." Yang mumbled.

"Not exactly." That voice was just a little too deep to be her little sister's. She blinked the 'sleep' out of her eyes and glared up at the source: the one who knocked her senseless in the first place. Adam glared back down at her, agitation betrayed by the flickers of mirth in his eyes. Both recognized the other had many opportunities to make life just that little bit worse for them: she could shove him aside and retain her pride, he could let her drop and crush it further. She could spit blood in his eyes and claim a spiritual victory from the fickle crowd, he could make sure she wasn't leaving without help with another punch.

But neither did so. Staring each other down, they found the faintest glimmer of understanding.

Yang snorted, spat on the ground and flashed him a bloody grin.

"Lucky shot!" She earned a rough bark of a laugh from the victor.

Maybe there was some hope for him, yet.


1-0