1-0


Well, Yang thought that there was some hope for Adam. Instead, Ruby was wandering back to their table in the cafeteria to sulk after a swift and blunt rejection from that dumb, hat-wearing schmuck. He'd been eating his meals either outside or at another table altogether and, after getting the big sister seal of 'yeah, he might be alright', Ruby had gone off to bring him to eat with the team. And what did she get for her troubles?

"Do not mistake my advice for camaraderie."

Yang crushed the apple she was eating, not caring about the juice scattering across the table, the protests of the student across from them or Weiss not-so-subtly scooting further away from her. She had managed to come eat with the group just fine, and frankly she'd gotten the feeling that Weiss was more stuck-up than Adam was. The little heiress was putting up with Ruby and trying to be a good teammate, but 'putting up' was about as far as it went: Weiss wasn't exactly trying to be friends with Rubes, and sure as hell wasn't trying to be friends with her.

But she was still here!

Yang swallowed down her anger and flicked her ruined apple so she could wave Ruby back down with a cheery smile. She couldn't let Ruby notice.

"No luck this time, huh?" she asked as Ruby plopped down in her seat and sighed.

"I thought you said that fight softened him up!" Ruby complained with slumped shoulders.

Yang let out an awkward laugh, forced down her anger just a little more and hoped Ruby didn't notice her grin was just hiding her gritted teeth. "Ha ha, yeah, me too... guess not..."

She'd learned from that last fight. Adam wasn't going to take her down a second time. Challenging him again was out of the question—even if Miss Goodwitch hadn't basically benched her for a week to let others fight without the fear of getting piledrived, she refused to let her have another go at Adam.

"I told you, Miss Xiao Long, these fights are not preferred," she had said. "An exception is an exception, not the rule. I'm afraid you will have to put your luck in the randomizer if you wish to challenge him in this class again."

But that was fine. Yang wasn't a fool. She knew how to get what she wanted.


Forced to the ground, Adam rolled out of the way of a blast of Yang's shotgun gauntlet and pushed himself up to his feet. A hook was halfway to his head by the time he'd stood up. Adam backpedaled, but that unstable step left him just open enough for Yang to fire her gauntlet, throw herself into a spin and send a kick right into his jaw.

This wasn't exactly how he had planned on spending his day at the gym. Drawing his ire and attention both with a sharp jab to his shoulder as she passed and a nod to one of the training rings, Yang had pushed him into a rematch. That wasn't exactly surprising.

He avoided a jab close enough for him to feel the metal of Ember Celica graze his aura. It was the first of many, swift and numerous, forcing him into close-quarters where only his vastly superior speed and experience let him survive.

What did surprise him was how her fighting style had done a complete one-eighty. Her blows lacked the golden glow that surrounded them before, eyes once burning crimson remaining a cold, focused purple. Every strike was calculated: blocking was not enough, for unless he deflected her strikes altogether it would still leave him open to gunfire. It was strange, to say the least: if anything, he had expected her to be even more wild.

She faked a cross and used it to snap up into a kick, but this time, he was ready: Adam snatched her leg, gathered his aura and palmed Yang's knee with all his might. The resulting howl and flash of yellow light was sharp enough to draw glances from fighters in their own rings. Though Yang was able to recover on shaky legs, Adam gave her no time to recover, no fair play, as he leaped up and threw a kick of his own that launched her into the hard light walls of the training ring.

Adam allowed himself a dark chuckle as Yang forced herself onto her feet. His blade laid on the floor beside one of the corner posts, forgotten once again. He didn't need it.

"What's wrong! You were so confident challenging me, before!" He held his arms out in a grand challenge. Yang's eyes slipped from lilac to magenta and, briefly, Adam thought the fight won, before she swallowed it down and beckoned him forward, instead.

Adam snorted. A lot of pride on this human. A short dash forward and he was throwing a knee at Yang's head. She deflected it and threw him back with a burst of buckshot, then forced him back into trading blows. She left her side open. Adam swung low, only for Yang to rush ahead and catch his arm beneath her own. He was trapped.

The fiery, gold punch right after left him bouncing off of the arena's floor and rolling to the edge. His Scroll beeped at him: he and his opponent both were at fifty percent of their aura.

"Not looking so tough now, are you?" Another blast of buckshot kept him unsteady and against the wall. Yang cocked her fist back, ready to pepper him from afar with lead while he was still dazed. Adam caught a glint of black not too far away. Wilt.

He was not going to let that human get the last laugh. She'd forgotten that he was playing nice.

He ducked low, rolling towards his weapon beneath a rain of buckshot that left the shield-like wall flashing. He heard shotguns roar, yet without the impact of shells. Yang was rushing him.

Adam smirked.

Yang didn't see his hand around Wilt or recognize Blush's gunshot until it was far too late.

She did, however, see the world turn red, and the silhouette of Wilt's hilt advancing right towards her eye. Then nothing at all.


Yang hated being on the receiving end of a Semblance like hers. Especially when she hadn't even truly begun to use her own. She almost hated it as much as seeing the fuzzy, warping image of its smug user step over to her while she laid on the ground. He was saying something, but the combination of the pain in her head and the pain everywhere else in her body from having her aura shattered made it a little hard to focus on.

The many Adams reached down to help her up. Scowling, Yang blinked the daze out of her system and slapped his hand away. That was twice, now, he humiliated her, weapon or no weapon. She wasn't about to give him the satisfaction.

Especially when it wasn't just her honor he was walking all over.


2-0

"While you may all be very capable fighters, Team RWAY, you cannot always expect to simply be able to overpower your opponents. Keep that in mind for the future," Goodwitch admonished them. For once, Adam agreed.

Their first team battle was an absolute failure. The only reason they won was obvious: each and every one of them were prodigies of their own right. Yang wasn't far from being able to solo their opposing team, to say nothing of his own abilities even while holding back his speed. This did not, however, make the fight enjoyable nor pleasant to look at.

That blonde imbecile was too busy either trying to make her friendly fire at him look like an accident or trying to butt in on whoever he was facing. The Schnee barely listened to any order the moment they had gotten into the thick of combat and questioned just about every one she did hear at least once. And Ruby...

Any semblance of her former potential as a tactician evaporated the moment things went wrong. Mumbled orders. No reprimands. No control of the situation. Worse, the Schnee had tried to take over for orders when Ruby faltered. Yang hadn't been particularly pleased by her juvenile power grab.

Yang wasn't pleased by his attempts to call orders in order to save face for their team, either.

"What was that!" Weiss was ranting practically the moment they'd left class. "Victory or not, we looked like a bunch of amateurs out there. Ruby? Where was our leader? I could barely hear a single thing you said!"

Adam forced back a frown at knowing the Schnee was able to pin down his own thoughts so well.

"You better back off, princess." Yang stormed forward before Ruby could even reply and loomed over the Schnee. Lilac eyes bored down into ice-blue.

She noticeably froze up before steeling her glare and clenching her fist. "Fine! How about you, then, Yang? I don't think you put the least bit of thought in those shots, you buffoon! Did Adam knock a few brain cells loose in that fight of yours?"

Yang's eyes widened in offended rage. She cocked back her fist without thought. Shocked, the Schnee tried to step back and raise her rapier. Adam stared behind them at the young girl whose eyes darted between the two in increasing confusion and worry. They landed on him, but he did nothing. This was not just a human problem, but her problem as a leader.

"Stop!" In a rush of rose petals, Ruby slid between what little space was between the two girls, arms stretched out in front of the Schnee to protect her. "Both of you!"

Yang pulled up short, gaze dancing between Weiss and Ruby, mouth opening but with no words coming out. Finally, caught between shame and ever-growing anger, she spun on her heel and marched out.

"Whatever," she grunted on her way through the door, "I'll be in the gym."

Ruby looked back to speak to the Schnee, but she was already storming off in the other direction. That only left her and Adam in the awkward silence left behind. Seeing little reason for him to remain, Adam nodded to her—a small token of appreciation for actually stepping up—and turned to leave.

"You're going to need more confidence than that." He departed.

Weiss stopped sitting with them at the cafeteria.


Adam growled and snapped his Scroll shut beneath his desk. Nothing from Blake. It had been almost three weeks now, and he had not heard a thing. Adam was no fool: even if Blake was taking something less conspicuous to get to Menagerie, like a boat, she would have been in range of the continent's limited CCT capabilities by now. He rubbed his temples and returned his attention to the class at hand. The rapid speech of Doctor Oobleck all but went in one ear and out of the other—not like he had much use for human propaganda disguised as history—but it didn't matter. Blake's silence unnerved him.

Just as much as Yang was beginning to. He looked past Ruby trying her hardest to look like she understood and Weiss frantically scratching down notes at the blonde following along, eyes intense yet focused on her work. It wasn't her anger or blatant attempts to catch him in the crossfire of her attacks.

It was everything else about her. Her hair. Her face. Her voice. Her aloofness. The way her eyes turned red when she grew angry only heightened that feeling that something wasn't right. So much about her was familiar: it reminded him of... his mentor. He doubted there was anything of worth in that thought, though: bar an idle complaint about her brother she refused to let him dig deeper into, his mentor had never made much mention of her personal life, let alone family or children.

Yet, long hair and red eyes should not have been enough to make that comparison in his head.

So, why?

Why did she remind him so much of Raven Branwen?

"... I'm not giving you my notes, if that's what you're about to ask," Yang half-joked, a wary but not malicious look in her eye.

Adam just rolled his eyes.


"The next match shall be..." Goodwitch sighed as the second randomized fighter slotted into place, even as the class murmured excitedly. "Adam Belladonna versus Yang Xiao Long."

At first, Adam hadn't even moved. He'd bested her twice, now: once with and once without his weapon. His dominance was secure. She would pass, he would agree, and that would be that. Then, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. Bobbing, golden hair. Without even sparing him a glance, she'd started towards the arena as proud as could be.

It was mystifying.

Not mystifying enough to stop him from using his blade from the beginning of their bout, this time, but certainly enough to bother him throughout this clash. He could feel strength in her blows that only guidance and purpose both could give someone. Yang was fighting for something, but what? Surely even a human this arrogant would not bash her head against a wall so much in the faint hopes of humbling someone better.

In the end, the battle was far quicker than the last, much to the crowd's dismay. As Adam began sheathing his weapon, standing tall above the kneeling blonde, he finally figured it out.

Yang's eyes flicked off to the crowd. To Ruby. She slammed her fist into the ground and cursed in frustration.

It was her. That was the key. It all made sense to him, now: this was a misguided attempt to 'protect' her sister. For once, Adam truly understood one of these humans. He'd done something all too similar for Blake many, many times before.

Even if he had not done so, Adam thought as he clicked his blade open on the way back to the changing room. Chuugi, 'Loyalty', still stood out like the day it was engraved.

He could understand loyalty like that.


3-0

He didn't find it strange when the door to his locker room opened. Nor, as he buttoned up the thin undershirt of his uniform, did he find it strange that there were footsteps headed right towards him.

Nor when he turned just in time for Yang's fist to meet his jaw. Adam hopped back a step, but there was no follow-up to her strike. Yang stood across from him, still panting. Whereas he was at least partially changed into Beacon's uniform, Yang's blouse was messily buttoned, her black shorts and leather skirt visible beneath, like she'd started to change from her combat attire before just storming over. The room was warm, yet her breath still came out as steam. Her eyes, one already growing darker, were glowing with the color of blood.

Adam touched his jaw and straightened himself. Yang's aura crackled and warped as it tried to valiantly bring itself together, one more time. His aura, on the other hand, was still strong enough to rush across him in a smooth, red wave. She had rushed in without her gauntlets. His sword was within arm's reach. She was still recovering from losing her aura the first time. He'd only been brought down to seventy percent. By all means, this was just a very complicated way of committing suicide.

He let his aura drop. Yang's eyes widened ever so slightly, and the fires of her rage threatened to boil over at the disrespect, but she paused. Perhaps she saw that there was not even a ghost of a smile on his face. He was angry—no, livid that this brat had the nerve to try to ambush him here... but he knew what this was. Adam knew Yang wasn't going to quit because the chips were down. It was a matter of honor, after all. Of loyalty.

Yang looked him over, then, her eyes losing their glow, settled into a fighting stance. Adam did the same. Her aura lowered as they inched closer, step by step. Another minor understanding reached, the two nodded, tapped fists, and proceeded to reach an even greater understanding in the language they both knew best: fighting.


Adam, running forward to catch Yang with a shoulder check and Yang, arm pulled back for a final punch, found themselves motionless. Fields of violet coated their bodies like the auras they'd forgone, holding them in place. Neither could see Goodwitch, their eyes stuck locked on one another, but they could hear her approaching.

"Just what are you two doing!"

The locker room was nothing short of destroyed. Lockers bent. A bench snapped in half. Droplets of red scattered across floor, wall and ceiling alike. A locker launched. That last one probably was what gave them away, Adam thought to himself.

"You must have lost your minds, fighting in here," Goodwitch said through gritted teeth. She lessened her grip just enough for them to move their eyes and, more importantly, take breaths that came to them in great gasps. They were no better than the room: bruises forming, sleeves torn, busted lips. Yang was undoubtedly going to have a black eye, now. Adam was sure he nearly broke the tip of his horn, and a cut above his brow forced an eye shut. An eye twitching, her jaw set and her grip tight enough on her riding crop to nearly snap it, Goodwitch was very clearly trying to hold back a torrent of fury.

"Well?" Her glare zeroed in on Adam and, despite himself, he glanced away. Only Raven could've managed a glare with even a fraction of that anger.

Both said nothing.

"Fine, then." Goodwitch straightened herself and regained her composure. "Come with me." A flick of her crop and the two were dropped to the ground. They laid there for a moment, trying to catch their breath. A moment too long, however, for they were yanked up by a purple glow that locked their wrists together. Both stumbled, but were too proud to let themselves be dragged out, no matter how hard every step came to them.

They passed the curious eyes of the other students without a glance in their direction, including that of Weiss and Ruby, waved along to follow by Goodwitch. They did not argue.

As they finally reached an empty hall, Yang spat blood to the ground. "So..."

Adam glanced over to her. Goodwitch did not look back, but did raise her crop in warning as she walked.

"Was it good for you, too?"

Adam tried to ignore that. 'Tried' being the keyword, for as Ruby and Weiss groaned behind them, he and Yang couldn't stifle their snickering. Both wound up regretting it as the telekinetic hold on their wrists painfully tightened.


The ticking of clocks and gears in Ozpin's office was almost deafening in the dead silence shared between Team RWAY, Ozpin and Goodwitch. Ozpin leaned against steepled hands and looked over each of them. Glynda did not need to explain much: two of the people sitting in front of him looking like they'd decided to box Beowolves without a lick of protection explained enough.

Ruby squirmed in her seat beneath the stares of her superiors like she was ready to bolt at any given moment. Weiss held herself high and a not-so-imperceptible distance away from the other three, but could not hide the occasional twitch or glance around. Yang and Adam, though they were rather clearly in the wrong, were more aloof. Yang refused to look at them for more than a couple seconds, whereas Adam was the opposite, staring Ozpin down as if he were the one in charge.

He supposed he'd let them soak in the awkwardness enough.

"You know, this is not the first time I have heard of your team having severe issues," Ozpin began. "Arguments in initiation, spending most of your time apart, shouting matches in the hallway, and now, this: two students who should be protecting one another instead having an auraless, dangerous brawl in the middle of our locker rooms." He kept his voice even, but stern. Just enough to needle them. "It goes without saying that this cannot continue, if you wish to remain at Beacon. All of you."

Even Yang straightened her jaw. Weiss, however, waved her hand off at the three she tried to stay away from. "This has been those two bickering and fighting, not me! How can I be blamed for that?"

Ozpin's eyebrow quirked up, and he could practically feel her blood chill. "Is that so? Might I remind you that the shouting match was between you and your leader."

She took a sharp breath. Ah, so she didn't think he knew about that? "I... I have been doing my part to repair the damaged relations my outburst may have caused. They, however, have not done a thing!"

"You may have become a better teammate, but not a better partner."

Weiss swelled, undoubtedly about to shout something, only to realize where she was and shrink down. She settled for a stern gaze.

"Just as you, Miss Rose"—Ruby squeaked under Ozpin's gaze—"have much to learn on being a leader outside of combat. The team is your responsibility as well, both in good and in bad."

Yang and Adam glanced between each other. The former rolled her shoulders and sat up to speak, not letting Ozpin have a go at her sister lying down. Even Glynda stepped forward from her place at Ozpin's side, expecting his 'eccentricities' to let them go without a condemnation.

Ozpin cut them off before they began. "And do not believe I have forgotten about you two. I have been keeping a close eye on you both ever since your entry, but let me be clear in saying that while I have been willing to disregard your illicit activities up until now, if your actions continue to leave it clear that it was the trend and not the exception, your stay at Beacon will be a short one."

He took the two going stiff as boards and paler than ice as a sign of a job well done, even if they had very different reasons for their reactions. "You may leave, but this is not a warning. I will be considering your punishment."

Ozpin watched the four leave in the same silence they entered, then finally allowed himself to sigh. This body of his didn't have too many years left, and RWAY was frankly set to take what few he had left.

"And what will that punishment be?" Glynda asked, glad that he was willing to put his foot down. "I think two weeks of detention should have at least the three girls back in line."

Ozpin smiled. "I have my own ideas."


Ruby wasn't shocked when Weiss remained away from them during dinner: she refused to speak with any of them ever since the elevator doors to Ozpin's office closed. What did shock her was seeing Adam walking straight towards them with his tray. Fearing another conflict, she gulped and prepared for the worst.

Yang, seeing her panic, turned around. She and Adam stared one another down. Aura had mostly patched them up, but purplish-red still lingered under one of Yang's eyes, and there was still a nasty bruise on Adam's cheek. They nodded, and Adam sat down beside Ruby, leaving her baffled. Was this it? Were they all finally getting along? Was she not going to wind up in trouble again? Her eyes gleamed and she smiled, turning to pull Adam into the conversation she and Yang were already having.

"We can't let that end with a draw," Adam said right over her head to Yang.

"Oh, good, I thought you were going to chicken out."

Ruby deflated. "Guuuys, we just got out of Ozpin's office! Can we maybe take a day or two off from the fighting? Please?"

Yang touseled Ruby's hair and ignored her pouting. "It's fiiine! It's a friendly match this time, right?"

"We'll see if it's still friendly after you lose," Adam said with a slim smirk.

Well... it was at least a step in the right direction?


Adam distinctly remembered the first and only time he had ever defeated Raven in combat. It had taken months before she even responded to his request to prove himself in combat against her, and months longer before she would accept. In truth, he was a late bloomer compared to most Huntsmen-in-training: Raven had not unlocked his aura until he was thirteen, long after most would have been awakened. Combined with her stringent belief in mastering the basics completely, and he had not so much as scratched upon what his Semblance could be.

It had all changed, that night, just when he had turned sixteen: she had personally led him to one of the many human villages surrounding Mistral and showed him just what the faunus had to endure, even under the supposed peace and equality the White Fang brought. His mentor showed him the brutality and horrors inflicted by humans upon the faunus when they so much as believed the authorities had blinked, let alone turned a blind eye, and how not a soul would stop them. Raven had shown him, that day, what a mistake he had made in believing peace would save the weak was. She'd originally desired to have her tribe raid this village, but instead used it as another lesson: fighting when dreadfully outnumbered.

Adam was glad to eradicate that wretched hive for her. That night, he learned to smother his conscience.

That night, he cast away his old self and his old name, taking up the last name Raven bestowed him with.

That night, Adam Taurus set on becoming the monster Blake knew him as.

However, it came at a price: he left the village with almost no strength and aura alike. It was then that Raven challenged him for the first time, in the burning wreckage of a town whose smoke obscured the moon and stars alike. He was in no condition to fight, nor was he in any condition to refuse, and that frustrated him to no end. He knew that he was powerless.

The battle was short and brutal: Raven toyed with him and chipped him down ever lower to the ends of his aura without a word until all he could do was block and parry to the best of his strength. It was no doubt just her way of trying to force out his Semblance or, if he was too weak, getting rid of him before he became an embarrassment to himself and her alike.

It had worked. All of his frustration at being powerless, all of his rage at seeing how mistreated the faunus were, even the petulant anger at being challenged before he was even ready came flooding out in a single strike. Raven looked on in shock, and was overcome by the strength of his newfound Semblance.

At least, that's what he had thought.

Never again would he be able to bring her low, even with his mastery of aura and Semblance alike. It had never made sense to Adam: was a Semblance more powerful the first time it was unleashed? Had she simply not expected his Semblance to show in such a manner, or at that time? Questions hounded him throughout his years and his training both, up until he left for Vale and lost contact with Raven entirely. No matter what strategy he worked his Semblance into, no matter how strong he had gotten or fast he could strike, that would remain the one and only time he'd beaten her. If anything, it was the only time he'd even gotten close.

But now? Now, as he watched Yang force herself up to her feet, flames raging around her like the corporeal form of her frustration and rage, Adam knew. As Yang shot forward as a flaming meteorite, gathering up all of that emotion to fuel the Semblance he'd seen for the first time in their fights, everything came together: the red eyes, the hair, her nature, everything.

Adam realized, to his dismay, that his victory against Raven was of no act of his own. No, it was because she was genuinely caught off-guard. After all, she must've observed a Semblance all too similar to his once before: that of her daughter, Yang Xiao Long.

Adam also realized, to his dismay, that in the time he'd been absorbed in his thoughts, Yang's fist had gotten approximately one quarter of an inch away from his face.


So, this was what it felt like to be like on the other side.

Through sheer willpower, Adam forced his legs under him, but with the world so hazy and shaky around him, taking even a single step turned out to be a challenge. Trying to do so in the crater he came back to reality in, however, turned out to be nigh-on impossible. He was even thankful for a moment when a blur of gold started helping him off the arena, right up until his pride kicked in and informed him he really needed to be helped off-stage by a human.

His emerald eyes refocused just as they caught onto Yang's lilac ones filled with giddy glee. That stupid grin of hers, try as he might to ignore it, was infectious. Adam forced it down to a smirk.

"Lucky shot."

His pride could wait.


3-1