3-1
Golden light and heat from the setting sun poured across Adam and Yang both. They stood there in silence in an empty classroom, the summer sun warming their skin yet doing nothing to melt the growing tension between the two. Yang, her arms crossed and gaze locked on him, seemed content to just let them bask in it. Adam, fighting off the tendrils of sluggishness and fatigue threatening to take him, kept his glare on her. Only five seconds had passed since Yang let the door shut behind them. Five seconds too long.
"Well? What is it?" Adam questioned.
Yang cut right to the point. "I know what you and Ruby have been doing."
Adam snorted and crossed his arms. "Interesting rumors you've been listening to, Yang."
"Don't play dumb, Ace of Spades," she retorted.
Adam's lip twitched, but he refused to show any sign of accepting it. With a sigh, Yang drew out a few papers from her pocket and set them on the desk behind her. Expecting it to be some irrefutable proof of his and Ruby's vigilante actions, Adam rolled his eyes at her dramatic ways and walked over to snatch them up.
The summer heat vanished, replaced with a creeping chill.
"Three SDC Board Members Murdered!"
Headlines.
"Destruction of Dust Tanker in Atlesian harbor, 20 Million in Damages!"
Photos.
"White Fang Suspected In Arson"
Article snippets and descriptions. The kidnapping and ransom of a young Schnee, the bombing of a human supremacist rally, a photo from a Schnee Dust Company executive before his execution and a familiar, red-headed teenager in a mask just in frame, another with him part of a protest.
Some were missing, some were wrong, but it was a laundry list of his crimes and actions in the White Fang, all neatly put together. Maybe not enough to link him alone, but combined with what they knew? It would be more than enough to put him away. Adam may have left his weapon in his dorm, but his crimson aura still crackled to life around him, and the glare sent Yang's way could ignite Dust. Had she the nerve to try and betray him like this? To blackmail him? Now, of all times?
"What do you want?" Once more, he heard himself speak yet did not remember doing so. His attention was elsewhere. Yang still had her gauntlets, but he recalled their last fight. Even if she had improved, if he was fighting to kill, Adam knew he could still force out a victory. He just had to make the right move—
Either unfazed or expecting Adam's wrath, Yang stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. She stared right back into his watchful gaze. "What I want is for you to remember that we're a team. If you could trust us with knowing... that... there better not be something you can't trust us with." She spoke softly, trustingly. Just like she had trust that he wouldn't do anything, after all.
Adam glanced aside as his anger ebbed away and left faint guilt at jumping to such conclusions in its place.
Seeing that wrath fade, Yang teasingly flicked his chin. "Like running around as a superhero at night like a complete dork?"
The tension having quickly died down, Adam huffed and brushed Yang's hand away. "I needed answers from the White Fang, so I improvised a disguise from what I could scrounge. Ruby's the one who came up with the name," he grumbled in a feeble attempt to explain himself. "But I didn't stop then, and I won't stop now."
"I'm not telling you to stop, Adam, I'm just asking you to slow down. Let us help." Yang hopped up onto the professor's desk and sat cross-legged, remaining surprisingly calm.
Adam blinked owlishly, disbelieving the absurdity she was speaking. "My closest friend went missing a week ago, the White Fang is working with Torchwick, the entire criminal underground is about to burn itself down and I just found out that said closest friend didn't just go missing, I never knew where she really was in the first place," he hissed. "So excuse me if I don't believe I have such a luxury."
She held up a finger. "It's not a luxury, it's a necessity."
"The necessity is finding out where my friend is and where she has been," he spat back.
Yang slowly waved it off. "And we will. But first, why don't you let me tell you a story?" She motioned towards the other side of the desk, ignoring Adam's glare.
Before he could respond, however, his Scroll rang. A quick look down told him it was Ruby. Already bringing it up, he looked back up at Yang. Something was off. She was simply staring at him with a curious little smile. She was too calm, too collected. She'd all but ignored what he'd really said, and her eyes... he couldn't read them. Adam could, however, tell that this was no accident: Yang was trying to hide her emotions. Had she practiced or prepared herself for this? That left him curious: just how long had she known? Yang was making no attempts to keep him from leaving, either.
Adam shifted his jaw. That didn't matter. Humoring her could come later. He scoffed. "This is foolish." And he turned to leave, bringing the Scroll up to his ear, thumbing over the button and—
"My mother left when I was two days old."
Adam stopped. He looked over his shoulder with wide, surprised eyes, but likely not for the reason Yang expected. It was recognition.
Yang wasn't looking at him any longer, her smile faded and her eyes focused only on the ground.
Was this why Raven had never mentioned having a child beforehand? She'd abandoned hers? For what possible reason? His throat felt dry: he wanted to say something—anything—but would knowing that he'd known Raven mean anything? Would knowing that he'd even trained under her mother for years, but hadn't a clue where she was help Yang, or just make the pain worse?
The Scroll in his hand stopped buzzing, yet the silence replacing it was a din all its own.
"Why?" Adam asked, and Yang hoped he didn't notice her quiet sigh of relief.
It was a gamble, Yang knew, to try and be so direct with Adam, but she was pretty sure that even by now she'd known him well enough to know that such brute force was kind of their thing. Her fingers passed over the incriminating evidence she'd gathered. Definitely Adam's thing. Sometimes, it was a little too easy to forget that this was the kind of thing Adam had been doing only a few months ago... and Yang had to admit that when she realized Adam was dragging Ruby out on suspiciously similar 'missions', she had half a mind to send them straight to Ozpin. But they were friends. Probably.
In a way, not doing the "smart" thing when faced with a literal hiding terrorist was the real gamble.
"And there it is," she said, "the big question: why? I didn't know the answer, but ever since I knew about her, I was determined to find out. It was all I thought about when I was younger: I would ask anyone I could what they knew about her. Then, one day, when I was about six, I found something." Yang hopped off of the desk and moved to the board. She needed to keep her hands busy: this wasn't a story she was particularly proud of.
"What I thought was a clue that could lead me to answers, or maybe even my mother. It was something silly and simple: just an address I'd found on the back of a photo Ruby's mom had taken of mine." She picked up chalk and let her hand wander. "I waited for my dad to leave the house." Yang suddenly stopped and threw a glance back at Adam over her shoulder. "I put Ruby in a wagon," she emphasized, "and left. I must've walked for hours. We lived on a little island off the coast of Vale called Patch, but back then it felt bigger than Mistral. I had cuts and bruises and was totally exhausted, but I wasn't going to let anything stop me. It was my necessity."
Yang wasn't shocked when her idle mind left her drawing the emblem of the person who had saved her from the impending disaster: Qrow.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Adam shifting in place. He looked from the emblem to her, then parted his lips to speak. The Scroll buzzing yet again silenced him. He looked down at it, frowned, then turned his attention back to her.
"What..." Adam pursed his lips. "What's the point of this?"
Yang sighed. "The point is that when I got there, the only thing waiting for me and Ruby was a pack of Grimm. Two or three hungry Ursa against a little girl in a wagon and me, so exhausted I couldn't even scream for help. I'd delivered us up on a silver platter. I..." She finished Qrow's emblem with a last, sharp line. "I delivered Ruby on a silver platter. If it weren't for my uncle, my stubbornness would've gotten us both killed." She could feel Adam's stare, and all the growing impatience behind it.
Adam had the nerve to scoff. "I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm no mere child, nor is this just a search for answers."
"But you are dragging my sister into this!" Yang twisted to face him, teeth grit. The chalk cracked in her grip. She tried to force down the anger bubbling up within her, knowing it'd just give him an easy way out of this.
Still so annoyingly stoic, as if his shoulders weren't slumped and the darkness under his eyes wasn't so obvious, Adam waved it off. "And when the time comes to step beyond the boundaries of students, I will let her go." His Scroll rang again. This time, he brought it to his ear, thumb hovering over the button to answer. "Like I told you, I'm no child. If you're going to tell me to give up, you're wasting your breath."
"And I told you: I'm not telling you to stop!" Her anger broke through for nary a moment, golden locks flaring up and the chalk she held being crushed into dust. "I haven't! I still want to know about my mother and what happened to her, but I'm not letting it control me! We'll find our answers, Adam!" She knew her eyes were red, now. It was like their words were gliding off one another. He wasn't even trying to listen! "But if we lose ourselves in the process, what good are—"
"Enough of this petty moralizing!" Adam roared and stormed behind the desk with her, emerald eyes now fully crimson. " 'What good am I?' It doesn't matter! The very reason I came here might be dead! The faunus—my people—are being treated like puppets by some criminal scum!" He gripped his chest. That glow remained now, the very manifestation of his rage. "Don't you understand? I won't—I can't—slow down because I'm the only one who stands a chance at saving Blake! At stopping Torchwick! At everything!"
"No, you don't understand!" Yang stormed up to Adam and jammed a finger into his chest. Flames licked at her hair. "You're just not getting it! If Roman Torchwick knew where Blake was, what would you do?"
He slapped her hand away. "A foolish question: I'd fight and tear the answer from him myself!"
"No, you would fight and lose!" She shoved Adam back into the desk, and his once-more buzzing Scroll clattered away onto the ground. Golden flames and crimson light grew brighter.
"I can stop this!" Adam lashed out, pushing Yang against the chalkboard and advancing. He let out a grunt of effort just to do so, and was too distracted by that to notice just how little effort it took for Yang to sneak a punch into his stomach.
"You can't even stop me!"
Were Adam a more docile, rational man, that show of force and what having to stoop so low meant might have brought an end to their argument, but as the moment stood, there was no such man in front of Yang. Trapped in that room were two people who fed upon anger: one who kept it bottled up, the other who let it run free. One who was finally having it sink in just how much of a lie he had been living entire months upon, one who had to sit by and watch as even her sister refused to trust her.
In retrospect, it shouldn't have been a surprise to her when Adam turned his livid gaze down onto her, and the back of his hand slammed into her cheek.
"Prove it."
The underworld had opened up in a Beacon classroom. At least, no student could be faulted for thinking that if they peered in through the window. Orange flames and bright-red light danced across the darkened room, sending sprawling shadows rushing across the walls like predators leaping on pray. Roars and shouts filled the hellish room as a demon bull and fiery dragon clashed again and again.
"Was that all this was for, Yang?! Just another opportunity for you to teach a damned lesson!" Adam challenged as he stumbled back out of the way of a haymaker. Yang wasn't lying: he was getting weaker from the lack of sleep, he could feel it.
"Why! Won't! You! Listen!" Yang punctuated each word with a fiery jab at her glowing target. "You're so selfish! All of you ever do is think of yourself!"
A roundhouse kick forced Yang away from him. "Rich! Coming from the one who's interrupting my chance to save someone else's life!"
Adam was running out of advantages, and fast. His mind was too tired to think: he'd been throwing kicks and punches, but that only fed into her Semblance. The flames were beginning to conquer his bloody light. His forehead already beaded with sweat from its heat. With a last roar, he rushed Yang and knocked them both to the ground, leaving them both trying to get a tight enough grip to force the other to submit. In the end, however, Yang forced Adam beneath her and pinned him down by his wrists.
"What would you do if someone walked in here right now and told you where Blake was, huh?!" Her opponent and friend struggled uselessly beneath Yang for a moment, then calmed down, panting. The moment her grip loosened, however, Adam suddenly turned the tables, aura glowing with strain to hold someone as fierce as Yang to the ground.
"I would save her!" he bellowed and raised his fist. Yang didn't resist, only narrowing her bright-red eyes. "I would..."
The realization finally struck him. His fist never fell, left suspended over her.
Yang's gaze never wavered. "You'd leave us, right?"
Adam scowled. She was right. He'd leave without a second thought, likely the moment he knew. As both sides of what Yang was worried about sank in, the crimson glow fell away. Slowly, Adam forced himself back onto his feet. Yang rose up in front of him. The two stood there for a few seconds, panting and trying to catch their breath in the growing darkness and suddenly cool air of the night. What were once bright flames around Yang faded to little more than embers.
"Just like she..." Her voice faded for a moment. "Just like I did. I found a clue, I got stupid, ran off and nearly got Ruby and myself killed. But you don't need to be a child to get in over your head, Adam."
Even after all that, she could see Adam stubbornly holding onto his point, even as he struggled to come up with a retort. Yang took a step forward and suddenly pulled him into a tight hug. With all their anger finally vented out, all that was left were the worries that'd sparked it all in the first place.
"You don't need to stop, but please, just... let us help, Adam. We can do this together, as a team. We've all lost too much, and if you keep going off alone or with Ruby and something happens, you won't be the only one hurt." Slowly but surely, the tension left Adam. He'd surrendered... and let out a grunt as her hug grew a bit too tight. "But if anything happens to Ruby, you'll wish you were."
Yes, she was definitely Raven's daughter.
Adam hung his head. "Fine... you've defeated me."
Yang let out a sigh of relief. "I thought so. By the way, you know most people hug back, right?"
He stifled a chuckle and shoved her off. "Don't push your luck." Adam turned to hide his smile as he swept up his fallen Scroll, never noticing the massive number of missed messages from Ruby on it.
"But I do have one last question," he asked.
Yang curiously looked over her shoulder as she gathered up the evidence of Adam's past misdeeds. Couldn't have that getting out anywhere.
"If your mother left, who was Ruby's?" Adam couldn't see Yang's face as she looked down at the papers. Couldn't see her flinch. But even in the darkening night, he could see the sadness in her eyes when she turned back around, even though she tried to smile. Her face more than her words told Adam everything he needed to know.
"Summer Rose. The best mom anyone could've asked for."
He nodded without a word and turned to leave, but he could feel Yang's eyes on him as he walked towards the door. There was a shift in the now-cold air. A silence filled with words unsaid. A question unanswered. Though he knew he should've kept walking, he came to a halt. His legs refused to move any further.
Yang cleared her throat. Even mentioning Summer had it feeling a little too tight for her. "H-hey... uh, Adam, the White Fang's based in Mistral, right?" Behind Adam, she balled her fists: he would know. Ever since she knew the truth, she'd wanted to ask, and the questions only grew like a fire in her mind with every new crime committed, every new location Adam had been in that she discovered.
"... Correct. Though it was Menagerie, until recent years." Adam spoke casually, but his focus was entirely on the door. Three strides. Maybe four. He could be gone. He knew where this was going.
"So you... spent a lot of time there, right? In the outskirts too?" The classrooms of Beacon were large enough to hold forty students, yet the walls were closing in on Yang. Huntsmen records predating the White Fang's adoption of their masks said the Branwen chief wore a Grimm-like mask. Vytal Festival footage showed she used a crimson katana. Her weapon showed all the signs of being a gun-sheath. Color schemes matched.
"I've lived in almost every country. Born in Mantle, raised in Menagerie, trained in Mistral, worked in Vale. I've even taken the occasional excursion to Vacuo." Maybe if he kept talking, Adam thought, he would gather the will to leave before the inevitable. Even now, he couldn't bring himself to look at her.
"Right, right. Since you have..." It all matched, Yang thought. If Adam's hair was black, she'd genuinely think they were related. Yang forced down her doubts. "Do you know anything about Raven Branwen?"
Silence.
Of course, Adam thought, the only time his will would let him move was to look back at her. Yang's fists were balled, her face pulled into a tight-lipped, steely-gazed expression of determination, but the hope glittering in her eyes was unmistakable.
"I've heard of her." Say it.
"I know your mother." Say anything.
"She taught me how to fight." It would be so easy.
"She was like a second mother to me." But it wouldn't matter. Because no matter what he started with, it'd all end the same way.
"But I haven't seen her in years. I don't know where she is." He didn't have the answer she was looking for.
When Adam turned side-on to her, his foot shifting across the glossy tile felt like the loudest thing he'd ever heard. Yang took a deep breath in. Adam lowered his head and closed his eyes. He couldn't give her false hope. The only thing it'd do would hurt more.
He shook his head. He heard a sharp, pained breath.
"Oh... well, alright! Guess that's that." Yang chuckled. It was empty. Cold. Only now, when the damage was already done, could Adam bring himself to open his eyes and turn away. He could've sworn he saw Yang rubbing at one of her eyes before he walked back towards the door.
"Sorry."
Did it make him a monster when, even after being reminded of his crimes, even after remembering each and every one of the attacks Yang had showed him, none left him feeling more guilty than that one, simple lie?
His Scroll buzzed one last time as he and Yang made their way back to the dorms, but Adam couldn't bring himself to answer.
They were almost at the dorm, when a light slap to his shoulder shocked Adam out of his thoughts.
"I'm calling that 3-3, by the way." Yang looked over at him with a sunny smile, like the conversation had never happened. Adam must've looked more incredulous than he thought, because her smile turned up into a smirk and she stretched her arms over her head, seemingly content.
Adam's mind searched for words. Were they going to pretend like that never happened? Did she not believe him? Was she even alright? Finally, he settled on something.
"Who taught you how to count? We're not even!"
"Oh, are you sure? I mean, I did beat you verbally and physically." Her stride grew long and lazy, her smile almost cat-like.
Adam scoffed. "You can't win twice in a single fight. 3-2."
"You're just mad that I've already caught up to you." She prodded Adam's chest with her finger.
"Caught up?" Adam managed to sound appalled and incredulous at the same time. "Is that so, Yang? Well, maybe I'd be willing to accept that 3-3 if you actually agreed to duel me once in a while. We could even have our matches in private, so you don't have to worry about others seeing you getting annihilated in the arena."
"Ooh?~ And what if I took you up on that?" Yang teased.
"Then we'll see how long that supposedly 'even record' of yours lasts." With a smirk, Adam drew his Scroll to unlock the door. While, normally, it was more difficult to get him to engage in such pedantic conversation, it was a well-needed distraction from—
"Hello, Adam..."
His Scroll fell from his hand.
Sitting next to Ruby on his bed, wearing the uniform of Haven Academy, was Blake Belladonna.
