Ch. 19
"Oh Abby, where are you? Why aren't you at the docks with everyone else?" Emma asked in her head as she traveled through the burning town.
While she was on the ship earlier, her mother told her not to leave no matter what. Emma went to look for her friends in the area and found Jurano and Kathleen along with several other from school, but she failed to find Abaddon. She heard someone say that his mother was outside defending the other people who had yet to get to safety and that help from Patch had arrived, but he wasn't there either. Unwilling to leave him behind, the little faunus snuck out of the ship on her own.
Emma used her semblance every now and then to teleport behind cover. She was now in the eastern part of the island. She didn't have a weapon with her so fighting any of the Grimm lurking around wasn't an option. There were only beowulves and ursai present, but they still scared her a bit. As she crept behind trees, broken wood, and various other things that could keep her hidden, she would whisper Abaddon's name. They had excellent hearing so hopefully he would at least catch her voice a little and wasn't too far from the docks. She had just teleported onto a large tree branch when she heard the sounds of a struggle nearby. After jumping down to the ground, Emma's ears perked up so she could locate the direction the noise was coming from.
"There! That must be him!" She gazed west of where she was. The sounds she heard were originating from a burning house in that direction not far from her. She was about to run over there when a gloved hand quickly covered her mouth and another restrained both her hands. Emma began to struggle against the one holding her, but their grip was tight on her. She turned her head to see a large White Fang soldier holding her captive.
"Is that the girl?" someone asked. It took a minute, but Emma recognized that voice. She would've teleported away, but she was scared and couldn't really focus.
"Appears so. The same little cat faunus that Sean used against the boy," said the soldier.
"Good. She'll make excellent bait. Once he sees her, he'll have no choice but to come."
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"Eat this!" Abaddon had just narrowly dodged an Ursa's paw swipe. He ducked under its head and shoved his left hand sword through its jaw. He then stabbed the Grimm right between the eyes with the other sword. Abaddon pulled out his blades as he kicked the dead ursa on its side.
"Well, I think I've had my fill of Grimm for the night. And I didn't see any more civilians on the way over so everyone here must have likely gone to the docks. Hopefully mom and dad are there too," he said to himself.
Abaddon turned around, ready to leave when he was met with an unexpected surprise. Standing just five feet from him with his sword drawn was the man from earlier that day, Adam Taurus.
"Taurus. What do you want? Don't tell me you're here to help or are you and your goons responsible for all this?" Abaddon asked.
"I'm not here to help, but I may be a little responsible for the fire," Adam replied.
"I thought I told you to leave. No one in Marrowshin wants to join you." Abaddon was beginning to get really annoyed. He already had enough to deal with, now this idiot was here pestering him.
"Oh I know, but I just couldn't leave without delivering a message." Adam moved to the side to reveal a White Fang soldier holding Emma captive.
"Emma?!" Abaddon screamed. "Taurus, what do you think you're doing?!"
"Like I said, I want to deliver a message. The fire is just the first part, and I may have "dealt with" a few people on the way here. I have your friend captive so I could fully grasp your attention," Adam said with a slight grin. "The final part of the delivery is you. If you want the girl, then you'll have to go through me."
Abaddon growled with anger as he held his swords in position, then lunged towards Adam without a second thought.
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Selmon was running down a dirt road towards the docks carrying a little brown haired boy in overalls. He found the boy under the rubble that used to be his home. After digging him out, the boy revealed that he had been separated from his family when one of the support beams for his house fell. The resulting destruction not only trapped him, but also broke his right leg so Selmon decided to carry him. As they neared the docks, they ran into Xahnara and Qrow.
"Selmon!" Xahnara smiled at the sight of her husband.
"Hey honey," Selmon replied.
"I see you're holding up just fine," Qrow said.
Selmon chuckled. "Yeah, even though we just recently went through a mission. How's the situation?"
"Assistance from Patch is here, along with two more huntsmen guarding the docks. Several of the ships should be pulling out as we speak. We came to find you, your son, and a little girl that's looking for him," Qrow told him.
"So Abaddon hasn't gone back yet. And the little girl must be Emma," Selmon surmised. "Here Qrow, you take this kid to safety while we go look for them. We know this island better so it'll be quicker if we go."
"Alright." Qrow took the little boy in his arms. "You two be careful. Selmon, don't try to be a hero." Then Qrow ran back the way he came.
"Now let's go find Abaddon." Selmon grabbed Xahnara's hand and ran off further into town.
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Abaddon tried his best to keep up with Adam, but he was sorely outclassed. He barely avoided a sword thrust, then tried to retaliate with a horizontal slash. Adam saw this coming and parried the attack, then rapidly cut Abaddon several times before hitting him in the stomach with the butt of his hilt. Abaddon fell to his knees hugging his stomach and spitting up. He had various bleeding cuts on his body and his vision blurred slightly. As he looked up at Adam, he could only imagine what was going on through the man's head. All the while, Emma was still squirming against the soldier's grip. It was sheer torture watching Abaddon get beaten so badly. She cried, feeling weak and useless in the situation.
"So I'm an idiot among faunus huh? Well what do you expect us to do, go back to doing those stupid rallies?" Adam punched Abaddon in the face. "You expect us to allow the humans to run over us? To let them treat us like dirt? Like shit?" He punched the boy again, but Abaddon still retained his posture. "Well I don't, and I say if we can't find peace that way, then what better than to use force. It's the only way humans will listen. And I think scum like you, a human lover, a traitor, would be better off dead."
Adam slid his blade into his rifle sheath, his hair and the red accents of his attire glowing as his semblance activated. Emma tried to scream for Abaddon to move, but her captor's hand muffled her voice. In one swift motion, Adam executed a clean slash with his blade. Although, to everyone's surprise, someone else stood between him and the boy.
Abaddon's eyes widened as his mind finally grasped who the person was in front of him. "Mom!"
To him, everything seemed to happen in slow motion as he watched his mother helplessly fall to the ground. He stared at his mother's body in horror.
"Well, what an unfortunate surprise. I hope this is a wakeup call for you kid. Don't mess with the White Fang," Adam said. "Let the girl go, we don't need her anymore."
At Adam's command, the White Fang soldier pushed Emma away and followed his leader into the forest. Emma stood up and went over to Abaddon and Xahnara once the two were out of sight.
"Mrs. Rizer! Mrs. Rizer wake up!" Emma screamed as she shook Xahnara's limp form. She then attempted to shake Abaddon out of his stupor. "Abby, come on. We could get her some help! What's wrong with you? Wake up Abby!"
Nevertheless, no matter how hard Emma tried Abaddon would not budge. He just stayed in the same position he was already in. Emma then went back to Xahnara and tried to pick her up, but she wasn't strong enough so she tried the next best thing. "Help! Anyone! We need help! Please!" It didn't matter if her shouts attracted any Grimm, or if the sounds of the fires and crumbling houses got in the way, she just wanted to hopefully grab someone's attention.
"Emma? Is that you?" replied a familiar voice. It was Selmon who arrived on the scene and he looked pretty haggard. His clothes were torn from fighting Grimm and he was partially drenched in sweat. He paused when he saw Xahnara laying on the ground near Emma, blood spilling from her open wound.
"Oh no." Selmon sheathed his weapon on his back and ran over to them. "Emma, what happened here?" he asked as he picked his wife up off the ground. When he did he immediately felt her blood on his hands.
"It was the White Fang Mr. Rizer, they're the ones who started the fire. When I came to find Abby their leader kidnapped me. He used me to make Abby fight him, and when he tried to kill him…Mrs. Rizer jumped in the way and got hurt instead," Emma explained in a fearful voice.
Selmon felt Xahnara's pulse. It was weak, but still there. He sighed in relief knowing that she was still alive. He then turned her around a bit to see her wound. A long bloody slash made its way across her back, from her left shoulder to her right hip. He didn't have any medical supplies on him, so he tore off some of his shirt to use as a bandage and tied it across her torso to cover the wound. He then directed his attention to his son.
"Abaddon," Selmon said, but the boy didn't answer. "Abaddon get up son!"
"I've tried getting him to move, but he won't listen," Emma told him.
"He must be in shock. I can still carry both of them though-," Selmon was saying when a series of growls interrupted him.
A group of six beowulves slowly approached them. They had been attracted to Emma's earlier cries for help. Selmon mentally cursed since he couldn't fight with his wife critically injured, Emma without a weapon, and his son too shocked to move. He thought that maybe if he grabbed Abaddon with one hand and held Xahnara with another, then maybe he and Emma could make a run for it. The problem was if he could run fast enough with all that weight, and get to safety in time for Xahnara to get help. They didn't have any other viable options that he could think of. Plus, it would be unlikely for another huntsmen to find them right now so he channeled the rest of his strength into his arms and legs.
"Emma get ready to run," said Selmon.
"Okay, but what about….Abby?" Emma had turned around to look at him and found him standing up. Although, his face was contorted in what looked like pure rage. His fangs were barred, his eyes black, and his fingers curled with his nails transformed into black claws.
"RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Abaddon charged into the throng of beowulves and attacked. He slashed, smashed, and bit through them with little effort. Once he was done, he stood amongst their decaying bodies staring off into the distance.
"Go," he said.
"No Abaddon, you need to calm down," Selmon replied. "Let's just get-."
"I. SAID. GO!" Abaddon growled.
Selmon realized that there was no convincing Abaddon and sighed. "Let's get out of here Emma."
Emma nodded and followed him closely. They ran past Abaddon and back towards the docks. Abaddon watched as they left and waited until they were out of sight to head off into the forest in the same direction Adam went. He was running on all fours, the animal in him fully unleashed as he tore through any Grimm that got in his way. Using his hearing he managed to pick up what sounded like faint footsteps in the distance. It didn't take him long to find two lone White Fang soldiers walking around. He quickly tackled one of them onto the ground and pinned his arms down. Without missing a beat, Abaddon slashed through the soldier's neck. The second one tried to hit the boy from behind with the stock of a rifle, but Abaddon ducked and impaled that soldier in the stomach with his right hand. The soldier started to spit up blood.
"Tell me where Adam is!" Abaddon demanded.
"Over my dead body," the White Fang soldier managed to say.
Abaddon was about to reply when something interesting caught his eye. Not far from where he was, near the northern coast of the island, he could see two bullheads taking off.
"That should be it," Abaddon thought.
He ripped his hand out of the soldier's stomach and sprinted towards the coast. He made it just in time to see a large group of White Fang loading gear into the last bullhead. Abaddon rushed in without the slightest amount of hesitation and began slaughtering them. Some were caught off guard and were quickly killed while others already had weapons in their hands or close by. The remaining soldiers fired their rifles at Abaddon, but with his semblance active they couldn't even scratch him. Plus, he was moving too fast for them.
"Everyone on the bullhead!" One of them yelled.
Four unarmed soldiers entered the bullhead while four more continued to shoot whilst backing up into the flying ship. Not willing to allow them any means of escape, Abaddon jump in after them just as the door was closing. The bullhead took off, but as it was in the air it began veering left and right, losing balance until it eventually spiraled out of control. The ship flew through the air as it lost altitude. It fell into the forest and heavily smashed through several trees until it crashed somewhere deep in the dark forest.
