The forest was deathly silent, with it grass and trees whose leaves were the deep red of blood. Despite the ominous coloring of the environment, it was hauntingly beautiful all the same. The sky above was a somewhat similar shade of orange as the sun began its descent below the horizon. A young woman sat on a rock in this forest, looking up at the shattered moon that hung in the sky.
A pair of cat ears that were the same deep black as her hair twitched, and a tail flickered behind her. She was a long way from home. She couldn't help but wonder where her parents were. She couldn't help but wonder how they would feel about what she was doing now. She could help but wonder what sort of things they'd say to her if they saw her now.
"Blake, it's almost here. We're leaving."
She turned towards the voice that called her. A man clad all in black wearing a white mask stood waiting for her. A small pair of black horns were sticking up out of his red hair that was a similar shade to the rest of the forest. She sighed and followed him when he began running through the trees.
"Are we really doing this alone, Adam?" she asked.
"Our intel says that there should only be a bunch of bots on board. We'll be fine. Backup's just a call away, if you're scared," he said.
Blake hoped that there was no need for that. The two came out onto a clearing that overlooked a ravine and a lone train track that had been built running through it. Blake heard the whistle of a train and before long, one came into view. She saw an all too familiar snowflake etched into the front of the train.
The two began sliding down the slopes towards the train. When they were close enough, they leapt off. Blake drew the blade she had sheathed on her back, and Adam did the same with the chokutō on his hip. They landed hard atop one of the cars, anchoring themselves with their swords. Blake didn't feel the impact, but she knew that she'd have to take care during the rest of the mission. Use her semblance too much, and then the next thing she knew, she'd be out of Aura because of the blow it took from the landing. Then she'd be in more danger than she'd like to be. The two ran a few cars up, until Adam cut off the lock of one of the emergency hatches and opened it.
"Ladies first," he quipped.
Blake dropped down into the darkness below. The utter lack of light made the red security lasers very easy to see. Adam dropped down after her a moment later. Even in the darkness, Blake could see the robots lining the walls. Then the displays where a person's face would be flashed red.
They began to move and surrounded the pair. One of them lifted its arms, the hands shifting into gatling guns.
"INTRUDERS. IDENTIFY YOURSELVES."
Adam tilted his sword up. Then it shot out of his scabbard, slamming into the robot. Adam ran forward, grabbing it out of the air and splitting the robot in two before it could recover.
"You take out the gunners," Adam said.
"Right,"
Blake took aim at one of them that had its hands shifted. She ran towards it. It fired on her, and then Blake was flying above it, a Shadow of herself left where the robot was aiming. She landed behind it and decapitated it. In that same breath, Adam dismembered any robot foolish enough to get near him. Almost as if they had some sort of intelligence, those remaining in the car began keeping their distance.
Blake took advantage of their fixation on Adam to strike at their blind spots. Any of them that turned on her would only fire on empty air as Blake's Shadows took her place. Whether it was her or Adam that took them out made no difference. Once the robot's back was turned, they were as good as scrap. There were several more cars of robotic guards, but they put up as much resistance as those that the pair originally encountered.
Then Blake opened the door to the next car, and she froze. Humans. What were they doing here? Adam had said that there weren't supposed to be any of them on the train. Why was their intel wrong? How was their intel wrong?
"They must be the ones that tripped the alarms," one of them said, leveling a gun at Blake.
"Look at her… a faunus," another one said.
Blake was frozen in fear. She didn't know what to do. Before anyone could fire, Adam walked in front of her, firing his sword off again. The impact knocked one of the guards right onto his back and then he lay still.
"Stop moving and you're dead," Adam whispered. "Just keep moving!"
Adam's sword clattered on the group, and there was a moment of silence. He dashed forward, right into a hail of gunfire. He was too fast for most of the bullets. One guard right in front of him grew more and more panicked the closer Adam got to him, seemingly unfazed by the bullets that had hit. Adam reached out and grabbed the man by his throat and slammed him into the ground. He writhed and struggled, but Adam's grip didn't loosen.
"What the hell is he…?"
"Are all faunus that freakishly strong…?"
"They really are monsters…"
Blake could understand the fear in their voices. She understood Adam's semblance, but seeing it was still an experience. Whether it was fascinating or terrifying depended on if you were on his side or not. When the man stopped moving, Adam picked up his sword and stood up straight, his clothes dotted red with his blood and steaming. He exhaled, and steam erupted from his nostrils.
Not all of the guards were focused on Adam, though. A few remembered Blake. She panicked, and used her Shadows to dodge them until she was behind a board. She tried calming her breath. If she didn't move, she would die. If she didn't fight back, she would die. That man Adam had grabbed… he had died. She didn't want to do that to these people. She couldn't.
There was no way they weren't trying to pincer her. She had to get away, somehow. She left a Shadow and propelled herself past one of the guards. She wrapped Gambol Shroud's ribbon around his neck and pulled. He dropped his gun and tried to grab her to no avail. His companion standing across from them had a look of anguish in his face, unable to shoot.
She took a deep breath, steeling herself for what came next. She released her captive. As he gasped for air, Blake kicked him into the wall. He fell, unconscious. Before the other could fire, she shifted Gambol Shroud into a pistol and shot his gun out of his hand. She knocked him out with the blunt edge of Gambol Shroud's sheath.
Blake and Adam made quick work of the guards in the car. Adam's clothes were painted red with blood - not like Blake could tell where his blood ended and the guards' began - and each of his breaths came with a blast of steam being jettisoned from his nostrils or mouth. Blake did her best to leave as many guards unconscious as she could. She had trouble breathing by the time they were done. She looked at the carnage in the train car, then her eyes fell on the board she hid behind.
Was that… a game of Hangman in the corner? And Tic Tac Toe in another? There was a crude drawing in the corner of a devilish looking man labeled "J.S", crossed out with an "X". Blake felt sick.
"We're in too deep to turn back now, Blake. We're seeing this mission through. Let's go."
She followed Adam to the next car in the train. It was filled with crates, all with the same snowflake as the train. They had found the Dust. Or one car of it, at least.
"Perfect," Adam said. "We'll see how many cars are loaded with Dust and decouple them so the others can pick them up. Then we tie up the crew and run the train into the rav-."
"You're going to derail the train?!"
Adam shut the crate of dust he had been inspecting and glanced back at Blake. "You're really not surprised, are you? You know this is how we work."
"Well, yeah, bu- there are people on this train! There are guards right in the car over there!"
"Because you decided to let them live,"
"And maybe, maybe you could excuse the guards! Who knows what else they've done for this terrible company! But the engineers! People running communications! The conductor! They're all civilians!"
"And human." Adam leaned against the crate, arms crossed. "Or do you really think that the SDC would trust a faunus with any of those jobs?"
"That doesn't matter, Adam! They're people! They have families!"
"I doubt they care about the families of faunus they destroy by supporting that pig, Schnee. We don't owe it to them to care about their families when they couldn't give a damn about ours."
Blake clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. She almost felt like she could cry because of how angry she was. If it wasn't Adam she was with, she'd probably be ready to attack him.
"Fine…" she said, "I'll see how far this all goes."
Blake hopped over to the next car, and then looked back. Adam had taught her so much, both about the world, and the battlefield. She knew he could be merciless. She refused to spill blood in his name, though. This was going too far. The White Fang that Adam was a part of and the one Blake dreamed of had drifted too far apart. If this was what it meant to run with the Fang now, she wanted no part in it.
"Blake!" Adam had come outside, and was staring her down.
She drew Gambol Shroud and decoupled the car. As Adam's portion of the train began to slow, the two spent a long moment staring into each other's eyes. Then Blake entered the car. She sat against the wall and drew her knees to her chest, curling her arms and tail around them.
Then she began to cry.
There were still crew on this half of the train, and they were safe now, but the people she had spared… they were as good as dead, weren't they? Was it right, what she did? Sacrificing them to save a few of their coworkers? She could only hope it was. She could only hope that the people who got away alive today wouldn't curse her for saving them like this. She could only hope the people that died today wouldn't curse her for leaving them, for letting part of their Dust fall into Adam's hands.
She could only hope they'd all forgive her. She could only hope she'd be able to forgive herself.
