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Cover Art: Terakali

Chapter 33

The crowd bayed for blood. His, mostly. Adam ducked under a fist and was forced to hop back and away from a girl blurring by on a weaponised hoverboard. It almost took his head off. Wilt burned in his hand, screaming for him to draw and strike down the bronze-skinned, blonde woman while she was distracted. She was good – they all were – but she was no Pyrrha Nikos and not nearly as experienced as he. It wouldn't be hard to slide into her guard, disarm her and then take her hostage. Force the one on the board to dismount or he would take her friend out the battle.

Too easy. Too problematic.

There were tens of thousands of people in the stands. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, watching over the CCT. The Vytal Festival was the greatest occasion in Remnant's calendar, and every fight would be viewed hotly. His more than anyone's with the current media storm surrounding him and Beacon.

He held back instead, firing and missing with Blush before using it to block a devastating punch that launched him four feet back. The woman was on him, determined to keep the distance short where his weapon would be a liability. Adam was skilled unarmed, Yang could attest to that, but there was a difference between skilled and someone who based their whole combat style around it.

Despite that he had allowed himself to be put in this situation, he was now losing it. What made his blood boil more was how loud the audience had suddenly become at the fact. People were screaming – he couldn't tell what since it was much too loud – but they were pounding the floor hard enough to make the arena shake.

Prove them wrong, an angry part of his mind snarled. Cut this stupid bitch down and show them what the faunus can really do!

No. He couldn't. Adam deflected another blow and tried to duck the second. It caught his cheek. Stars exploded before his eyes and he was too slow for the next, which slipped between his elbow and his other arm to hit his jaw square on.

"Adam! RoseBull!"

Past the pain, past the nausea, past the anger and the screaming voices, Adam heard Ruby's call. Past it all, he also managed to feel annoyance that she hadn't changed that stupid attack name.

He was nothing if not a soldier, however. His body reacted instantly, kicking off the ground and dropping his guard. It allowed his foe another solid blow that he could do nothing about, but that helped to launch him back out of her follow-up range. She tried anyway, but this time came face to face with a red blur as Ruby appeared to save him.

The diminutive reaper ran circles around the woman, leaving behind trails of rose petals that steadily grew to cloud both their vision. It was like a smokescreen had gone off localised in one, small area. Dipping low onto one knee, Adam sheathed his sword and lunged forward, readying the draw.

"Ruby!" he shouted.

His partner broke the encirclement, flashing aside as a streak of red. The petals immediately began to dissipate but it was much too late for Arslan, who could only stare wide-eyed at his approach. She was quick, though. Bunching her knees, she jumped up and over his horizontal slice, his red blade whooshing by beneath her feet. She looked pleased with herself above him. At least until she saw his vicious grin.

Ruby appeared in the air behind her, Crescent Rose held back. You couldn't dodge mid-air unless you had a mobility Semblance of some kind. Arslan did not. Ruby's scythe slashed down and the girl screamed, finding herself launched back into Adam.

The loud buzzer sounded to alert him her aura had been depleted. At the last second, he drew Wilt back, letting the woman fall at just the same time the hover-board fighter went crashing off the edge of the battlefield, her weapon unbalanced by Weiss' ice clinging to one side of it.

"Team ABRN are out of the fight!" Professor Port boomed over the microphones. "And Team RYST of Beacon clinch it with an excellent display of teamwork and cohesion. Let's hear it for Team RYST!"

The applause was polite. Guilty. It wasn't a quarter as loud as it had been for previous fights, and Adam guessed a lot of the people clapping were only doing so because they would have felt awkward otherwise. Most weren't at all. Sighing, Adam sheathed his sword and offered a hand to his fallen foe. Arslan looked back up uncertainly, her eyes dipping to his metallic collar. Gingerly, she took it and let him pull her up.

"Good fight," he said.

"Close," she accepted. It could easily have not been, but he nodded back. "Good luck with the rest of the tournament."

Winter Schnee and her two soldiers continued to loom at the edge of the arena. A public show of force, a reminder to everyone that even if the evil Adam Taurus was here and fighting, he was no threat to anyone in the audience.

Adam hopped off the raised arena platform, rolling his eyes as the armed soldiers took their positions behind him, them and Winter surrounding him in a triangular fashion and escorting him away from the suddenly quiet audience while Team RYST went the opposite way to the changing rooms.

/-/

He wasn't allowed to remain on Amity without fights that required his presence. Shuttled back onto an aircraft and shipped to Beacon where he could do the least damage, Adam was quickly ushered into Ozpin's office, the man waving Winter and her escort away.

"We're to monitor him-"

"James has you watching Mr Taurus to prevent him doing any ill will during the festival. There is precious little he can do here. If you are so worried, guard the docks and that will prevent him reaching Amity."

"We will wait outside," Winter said stiffly.

Once the elevator was gone, Adam spoke. "They're going against your authority now. That's not a good sign."

"That hardly comes as a surprise. My position is far more tenuous now than it has been for a while. The Council want me to give you up, the people are calling me reckless for endangering their children and the media are fanning the flames for views." He adjusted his glasses with a heavy sigh. "Thank you for taking it easy on your opponents by the way."

Adam shrugged. "You told me not to win too easily."

"Yes. I'm sorry for the trouble that idea has caused but I worry the pressure will only increase if you start ripping your way through the competition. If they see how far ahead of your peers you really are, that will only make them more nervous. People do not react well when they are afraid."

"It's fine. I've told Ruby to keep me out the rest of the fights."

Ozpin looked relieved. "That might be for the best. Again, I am sorry about this, but we just can't afford to make matters worse. People are calling for my job. There is a petition going through the council right now for my removal."

"Can they remove you?"

"Not as easily as the people signing it seem to think." Ozpin smiled. "Of course, that could change if something goes wrong, and they believe they must act to protect people. It takes time, but laws can be changed, and they write them."

If Ozpin was removed then whomever replaced him would surely not extend the same hospitality. If so, he had to be prepared to run. It would imply guilt and give Vale all the reason they needed to hunt him down, but it wouldn't make much of a difference at that point. Atlas already wanted just that, and the only reason Ironwood hadn't arrested him already was because Ozpin seemed to have some hold over him.

What kind of favours does this headmaster have over the General of an allied Kingdom? Ozpin is far more connected than would seem reasonable.

"How likely is it you'll be removed?"

"As of now, not very." Ozpin smiled faintly. "The Council are only really interested in maintaining their political power. They will make a show of chastising me in order to win votes, but actually removing me could negatively impact this generation of huntsmen. They will be judged for that. It's much easier to make a show of action than it is to act."

He knew that well. Faunus who would shout loudly about wanting change – some humans, too – but who would do so very little when the time to act came. Actions may speak louder than words, but some people would keep shouting regardless. The loud minority had a way of making themselves seem larger than they were.

"Of course, should anything regarding you go wrong at the festival, things could easily change. Hence why I asked you to throw the fight a little. If we can get through this with you obeying the rules and making little to no fuss, I hope they will realise their fear was exaggerated."

"I'll play ball," Adam promised.

"Thank you. Dismissed."

/-/

Adam was equal parts surprised and frustrated to find Ruby waiting for him in their dorm. Winter Schnee made a show of logging his location into her scroll and informing him that he would need to contact them if he planned to leave Beacon, failure to do so resulting in his immediate arrest. Adam nodded and waited for her to go before turning on Ruby.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you all to enjoy the festival."

"I wasn't feeling it."

The way she wouldn't meet his eyes told him she was lying. Ruby wasn't good at it. Adam sighed and stormed past her, annoyed. "This event comes around once every few years, Ruby. You shouldn't miss out on it just to keep me company. I'm not going to weep if I'm left on my own for a day."

"It doesn't feel right to go without my partner!"

"It doesn't feel right for you to be stuck here because of me, either." he countered. His bed flexed as he sat on it, fishing out his scroll to keep an eye on how it was going. "Have you decided who will fight in the doubles?"

"Yep. Yang and Weiss."

"Not yourself? Why?"

"Weiss' glyphs are too useful to not have on the team and she needs a front-line fighter to cover for her. Me and Weiss would be too fragile as a duo. Yang will do way better."

A sound, strategic choice. The one he would have made. Adam nodded, grunting his approval and ignoring how Ruby bounced happily at it. He'd said she had the potential to be a good leader, so it was ridiculous how excited she was at the prospect of it. He wouldn't have said it in the first place if it wasn't true.

Half of the fights were over by now. Pyrrha's team had won handily thanks to her, while Blake's team were through as well. He was frankly relieved they hadn't been made to fight one another in the first round or it would have been messy. Aside from betting reports and the usual articles on how the fights were going, there was plenty of talk online about him. Adam clicked on one, accidentally opening what was a live and in-progress debate. It played out loud enough for Ruby to hear.

"-inaction taken by Beacon's headmaster and General Ironwood is downright criminal," one person said. "This is a wanted terrorist. Arrest him."

"Do you not think there is any chance for redemption of such a person, then?" the host asked.

"Everyone can be redeemed, sure, but that doesn't mean you get to ignore the law to do it. If he really wants to become a better person, he can start by serving his time and then start being better when he comes out."

The audience murmured in response. Some approval – mostly approval, really, but there might have been some who were neutral. Adam didn't expect to hear anyone outwardly champion him, and so was surprised when one of the panellists did just that.

"Do we have no faith in Beacon now? Headmaster Ozpin has run the school for over twenty years. Adam Taurus was also at Beacon for months before the public found out and caused next to no trouble. Isn't that a sign that Beacon has things under control?"

"I've had no qualms with Beacon before this, but they have overstepped themselves here by offering a wanted criminal clemency. That isn't their decision to make."

"Adam Taurus will do more for society battling Grimm than he will rotting in a cell, however. You can't deny that."

"I don't," the man countered, "But then we would have to offer the same opportunity to every criminal if we accepted this, wouldn't we? Beacon are setting a precedent here. If you give this man the option to earn his freedom through education at the most prestigious academy in Vale then you need to give it to everyone. Is that what we want? Murderers, thieves and rapists learning alongside out children?"

"To note," the host interrupted. "There is no indication of any sexual assault by Adam Taurus. Please do not make misleading statements like that."

"I'm not. I'm simply referring to the fact that other criminals HAVE done such things, and that if Beacon is going to open its doors to Taurus, they'll have to open them to others as well. I have nothing against the man; I don't care that he's a faunus or not; for all I know he is an honourable and good person. My problem is that if we let a school and its headmaster circumnavigate the law here, then what else do we allow? Where does the ball stop? Our Kingdom – any kingdom – relies on law and order. Those laws are upheld by the authorities that we vote into power. People outside of that should not have the say on what is and what isn't allowed!"

The audience on the talk show erupted into applause and the host soon turned toward the camera, wrapping up the debate. "Throughout the show we've been asking concerned people to text in with their thoughts. I'm pleased to say we've had over four hundred thousand responses. In our survey, seventy-eight per cent of people have agreed that Adam Taurus should be arrested. What do you think? Have your say online at-"

Ruby boldly leaned over Adam's shoulder, took his scroll and turned it off. He raised a single eyebrow, watching as she huffed and threw his scroll down onto the sheets.

"They don't know you!" she said.

"They don't have to know me to have an opinion, Ruby. You can't say it doesn't make sense."

He picked up his scroll but didn't open the debate again. They made a lot of sense with what they said, but then he'd always accepted that. Goodwitch made sense when she acted against him and watched his every step. He'd only ever criticised her for looking racist, not for being it. At the end of the day he was a criminal and it only made sense that people treat him as such. Then again, it only made sense they treat Blake as such as well, and she was free to experience the festival however she wished.

"It's still not fair," Ruby said. "You've done everything they've said, you're wearing the collar, you went with the escort and you're following every rule. What do they want from you?"

Security. Proof. To not be afraid. The unfortunate truth was that the only way he could provide any of those was by results. If he could go through four years of Beacon, graduate and live a good life fighting Grimm then, at the end of it all, they might accept that they'd been wrong. Only then, however. Anything in between, no matter how much he did, could niggle away in the backs of their heads as a ruse on his part.

It was like being trapped in a room with a hungry cannibal who had sworn off human flesh. You might like them, you might know they've promised to never eat it again, but there would always be that voice eating away at you, reminding you that they had once and could again. No matter how much you trusted that person, could you really let your guard down around them? Did it make you a bad a person if you couldn't? At that point, it was on the shoulders of the guilty to prove their innocence. Not the other way around.

Innocent until proven guilty, but once you were already proven guilty that changed. And there was no denying he was guilty of everything they accused him of. Everything and more.

"Don't get involved," he asked of his partner. "Enjoy the festival, go watch the matches and don't let this get to you."

"But I care!" Ruby whined. "I can't enjoy it when people are saying nasty things about you. They don't know you like we do."

"That's the exact reason they're saying it. If they knew I wasn't going to do anything, they'd be a lot more relaxed."

"Maybe you should put yourself up for one of those debates then."

An interesting idea. Also a bad one. "I'm not good with words. They'd lead me into a corner and force me into saying or doing something that would look bad. My temper isn't the best either. It's better to ignore it and prove them wrong. Nothing I say will matter if people have no reason to believe me."

"Will you come tomorrow then?" she asked.

"It might be better I not. I can watch from here and spare people the anxiety."

"But if you came and were seen then people would start to know you're not a threat. If you hide away then isn't that going to be seen as an admission of guilt?"

Since when had Ruby had time to think up something like that? Adam sighed. Going to Amity would mean placing himself under Atlas' careful watch again, but if Ruby refused to go without him then he'd get his own chance to feel bad.

"Fine. I'll go…"

/-/

The stands were fortunately split into spectator stands and competitor ones, the latter of which any students from the attending schools could use. That spared Adam having to deal with frightened or angry people, though it didn't spare him the ignoble walk through the busier parts of Amity with his own personal escort. People stopped to stare while others snapped photos and the worse called out to the soldiers to take him away. At the entrance, by the food stands, a small group of men and women held up signs in protest.

Arrest Adam

No White Fang

Justice for Vale

Some just had a picture of his face with a red cross through it. They chanted and waved their signs, ignored by most people but visible all the same. If there was any justice in the world then it was that there were only about fifteen of them. Enough to be noted, but not enough to worry the Atlesian soldiers escorting him by.

"Protect the children!" one of them called after their party. "No terrorists in our schools!"

Winter Schnee ignored them and opened a set of doors, holding them so that Adam could walk through with the two soldiers flanking. They took a right past a cordoned off area and into the competitive section of the stands, where the various changing rooms and weapons lockers were kept. There, where the average pedestrian could not go, thinks were much, much quieter.

"I thought you weren't attending today," Winter said. It was the first words she'd spoken to him other than to command him on and off her aircraft.

"I didn't plan to. My team insisted I be there to watch them fight."

"You could have refused them."

Adam chuckled. "Easier said than done."

The rest of the journey up to the stands was done in silence. Their silence, that was. The audience boomed above, the noise echoing through the tight corridors. Up ahead, Lisa Lavender was performing an interview with a student from Atlas. Winter cursed under her breath as the woman turned in their direction, eyes lighting up as if she were a child first discovering Christmas.

"Adam Taurus!" she crowed, abandoning her prior quarry and rushing over to them. One of the soldiers moved to block her path but she just ran into his arms, reaching over his blocking arm to shove a microphone in Adam's face. The cameraman behind fixed the lens on him. "A word, a word for the people watching here today. How does it feel to witness your first Vytal Festival?"

He couldn't refuse to say anything. It would make him look rude and nasty – which he was. He absolutely was. That still wasn't the image he wanted to give off, however.

"It's not my first. I've attended two before."

The answer appeared to shock Lisa, and Winter, too. What, did they expect that the White Fang were so busy plotting human genocide that they didn't have lives outside of it? Sneaking in hadn't been easy, obviously, but Blake had wanted to watch and he'd also heard about it in the mining camps and never had a chance to see it in person.

"Was that before you joined the White Fang?"

"Once before when I was young," he answered. "Once when I was a member."

"You… You attended the Vytal Festival as an active member of a terrorist group…?"

"A lot of us did," he replied casually. "It's one of the biggest events there is, and we've always supported huntsmen and huntresses protecting the Kingdoms. A lot of us have homes in those Kingdoms. Homes, friends and families."

Lisa recovered quickly. "What made you leave the White Fang?"

The answer `I loved a girl and obsessed over her so hard I followed her in exile` obviously wasn't the correct one. He might as well throw himself off Amity and save the embarrassment. "I disagreed with the way things were going," he said instead. "I decided I couldn't support what we were becoming."

"What exactly is that?" the reporter asked hungrily.

"I can't say. Though," he stressed, "I've already told the relevant people everything I know. I've even worked with Winter Schnee here to stop several criminal acts taking place in Vale as a result."

Winter didn't appreciate being put on the spot, that much was obvious, but he knew she wouldn't be able to lie about something that could so easily be confirmed with a little legwork on Lisa's part. "This is true," she said grudgingly.

"Very exciting!" Judging by Lisa's expression she'd be digging into that for sure. "Are you going to be fighting again today?" she asked. "Your bout yesterday looked to be a difficult one."

"Team ABRN were very skilled and worked together well." Stock answer. He could be diplomatic when required. He usually just chose not to be. "I won't be fighting again, though. I won't say who and give the other teams an advantage, but we've already chosen our two to go forward."

"And it's not you? Is there a reason for that?"

"Versatility is more important than individual strength. I'm a good fighter but that's all I am. We're going to be fighting a lot of varied styles and Semblances and we decided it best our representatives be able to counter those. This is also a lot more important to my teammates than it is me," he admitted with a charismatic smile. It appeared to shock Lisa, though it shouldn't have. Just because he was a broody asshole most of the time didn't mean he couldn't force a smile. There were times when the White Fang had to put a more friendly face forward. "I wouldn't want to steal their thunder."

"That's nice of you. How is it being on a team with Weiss Schnee? Considering the bad blood between the White Fang and the Schnee family-"

"Do not answer that question!" Winter snapped.

"It's no problem at all," Adam said, shrugging. "Weiss is her own person and I judge her as such. We get on well. I'd even say she's one of my closest friends."

"Is that so? Who do you think will win the tournament, then?"

"Pyrrha Nikos."

"The safe answer," Lisa laughed. "Don't you have faith in your team?"

"I do, and I think they have a good chance of making the finals, but we spar with Pyrrha often and we all know how that goes. I expect she'll win the whole thing, though someone could surprise us."

"Enough of this!" Winter interrupted by grabbing Adam's arm and yanking him aside. He wasn't sure what was annoying her most, that Lisa Lavender would dig into her family history or that Adam could so affably breeze his way through what should have been a tense interview. "You've had your moment, Miss Lavender. Please excuse us while we escort Taurus to the stands."

"One last question! One last question!" she called after them. "Do you support the violence shown by the White Fang? Do you support the attacks on innocent people who only work for the SDC, and who may not have any hand in mistreating faunus?"

Over his shoulder and as he was dragged away, Adam called back. "Do you support the people who do mistreat faunus? Who do enslave, beat and blame faunus who have no hand in mistreating humans?"

Lisa stood, frozen.

Winter hauled him away.

"I hope you enjoyed your fifteen minutes of fame," she hissed. "General Ironwood will hear of this!"

"I'm not sure I said or did anything wrong, so let him. It would have looked worse if I'd refused to acknowledge her." Worse for him, though not necessarily for Atlas since they wanted him behind bars. Ironwood wouldn't be able to push anything, though. He'd been perfectly polite.

"Don't think I'm not aware you put that on."

"Of course I did. The same way you or your vaunted general would put on a different face for the masses. Everyone does." He looked ahead. "This wouldn't have been a problem if you got me here sooner. Let's get up there already."

The procession made their way to the stairs and up into the stands, out into the open air where the sun basked down on them and the roaring crowd could be heard from every direction. The stadium was packed, but the students' area was both on the front row and much more open. Adam spotted Ruby waving urgently to him, sat next to Weiss with Yang further along.

"Adam! Adam! You made it!"

He moved toward them, only for one of the soldiers to grip his arm. Rolling his eyes, he let them escort him the fifty or so feet, then sat down. Winter, ignoring Weiss' pointed look, sat on his other side, while the two soldiers took the seats behind, ready to react if he tried to move.

Unintentionally, they would also shield him from anything thrown from the stands above, which might have been a possibility if people had a free shot at him.

"Did you think I wouldn't make it, Ruby? Was I to get lose en route?"

"I thought a certain someone might not bring you." Winter Schnee stared ahead, face devoid of expression. "You're lucky our fight hasn't happened yet or you might have missed it."

"At which point I'd have been pissed," Yang said.

"If I did miss it, it wouldn't have been by choice. Though I could have watched from Beacon…"

"No way, buster. You're cheering me on."

"You mean us, correct?" Weiss teased.

"Uh. Yeah. Us. Sure." Yang laughed, embarrassed. "Course that's what I meant. Team RYST is going to kick ass and take names, and I can't take names without our broody cheerleader there."

"Is that what I've been relegated to?"

"Yep." Yang winked. "You bring your pom-poms?"

"I must have forgotten them."

/-/

Cinder watched as the team several rows below her laughed. She chuckled as well, not with but at them and the stiff-looking soldier sat on their other side. It was so amusing to see how much chaos her leaking of his identity had done. Watching Ozpin and Ironwood run damage control was a delight in and of itself.

"Ma'am."

"Emerald." Cinder looked up with a lazy smile. "Where is Mercury?"

"Stuffing his face with hot dogs."

"I hope he doesn't make himself sick before his fight."

"He said he'll be back before the next round starts."

"Good."

"There's something else, ma'am." Emerald's voice dropped, indicating the news wasn't for all ears. Cinder brought her feet up onto the seat in front of her, leaning back so that Emerald could sit next to and whisper into her ear. "We went through the registered teams as you asked. Adam Taurus has backed out of the competition. It's the Schnee and the blonde going through, then probably the blonde in the singles."

Hmm. Cinder supposed she ought to have expected that; Adam would not want undue attention and fighting against children wouldn't exactly do wonders for fixing his image. It was the best choice for him to back out, both for himself and for Beacon.

Neither of which were her.

"That won't do. It's too late to influence the doubles rounds; they'll be called up any moment now." Cinder tapped her fingers on her knee. "Ask Neo to come see me tonight. We'll make sure Adam competes in the singles bracket. Anything less would be quite disappointing..."

"Who will he be fighting against?" Emerald asked.

"Pyrrha Nikos or Ironwood's pet robot. Either would make for some delightful fallout." Cinder smiled and leaned back, closing her eyes against the sun. "You let me decide that. Just prepare yourself. I'll need you on top form."

"You can count on me."

Next Chapter: 22nd June

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