Nyctophilia or Selenophile

Adam was falling through a sea of nothingness. No light. No air. Nothing to see but pure blackness.

Yet, he could still hear something near him. Far away, yet close. The voice was quiet. Just barely above a mumbling whisper. The words coming in and out and only catching a syllable or two every few seconds.

He shut his eyes and opened his ears, listening to the voice… No. Voices. There were at least half a dozen. Each voice growing louder as the sensation of the fall only grew. When he opened his mouth to call out, get some semblance of where he was, his mouth filled with the nothingness of the world around him, swallowing his voice and his air.

His lungs filled with lead. He choked on the nothingness that now filled his lungs till it burned and his eyes welled up with hot tears. His fingers turned blue and he reached out for something to grab hold of, but nothing was there.

The voices became louder, but not enough to understand. They spoke over each other.

Adam began to go dizzy as the inky black void started spinning. His mind raced to make sense of it. Nothing made sense to him.

His feet found solid purchase and he fell to his hands a moment later when virgin snow rose from the black void he stood upon. Pine trees rose out of the snow and humanoid figures began to morph from the shadows created in a source-less witch-light in the void.

Black smoke filled the air as Adam took his first step through the forest. As the figures began to fill out and take on a normal appearance, Adam sucked in a deep breath, his eyes wide as he stared up at the mouth of a large cave.

"No." He wanted to scream, but the nothingness that filled his lungs kept him from talking. He choked on it. His body refused to move by unseen hands. He thrashed against them, screamed his silent wails as he fought against it. "No! I don't wanna see this! You're not real!" Adam wanted to cry out.

Strong men hauled him off through the snow, his feet digging in as hard as he could to keep himself planted. But they were stronger. He was thrown around like a sack of spuds and after entering a rusted building, thrown at a chair. A little boy sniffled and held his arm. Burnt flesh filled the air.

He was thrown into the chair, restraints binding him down. One of them punched him hard in the face. He cried when his head bashed against the metal backing of his chair. A woman with golden hair stepped up, a metal brand, cherry red, in hand.

She said nothing. Adam whimpered like a scared child as the woman raised the brand and pressed it against his face.

Adam snapped awake, his mind racing as he reached for his weapon that was not there. His lungs burned and he felt intense pain course through his being. His vision blurred until he saw only darkness, forcing him to lay back down on the small cot he had awoken upon.

He was safe.

He was not there.

It had been a dream.

A moment of peace was given for his victory over the dark horrors of the world. He proved his existence by asserting violence upon that which craved his life. Life was a struggle to exist by challenging others to that right. It was the ambrosia that high powers loved to taste.

When his vision returned, he was not surprised to see Sienna standing over him, bandages in hand and tending to his arm.

"Nice to see you finally awake." Her voice was soft. Softer than he ever remembered hearing it as. His free hand came up and stroked the side of her face, pushing a strand of hair from her eyes and showing a set of bandages over her left one. She turned away from him, hiding them. "It'll be fine. I'm not losing it."

Adam relaxed upon hearing that. He did not have eyes for her, but she was not someone who needed to be blemished with scars. If things were better, she could have any man she wanted with her looks and intelligence. But the world wasn't perfect.

In remembrance to his own scars he touched the left side of his mask, adjusting it. Only… it wasn't there.

Panic surged through him.

"I always wondered why you wore it." Sienna wasn't looking at him anymore. A thousand yard stare lay in her solitary eye as she looked through the wall and to somewhere else. Clarity came back and it hardened. "I never would have thought you to be from the mines."

Adam sat up slowly, eyeing bandages that raced down his chest and arms. He shut his eyes, for once embracing the horrors in his mind as screams echoed within its darkest recests. Running only went so far. Shoving those voices down only made them worse.

"I'll be your light."

Adam twitched at the memory that came to the forefront of his mind like rushing waters breaking a dam. It spilled over the haunting images and angry voices, leaving him standing behind his past self that said those words.

"Nickel?"

"He's okay. He was worse than you. Stubborn guy didn't die. Amazing really. He was cut up pretty bad." A laugh escaped her lips. It was the first joyful tone to leave her since he woke. "We had hells time getting the gun out of his hand. He wouldn't let it go. Even while near dead."

"Near dead?" he repeated, fearful of his current status.

"It was really touch and go for a while. That's why I said he was really stubborn. Not sure how he survived all that. He woke up hours before you. No sooner had he woken up did he go back to work. Started repairing the wall with others and burying dead."

"How many did we lose?"

Sienna was very quiet for a moment, her eye haunted by something. Adam could see screams trapped within that solitary eye. Whatever she saw, whatever she fought against, Adam didn't want to know. But he had to know to protect them later on. To know what enemy they faced and prepare for a counter attack.

"We lost about fifty people. We got lucky. The bandits were found by a team before they could get the drop on us. Sloppy work on their end, I guess. We moved everyone that we could before they arrived. The guards remained behind to buy us time, but they didn't last long. Whoever those bandits were, they held real power. Power strong enough to blow through our defenses."

Adam could not fathom such a power. Power such as his, existed because it always had in the form of a Semblance. Some could break the laws of physicals with such ease that one might wonder if they were a God, while others were so weak in comparison that they might not be anything at all. Some would believe that those with powers capable of breaking the rules of nature might well in fact be properly born Huntsman and Huntresses. If that were the case, then Adam surely should have been one considered for such a path.

But a power strong enough to blow through their defenses with little effort made him shiver beneath the blanket in fear. And that Grimm, decaying the ground where it stood? Apathy could do amazing things, draining the very will to live right out of their victims without even touching you or seeing you. You need only be in their general area.

Perhaps it was an offshoot of one. Created by some accident, yet born with the power to will the earth to die at its command. A frightening power if combined with an Apathy. Two Grimm draining the will to live right out all life… Adam dared not think of running into another.

"We moved everyone into the forest, made them stay down and stay quiet. When we heard you two start fighting, we rushed in to see what was happening. Got there just in time to see you slay that strange Grimm. And before you ask; No. That wasn't the one we're currently running from."

Adam nodded slowly. The one they were said to be running from was all teeth and muscle. Or so the stories went from people that claimed to see it.

"How bad was I?"

"Not that bad. Few cuts. Lots of bruising. Guess you got knocked around pretty good during your time venturing around with Nickel. Speaking of which: He cleared up his mess? He's been rather quiet since he woke a few hours ago"

"Not sure. We saw them off." Adam sighed while standing up. His muscles protested instantly, but he beat them down as he started looking for something to cover his eyes. It was his tent, so he knew where to find some. "How are the repairs going?"

"Good." She became chipper with the change in topic. "Repairs are not even close to being completed, but everyone is rather happy with having at least one of their saviors back on their feet already. You two made quite the stir when you disappeared. Granted, I know why it happened, but there were some people thinking I said that to put them at ease."

"They think we abandoned them or something?"

"No. Nothing like that." She tucked a strand of hair behind her human ear and allowed her bangs to conceal the bandaged eye. "You both ran off, luring the Grimm away from what would have been their deaths. You both showed up to defend them. You both saved their lives. Not a single one of them died. The little girl that Nickel told to watch over the adults, she actually started calling him "Her" Gunslinger."

Adam raised a brow as he got up to find a mask. Didn't want people thinking he lost an eye or something. "I don't think he's a lawless man or bank robber."

Sienna shrugged. "Kids."

"Fair reasoning, I guess."

"But," Sienna crossed her arms under her bust, something he finally took notice of, "Word reached us that Ghira is almost back, and he's not happy with Haven."

"Why?"

"That Grimm that's been running around and causing all of this. It was slain a few weeks ago. It stuck its nose in some serious stuff up near Argus. Picked a fight with them and got destroyed. As a result, we're now going to be returning people that want to go back to their homes if they so desire."

Adam sighed explosively. Great. That was what they needed for their cause. Clearly, Sienna agreed.

It was no longer just a problem against Haven for failing to deal with a threat that had first appeared on their soil and dealt a crippling blow to them. Now, the focus would shift to the White Fang for taking people away from their homes by spreading lies about how the Kingdoms weren't dealing with the threat. Haven clearly wasn't. No one would deny that. But it could also be flipped to make the White Fang look back as they took people from their homes that wanted to leave, which, to the eyes of business owners that use cheap Faunus labor, would be considered abduction.

The whole thing was now just a boiling mess of a stew that Sienna, for her vaste political knowledge, would be turned on and once more dragging Faunus down further. Humans would see this as them not having faith in their Kingdom and the White Fang would gain another mark against them for jumping in and trying to save as many lives as possible.

There were no good ways out of this mess either.

They could try and point out that under Ghira, they were under orders to help secure everyone: Faunus AND Human. But, chances were the humans they rescued would turn it back on them anyways. That's what they did. That's what they always did.

If Sienna had it her way, she'd be on top and leaving the Humans to die. But Ghira believed in peace and talks. They worked, just not fast enough. Striking only went so far and right now, she was starting to get tired of it.

They just couldn't catch a break.

"Let's get you out there." Sienna finally told him, slapping him on the shoulder. "Your followers wish to see their divine savior."

Adam rolled his eyes under his mask. I am not a divine savior.

The male Faunus stepped out into the blinding sunlight. He winced behind his mask at the damage that the fighting had caused. A mass burial site was also noted in the far corner just a few meters away from the wall. The breach had been cleaned up and repairs were nearly finished. Another day of work and it would be good as new. Tents were being rebuilt, supplies and aid given to those that needed them, and guards patrolled the wall, their eyes narrowing at every sound and sight they saw.

Looking at the damage, he felt responsible for this. Had he not gone with Nickel, he might have been able to prevent this from happening. Couldn't he? Adam fought with all of his might against that unknown woman, pushing her to use true power against him. Power he didn't understand. She called upon the elements as if they were extensions of her will. When finally pressured, not thanks to their might, she summoned a swirling mass to escape through.

Yes, she beat him. But he didn't give up. And in the end: She was the one who fled.

Didn't make him feel any better about the situation.

No one came out to greet him, much to his current enjoyment.

"This way."

Adam followed at her call. She spoke, but he half listened. His mind was with Nickel and his previous actions. He wanted information on their attackers rather than to rush in and try to defend who remained. Yes. Adam could understand his logic. It was rather sound. But the truth was that if he hadn't done what he did, a lot more people would have died. People that they were trying to protect.

They crossed the burial site, both offering a moment of silence for the lost before pressing on.

Sienna stopped short of the wall, her eye roaming it as she looked for something. Adam didn't see what she saw. The female Faunus stepped up to the wall, resting her hand along its surface before continuing on.

Splintered wood lay at her feet where she had stood.

Perhaps it was the spot of the breech? It was further north though.

They walked in silence for a long time. Long enough for Adam to forget she was leading him somewhere twice. He found himself thinking more on Nickel's desire for information and why it was wrong, yet knew it to be right. Had things been different, Adam would have listened to him, and more people would have died.

Given his desire to protect life, maybe it was best left unsaid. Knowing that his desired plan would have undoubtedly killed many more would probably leave him doubting his ability to be a warrior.

Sienna stopped, forcing Adam to do the same. Just beyond a few small tents lay a small campfire and a few other workers trying to finish repairs to the wall where small-arms fire had done enough damage to weaken it. Claw marks were evident, most likely from a secondary attack by the Grimm to test their new fortifications and instill more negative emotions in survivors.

Nickel was sitting near a campfire speaking with one of the workers when Adam found him. The other Faunus was rather animated about something. Nickel seemed lost in thought, though the other didn't seem to mind or notice. Adam wasn't sure which was the case.

"...beautiful lady. Really. Truly a gorgeous woman." The Faunus turned sharply when Sienna snorted. He was a young looking man with slicked back black hair and shark-like teeth. He smiled, offering a nervous chuckle when he saw Sienna's ears flicker atop her head. "Of course… beautiful is in the eye of the beholder."

"Of course." Sienna looked down at Nickel as he looked up at the two of them. She was taken aback by the moment of resignation in his eyes. No. It wasn't resignation. His eyes were filled with sadness. "Can we have a moment with the Gunslinger?"

He nodded and got up to leave quickly as Nickel snorted at the nickname.

Once the man was well out of sight, Adam sat down beside him and stared at his former traveling partner. "You don't look so hot. Fever?"

"...No…"

Sienna sat down on the other side of him, her knees against her chest as she held them close, her solitary eye staring at the fire as it licked the air. "You're pushing yourself," she told him. Nickel said nothing. "Your bandages need changing."

"I already took care of it." He looked to the moon, a smile touching his face.

Sienna doubted he took care of them. She gazed up at the moon for a moment, and saw no joy in it.

"You're mad at me, aren't you?" Adam asked quietly. When Nickel didn't reply, he pressed further. "I did what I thought was right. I saved a lot of lives by rushing in. I thought about it during the walk here to find you. If we had done things your way, more people would have died."

"I know."

"If you know, then why are you so depressed?" Silence again. Adam touched his mask, ensuring that it was safely on. He didn't like this. Nickel was troubled. Maybe it was his actions. Maybe it was just the fact that they survived. He didn't know or care. They were alive and now they had to deal with the consequences that follow surviving such a massive battle like that. "We won."

"It's not that." He finally spoke, his eyes closed. "I gave up." Adam blinked. "I lost my light. You said you'd be my light. I lost faith in you. I was so ready to curl up and die."

Adam leaned back a little, his features somber as he processed that.

"I heard my own voice in my head cry out against that thought. My voice pulled me from the darkness. I lost faith in you because you didn't do what was right. You went rushing in for revenge."

"And it saved lives. If I didn't do that, those people I saved would have died."

"My father did the same thing and it got him killed! He said it was justice." He spat the word "justice" as though it were a curse. "There is no justice in what was done. Not then or now. I followed because I believed in you."

"Then why are you still here?" Adam's voice was soft and low. Not threatening. Concerning.

Nickel looked down at the ground. Snow began to fall when he looked up, his red eyes lost and unfocused. "I'm still following you. I don't know where to go or what to do. All my life I followed my father. He helped me when I lost everything to the Grimm before." He shut his eyes tightly to squelch the voices and pain as best he could. When he opened his eyes, there was only pain reflecting in them. His mouth hung open for a moment before he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay. I'm here for you. I made a promise. I aim to keep it." The redhead licked his lips, unsure of what to do.

"Have you ever talked about it to anyone?" Sienna asked quietly. "I know you haven't been here long, but you were alone with Adam for almost a full two weeks." Nickel shook his head. "Maybe you'll feel better if you tell us something. Anything. Even if its stupid."

There was a long moment of silence. Adam turned away from him, pulling his hand away from his shoulder. Sienna smiled while poking the fire.

"Cobalt was an asshole, but a good person." He finally spoke. "Only one near my age. Asshole he was, but a good worker. He stuck to his guns." His head was low when he got up. "Bastard child he was, but he was still a good person."

"Human?" Sienna asked.

"I was the only Faunus." Sienna and Adam looked to one another, almost in shock. "My father wasn't really my father. Second Father, actually. He adopted me after saving my first village from Grimm when I was just a boy. Don't remember much of it before him. I have flashes from time to time about a life I think I knew." He closed his eyes, pulling on the strings of memories that plagued him at night, catching brief flashes of a woman.

Sienna pulled deep within herself as she understood what he meant. Her hatred for Humans was understood and respected. Nickel did not know her. She did not know him. But right then and there she saw him as a foreign thing. A bug beneath her boot. Tame was a word that came to mind when she thought of him. Complacent was another.

"He torture you?"

Nickel turned sharply to face her, a look of horror etched across his features. "No. He never hit me. He raised me like a son."

"To your knowledge."

Nickel got up, his lips curled into a sneer. "He may have done wrong in the end, but he never did wrong by me while he was alive."

"Until the end."

Adam coughed. "Sienna, leave it." She shot him a dirty look. He was no different than she. He hated Humans just as much as any other Faunus that had their lives ripped apart by Human greed. But that did not mean he couldn't show some form of compassion to Nickel for losing the only thing he ever knew.

She backed off, stepped away from the Gunslinger as he caressed the smooth hammer of the gun. His features calmed at the touch.

"In the end he did me wrong, yes. But it was how I saw it. He wanted to chase after the Bandits that hit our village instead of taking the survivors to Haven for their safety. Revenge. That's how I saw it. How I see it." He worked his jaw for a moment, pulling his hand away from the gun. "I haven't been awake for long, but I had time to think, Adam. What you did could have gotten worse, but you were right in the end."

The redhead crossed his arms, his mask hiding his visible confusion well.

Nickel elaborated carefully. "I spoke to a few people. They said you saved their lives during the crisis. Had we done things my way, more people would have died. People that would have been on my head for wanting information."

"Yes. I suppose you're right. But, had I listened to you…" He looked down at his bandaged arms for a moment. "I got cut up by Faunus who were working with the Bandits. Maybe if we gathered more information, I would have known they had supporters like that. But we didn't." The very idea of Faunus working with Human Bandits did not cross his mind at the time. Yes, it was common knowledge that they would run with them sometimes in rare cases, but he had never seen it.

"The way I see it, both of you are in the right and the wrong." Sienna finally told them after a long moment of silence. She reached up, removing the bandage from her eye. It adjusted to the light quickly, but the pain was still evident. "You are obviously used to working with a professional. You're father, I assume?" Nickel nodded. "We do things differently. Guards we may be, but we work as a unit."

"I was trained to get information first before moving in. Forgive me for that."

"It's alright." Adam put a hand on Nickel's shoulder when his hand slowly went to his gun again. It was a habit. A scary habit. But a habit. The touch of the hammer on his thumb had a calming effect on his mind. "I'm used to rushing in. Save as many lives as possible."

Nickel remained quiet.

Adam felt something cold and detached within Nickel when he pulled his hand back from the youth. It was a terrible feeling, like his soul was rejecting something. The look on Sienna's face was enough to warrant concern when she took a step towards them, her features twisting into a look of concern.

Nickel wobbled where he stood. Adam steaded him and found him trembling and warm.

"His wounds have reopened." Sienna told him. They laid him down as a few workers rushed to get aid. Adam cut his shirt off with a knife and found his bandages soaked red. He was worse than Adam had suspected. How was he on his feet? Was his will to live that great?

"...My light…" Nickel began to slip between consciousness and unconsciousness. In those moments he saw quick flickers of a woman. Hair as dark as a night and skin as rich as the soil. She smelt of cedar and ash.

"Stay with us." Adam called. "You're light is right here. I'm here."

Fennec came and took him with two other medics. Sienna and Adam went with them. When they entered a tent, Fennec informed them to wait outside. Adam shut his eyes, worried that this was caused by their minor fight.

"HIs light?" Sienna whispered to him. "What do you mean by that?"

Adam shrugged, unsure of what it meant. He made that promise to him in the heat of the moment. Nickel was lost. Worse back then. But now, maybe his mind was slowing down to process what he lost. The mind was a powerful thing, capable of withholding pain and mental anguish for years before it finally came back.

"I don't know." Adam stared at the tent, finally unsure of what it all meant. "He said his light was gone. So, I told him I would be his light until he found his again."

"What? Like a Guiding-Light? You?" She gave a taunting smile. "You're special, but not special enough to have a profound influence on others. Admiration, sure. But not inspiration or be a profound influence."

Adam wondered if that was what it meant. Nickel's "Light" as he called it. Was he looking for something to admire? It seemed so strange. Yet, it fit him. Nickel wanted a light to look upon. Not to hold, but to see.

But the redhead doubted he could fill whatever shoes had once been the original light. He was nothing more than a man. Men could be broken. A light needed to be more than a man. It needed to be something that could not be slain or corrupted. Gods were falable and something only the weak turned to in the hopes of having prayers answered.

A light, a proper one, needs to be more. It had to be strong. Strong enough to not die. Not fall to corruption. And be a beacon that could show anyone that no matter what evils came it's way, it would still stand with a sword raised in the air to greet that evil with a smile.

Or was his light nothing more than a word used in place of another? Did he do it because he was secretly afraid of the dark? One could easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. But Nickel was no child.

Sienna touched her eye, a sad smile touching her lips. Adam didn't notice. "Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness," she confessed. "It was a box with nothing in it but emptiness. She said there was something there. I didn't see it. Still don't."

"Point?"

"I think the light is a metaphor. Not one he understands. It's just something that got lost in translation." Sienna turned to leave, wanting to return to work.

Adam stayed behind, staring at the closed flaps of the tent. Or perhaps it is much simpler. A way to fight back against the darkness that claws at our hearts. We bear our own light within as beacons, but some are simply darker than others.

The redhead departed, eager to get back to work as well.

A/N

I wish that Adam got more time to give us more of a backstory on him. Troubled as he was, there is something fun about writing the idea of him at a younger point in his life. Unless they come out and show us what happened to his face and how he got the scar, I like the idea of it being that he, and many others, kind of got the Mutant treatment from the X-Men series. First one I think had them shown going into camps because they had powers and getting tagged.

Next thing is that after this, the next chapter should really be an Unsung Hero chapter. Still working on it and aiming to make a good return to it since it's opening up on a fight anyways.