"Adam?"
Under the moonlight, blazing red hair glistened. Two horns were viciously on top of his head, making the mask over his face more daunting.
After the bull faunus jabbed another attacker, he gave Blake his full attention.
"Blake, you're still alive," Adam said in a monotone voice, though a tad astonished. "Not that I'm too surprised."
Grunts of effort and metal clashing rang out. For a moment, they only stared at each other as if their eyes were lying.
Subconsciously, Blake almost took a step back. Just seeing him caused anxiety to burst over her like a tidal wave. The night she escaped was the last time she saw him. She wouldn't be opposed to never seeing him again. She thought he'd never leave the Khans based on what she observed in the past.
After dodging a drop kick from an enemy pirate, Blake stabbed and pushed him over.
"You're finally trying to leave?" Blake asked, wanting to know the reason.
"Yeah," was all Adam said.
So it was true. That was something she didn't expect to hear. The Khans had suited him well. Maybe he got tired of taking orders.
"Alright," the cat faunus replied with a frown in her voice. "Don't lag behind."
A scoff.
Together, they repelled any nearby enemies. Several shouts and cries reverberated as the ship swayed. Dozens of people were rocketed into walls, denting the area around them from the impacts.
Before Blake could recover from a sudden jab in her side, there was a fish faunus directly to her left. Expertly, she bent over backward and wielded her katana directly into her back.
She expected the enemy to recoil but instead, she caught the blade with iron-like hands.
"What the-!"
While Blake tried to wiggle out of her grasp, the fish faunus smirked as scales sprouted from her skin. It was like she could grow the strong scales on command.
"Give up!"
Right when Blake yanked her blade away with a loud grunt, she was slashed on her back. The enemy was double teaming her. Before it could do more damage, she whirled around and parried the sword.
A yelp from behind. Sounded like someone had picked off the fish faunus she was previously locked in combat with.
Her new opponent was a dog faunus, who snarled threateningly. Unfortunately, she was stuck with mostly parrying and barely dodging his jabs. Every strong kick caused a dent in her aura. The legs were so powerful they felt like steel.
Steel eventually collided with bone and Blake was sent soaring backward with a yelp.
"Agh!"
Before the dog faunus could attack Blake when she was down, Adam intercepted him with his thirsty blade.
Violently, Blake crashed into a railing. The impact effectively tore it off and it fell into the depths below. The oxygen was strangled from her lungs as she coughed and gasped.
In a heartbeat, Yang was there to help her to her feet. "You okay?"
When she could breathe, Blake said. "I'm fine."
"How about you keep up," Adam said sternly, throwing her earlier words back at her.
"You guys know each other?" Yang asked, astonished to meet someone from her girlfriend's past.
"Hardly," Blake quipped as she narrowed her eyes.
He's from her past? Yang asked herself. What kind of a relationship do they have?
From what Yang discerned, this was clearly someone Blake didn't particularly like or care for. But he was in need of help. It was so like her girlfriend to swallow her pride to do what's right.
"Questions have to wait!" Ruby yelped.
"Ruby!" Qrow shouted. "Do it now!"
Before the Khans' reinforcements could close in on them, Ruby shot off a friendly blue flare. The light dazzled into the night sky before fizzling away. That only meant one thing. The signal.
In an instant, a couple of spinning blue glyphs materialized. For a moment, the crew was left stunned that they were placed in such a perfect spot. That required precision. They were right on top of the railings like Weiss was telling them to abandon ship.
"Is it just you two?!" Ruby asked to make sure.
"Yeah!" the monkey faunus confirmed.
To make escape easier, Qrow spun his scythe around to knock away any nearby enemies. A few people crashed backward and rammed into the walls of the large ship.
"Come on!" Ruby grabbed the blonde monkey faunus by the arm and leaped upward.
Behind them was the rest of the crew. When they watched their captain hop into a sparkling sigil, it was time to follow.
After Yang gave a guy one final punch, she jumped in alongside her girlfriend. The moment they got in, the glyphs spun violently before finally propelling them forward.
Various shouts reverberated after them. A few projectiles flew past them, but ultimately missed.
Joyfully, Yang glanced behind her. "Catch us if ya can, losers!"
A little too abruptly, The Howling Thorn became larger. Several of them panicked as the incoming deck taunted them.
As expected, a certain cat faunus perfectly stuck the landing. The rest of her crew was a different story.
Multiple groans rang out as the floorboards dented from impact. Several of them faceplanted as Weiss leered over them.
"You bunch of dunces!" Weiss chided lightly. "You don't have a landing strategy? What kind of pirates are you?!"
"Oh, I'm sorry we've never been slingshotted off a boat!" Yang chirped with a smirk.
"Whatever," curious from the new faces, Weiss asked. "Who are they?"
Eagerly, the monkey faunus hopped up with help from his tail. "Oops, forgot introductions."
Gingerly, Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "We didn't exactly have time for that until now."
"Sup, guys. My name's Sun like that thing in the sky," Sun chirped. "Thanks for the save!"
When Sun was done introducing himself, everyone looked to the bull faunus who adorned the mask of a grimm. He said nothing.
Sun waved his hand dismissively. "He doesn't talk much to random people."
"Shut up," Adam barked, which caused Sun to smirk smugly.
"This is Adam," Blake told them. "I knew him from when I was a Khan."
For now, she withheld the details. She could always explain more in private with her crew. For now, it was best to remain neutral to avoid conflict.
"Woah," Sun murmured as he stared at Blake. "You got away on your own?!"
A nod.
"We almost died with two people!" Sun yelped, in awe from her abilities. "You gotta tell me how you pulled that off!"
"Very carefully," was all Blake said.
Sensing she didn't want to talk about it, Sun sent her a flirtatious wink. This left Blake to lightly blush from how unexpected it was.
From the interaction, Yang held Blake's hand to silently show that they belonged to each other.
"Ah, gotcha," Sun replied to acknowledge their relationship with a wag of his tail. "So why the heck are guys on the sea? What happened to you?"
To him, they didn't look like the pirate type.
"What happened to us?" Ruby asked in exasperation. "What happened to you?"
From the question, Sun plopped down and took a seat to tell his story.
"I grew up in Vacuo. Managed to avoid any assholes who tried to make me a slave. I was kidnapped by this mute chick who belonged to the Khans."
"Neo," the Thorns said in unison.
"Huh, so that's her name," Sun said in realization. "I figured being a Khan was better than being a slave. Didn't take me long to realize that a Khan is a slave."
From the revelation, Blake narrowed her eyes. "Their pirate life is much different than ours."
"You guys are chill, I get that," Sun agreed. "There had to be some chill pirates around here."
"We are pretty chill," Yang agreed. "Except when we have to rob someone. Then it's go time."
After Sun snickered, Adam spoke.
"I went with the Khans willingly," Adam informed. "I was a slave before and figured it would be better to be a pirate. Eventually, I realized I didn't like to take orders from Sienna."
Sun pointed at the escapee. "Escaping is the only thing we have in common, in case you didn't notice."
Blake smirked from the observation and said sarcastically. "We didn't notice."
"Hey, I'd hate to ask this, but can you guys drop me off in Vacuo?" Sun asked with a pleading look. "My family's there. I bet they think I'm dead since I literally vanished after Neo took me."
Before they could give him an answer, the bull faunus cut in. "That's my stop, too. Vacuo is more tolerant of faunus from what I've heard."
From the requests, Ruby only shrugged. "We're already headed that way. What do you say, Thorns?"
"Why not?" Yang said.
"I suppose it'll be fine," Weiss chimed.
"You guys have to take the couch," Qrow said sternly as he glared them down. "Got it?"
"Yeah, sure," Sun said, feeling lucky to have a ride back home.
Adam only scoffed, not intimidated by the older pirate in the slightest.
Ruby gestured to their entire ship. "Make yourselves at home!"
A few of the Thorns tried to get to know the temporary arrivals and walked inside the ship. Meanwhile, Blake couldn't rip her gaze away from the bull faunus, a prominent scowl present.
Whaaaaat's going on there, Blakey? Don't like Adam? Does anyone?
Stay dandy,
~Toto
