Disclaimer: I changed the image cover to an original one. I might make a better one in the future, but for now this will do.
Chapter V-Day One
In all his life, Adam was not a man that regretted much in the choices that he made, but the last decision that he recently took almost made him regret all of his life choices.
Although he accepted the fact that he was going to interact with humans a lot more frequently these next four years in Beacon than he ever did in his entire life, he was not entirely ready to tolerate a horde of humans when he entered the airship to Beacon, it took a lot of willpower to not give in into instinct (and hate) and draw Wilt...and he was seated in the most isolated spot available on the airship.
The fact that he was not wearing his trademark Grimm mask didn't help much his ever growing paranoia, the bull fauns felt naked without the mask, he wore it for so many years now it brought an unexplainable comfort, but since he's going to a more public setting the mask would have brought a lot suspicion, so he grumbly decided to cast his mask into the darkness of his duffel bag for the time being, leaving his sharp amber eyes exposed.
'Unbelievable...' Adam mentally growled while grinding his teeth. 'A 21 year old Major from the White Fang, a group dedicated to overthrow the corrupted human rule, is now sitting on an airship with human teens and waiting to enroll on a corrupted human academy for the next four years. Can this situation get anymore degrading?!' The situation did not sit well with him (not one bit), and the worse thing could not use his usual tactic for any disrespectful human who glance at him with disgust (which was cutting a hand or two), so that left Adam to resort to glares, which worked for now considering those same humans regretted even glancing at him.
Seeing another human quicken his pace after one of his scowls, Adam sighed as he leaned back in his seat with a hand massaging the bridge of his nose.
'Seriously, how the hell is Blake handling all of this?' as an image from his feline childhood friend flashed in his head, another thought came into mind. 'Which begs for another question: Where is she? I couldn't find her in here, so that means she's either on another ship... or not coming to Beacon at all." The latter possibility alarmed the bull faunus quite a bit, as much he needed to change most of his ideals on his own, without someone that he was at least comfortable with would be a difficult progress, and Blake was one the reasons that he left the White Fang in the first place.
'Forget it, I'll figure it out later.' he decided. 'I got more pressing matters to worry about at the moment, like, for example, how did I manage to enroll in Beacon so easily?'
The documents he used were obviously forged, considering he didn't have any legal ones to begin with, and for the sake of discretion he changed his last name, so he was now Adam Rouge (REAL original), the only hint of truth in those documents were his fighting capabilities. Adam had expected the headmaster to be at least a bit suspicious of his entry, but from the looks of it, he was on a smooth sail for now.
His train of thought was interrupted however as an hologram of a blond woman wearing a black cape with purple lining appeared near a window.
"Hello and welcome to Beacon." the feminine hologram started. "My name his Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now, it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." with the message delivered, the hologram faded away.
After hearing Glynda's words, Adam could only scoff in dark amusement. "Tch! 'Incredible time of peace'? Try telling that to the faunus who still suffer from bitter, racist judgement..." It still amazed the bull faunus that even with all the still existing injustice that there is, these people still had the the guts to claim that they're living in an era of peace.
Getting up from his seat, Adam grabbed Wilt and Blush and approached one of the windows to get a good view from the city and the approaching academy resting upon a cliffside, without giving too much mind to a certain blond boy running and on the verge of vomiting, and started contemplating his choices.
'I just hope this is all worth it...'
As the airships landed on the school's docking bays and opened it's doors to let the flood of soon-to-be students out, the ex-Major waited for the majority of youngsters to exit before he decided to finally leave the aircraft himself. As soon he was out of the docking bay, he entered the school grounds and, despite the fact he disliked Huntsman Academies in the past, he could not help but be captivated when his eyes laid upon the sight in front of him.
The wide avenue that he was upon was marked with trees and flag-draped light-poles, as well as a number of impressive aqueduct-like features and archways, that separated a double ring of colonnades that surrounded the main structure of the academy and led to a monumental main doorway. And upon all the buildings of the academy, the most prominent one was the tallest one located in the middle that possessed a number of green spheres of light inside, almost serving as a beacon.
"Hhmm..." Adam continued to admire the structure. "I have to give some credit to these Huntsmen, the architecture of this learning faculty is astounding to say the least." He glanced at the tallest tower in curiosity. "And I guess that's why they call Beacon."
Adam was about to continue on his way, until the sound of an explosion resonated through the area. Adam's instincts immediately made him turn around grab Wilt, now ready to draw, his steely gaze analyzed his surroundings for any danger.
"What the hell..." he muttered in confusion, as his eyes laid upon the source of disorder with a raised eyebrow. Two young girls (one covered in smoke) were in the middle of a small crater, one of them had black hair with red tips and silver eyes and seemed to be childishly ashamed over a mistake she apparently made, if her touching the tips of her fingers were any indication of that, and the other girl had long white hair and pale-blue eyes that bared anger and indignation as she was ready to metaphorically explode.
"Unbelievable!" White's voice scratched at Adam's ears in a very annoying way. "This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"
"I'm really, really sorry!" Red said as she bowed her head slightly in shame.
"Ugh! You complete dolt!" White continued on her temper tantrum. "What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"
"Well...I..." Red was struggling to get response out.
"This isn't your ordinary combat school." White still kept going. "It's not just sparring and practice you know. We're here to fight to fight monsters! So watch where you're going!"
The bull faunus, irritated with White's attitude, was about go along his way and past this as a meaningless squabble, that is until noticed various details about White herself that made him freeze for a moment. White hair, pale skin, white clothes, high on attitude and the large emblem (target in Adam's opinion) on her back made him realize what kind of person he was dealing with.
"Fucking Schnee..." He dangerously growled as his hate fueled eyes flashed red for a moment, his thumb subconsciously opening Wilt. Trying to coexist with humans was already hard enough for him, but now with a Schnee? God if he doesn't do something right now, his ancestors will be rolling in their graves. So Adam inched closer and closer, intending on eliminating his problem by the source.
"Hey, I said I was sorry, princess!" Red said agitated.
'Don't worry Little Red, princess is about to be no longer.'
"It's heiress, actually."
This one, familiar voice stopped Adam on his tracks as his eyes widen considerably. Turning his eyes he found the one person he's been looking for approaching the two girls with a Dust vial on her hand.
'Blake? So she did come after all.' Adam thought as he clicked Wilt back inside Blush,he frowned slightly at the bow on her head. 'Still hiding who you really are, huh.'
"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world." Blake deduced.
"Finally, some recognition!" Weiss proclaimed satisfied, although the bull faunus smirked as he recognized the tone of voice that Blake was using.
"The same company infamous for it's controversial labor forces and questionable business partners." Blake finished with a ghost of a smirk.
The heiress happy face made a full 180º to a indignant one in just a second. "What-How dare-! The nerve of-!"
As Red was chuckling, Adam couldn't help but chuckle himself. 'Hehehehe, leave it to Blake to bent a Schnee without lifting a finger.'
"Ugh!" Weiss forcefully snatched the vial Blake was holding and started marching away, her servants not too far away with her luggage.
"I promise I'll make this up to you!" Red called out to the heiress with a raised hand.
Seeing that her job was done, Blake began to walk away without Red noticing. Taking note of this, Adam began to follow her. 'She's most likely to go to the Amphitheater where rest of the students will be gathering. Seeing as I don't know where that is, might as well follow her... and clear a few things up between us while I'm at it."
The day was not going as planned for a certain wine eyed, trenchcoat wearing, ax wielding young man.
Vino was strolling aimlessly in the courtyard with a Scroll on his hand, and if his scowl was not evidence enough that he was frustrated than the pulsing vein in his temple should back up the fact.
"Okay, where the FUCK is the Amphitheater?" he ferociously wondered out loud, pocketing his Scroll. "They could've been nice enough to handle pamphlet guides to their new students, but nooooo, let the little shits figure that out themselves."
Vino continued to walk for while until he gave up with a sigh. "Vino, swallow your pride and ask for directions before you loose it..."
Analyzing the courtyard he was at the moment, he couldn't find anyone which frustrated him even more. 'Seriously, am I the only moron who doesn't know where that is.'. His thoughts were interrupted however by a pair of voices nearby. Turning his head to the source of those voices, he found two students walking around, one was little girl with black hair with red tips and silver eyes, the other one was a taller blond boy with blue eyes.
'Finally! Civilization!' He thought in relief as he approached the pair with his hands on the coat's pockets. "Hey!"
The pair were snapped out of their conversation as they looked at the on coming stranger with curiosity.
"Sorry for cutting in on your chit-chat," Vino started. "but could one of you point me out where the Amphitheater is?"
The girl looked at the boy before awkwardly looking back at Vino "Huuuh...I don't know where that is. Do you, Jaune?"
Jaune looked clueless as well. "Huh, no. I was following you this all time."
The three stood there in silence, unable to respond as a light breeze past through them.
'Well shit.' Vino sighed, turning back. "You know what? It's fine, I'll find it on my own, thanks anyway."
"Wait!" the girl pleaded. "Why don't you come with us? We all need to go the same place anyway, so how about we find it together?"
Vino eyed the girl in front of him, she was smaller compared to him for about 13 inches, but he admitted that her silver eyes were captivating and were hard to say no to. He stared at those eyes for a second or two before coming to a decision. "Alright, I'll come along for the ride."
The girl's eyes sparkled as her smile widened. "Great. Oh, I'm Ruby by the way."
Jaune stepped forward, offering Vino a hand with a smile. " I'm Jaune Arc."
Vino shook Jaune's hand with a grin. "Nice to meet you all. The name's Vino, Vino Legna."
After the introductions were done, the three soon to be students continued on their search for the Amphitheater while admiring the scenery along the way. After a few minutes of walking without the destination in bound, Vino began to have a nagging feeling that he was being observed, but when he looked around he noticed Ruby turning her head to avoid his gaze which confused him.
'Wait a minute, was she checking me out?' Vino immediately shook that thought out of his head. 'Nah, it's gotta be something else.'
Taking another glance at her, he caught her gazing at him again, but this time he was intending to know what was going on. "Is something wrong, Ruby?"
"Huh?"
"It's just that you've been glancing at me from time to time." Vino explained further. "I was wondering if I had something on my face."
Ruby blushed as she waved her arms around. "Oh nonononono, nothing's wrong! It's just...huh...I was just admiring your weapon."
Vino tapped the handle of the ax with his right hand. "What? You mean this old thing?"
"Yes!" the redhead shook her head vigorously. "Could I take a look at it?"
The ax wielder could only raise an eyebrow in response. 'A cute goth with a fascination with weapons? Wow, now that's a rare sight if I ever saw one.'
Smirking, the wine eyed young man drew the axe from his back and held it forward with one hand for both of his companions to see. Ruby was immediately drawn to it with pure fascination in her eyes, analyzing every detail of the floral carved weapon, while Jaune was taken a bit back by the size of it and Vino couldn't blame him, the blade was bigger than three human heads combined and it almost looked like a meat cleaver.
"Uuuh...what is that?" Jaune hesitantly asked.
Vino turned to him with a grin. "I call this The Woodsman's Sin, it's pretty much a combination between an axe and a 10 gauge pump-action shotgun."
As if to prove his point, he tossed the axe in air, sending it shifting in mid-air while spinning, and when it landed back into his receiving hand it had already shifted into it's shotgun mode.
"Oooooh, what kind of shells do you use?" Ruby questioned as she admired the fire weapon.
"Eh, fire Dust shells." Vino replied casually. "I know it's generic, but it gets the job done. But that doesn't mean I don't use other types from time to time."
Shifting his weapon back to melee mode, he hung it on his back before staring at Ruby with a questionable look. "So I'm curious, what do you got?"
"Weeell...I got this thing." the redhead proclaimed as she picked a red metallic frame from behind her hip and it converted into a gigantic scythe, sticking it's tip to the tiled floor. Jaune jumped up in surprise with a yelp while Vino stared at it with his jaw slightly hanged before giving a toothy smile. 'Jesus Christ man.'
"Whoa! Is that a scythe?" the blond teenager asked as he pointed at the for mentioned weapon a bit fearfully.
"It's also a customizable, high impact velocity sniper rifle." she concluded with a grin.
Jaune could look at her dumbfounded. "A wha-?"
"It's also a long-ranged gun, that's all you need to know." Vino immediately explained.
"Oh, that's cool!"
The redhead got closer to Jaune. "So what do you got?"
The ax wielder looked at the sheathe the blond was carrying with inquisitiveness. 'I'm kinda curious myself, the sword doesn't look like it has any secondary form.'
"Oh uh, I got this sword." Jaune said as he drew a long sword from the sheathe before removing the sheathe and unfolding it into a shield. "I got this shield too!"
"So what do they do?" Ruby inquired further, but as soon she touched the shield it began fold and unfold as it flew out Jaune's grasp and he struggled to get a grip on it has he fondled with it
'Real smooth, Jauney-boy.' Vino thought as he sweatdropped.
When Jaune finally had a good grip on his shield, he fold it back into a sheathe as he explained. "Well...the shield gets smaller. So when I get tired of carrying it...I can just put it away."
"But wouldn't it weight the same?" Ruby inquired.
Jaune sighed as he let his arms hang in defeat. "Yeah, it does."
Ruby gave a nervous laugh as she gave a look at her weapon. "Well, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons. I guess I did go a little overboard when designing it."
Both males looked at her in complete surprise to her statement. "Wait. You made THAT?"
"Of course!" she confirmed it with a nod. "All students at Signal forge their own weapons. Didn't you guys made yours?"
"To be fair, I didn't build mine from scratch." Vino clarified as he scratched his hair. "This was the axe my pops used for his lumberjacking most of the times, before I took it for myself and implemented a shotgun system in it." 'Hell, if the old man ever found found out I even TOUCHED his dear old axe, my ass would be grass at this point.'
"And what happened to your father?" Jaune inquired curiously.
Vino, however, winced a bit. "Uuuuh, he retired. Let's just leave it at that."
Sensing a bit of a dark tension going on, Jaune got back to the main subject. "In my case, It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war."
"Sounds more like family heirloom to me!" Ruby exclaimed.
'For a heirloom that's been passed down through generations, it still looks sturdy as hell.' the ax wielder thought as he narrowed his eyes at the sword.
"Well I like it, not many people have an appreciation to the classics these days." she said with a smile.
Vino smirked at Jaune as he crossed his arms. "And by classics, she probably means running head-on to a Deathstalker like a madman with nothing but a sword." he raised an hand with the tips of the index and thumb pressing together in an appreciation gesture. "Now THAT'S classic."
Jaune laughed nervously. "Yeah, the classics."
Their search went for a little while longer until they finally found the entrance. As they entered, they immediately took notice that the Amphitheater was immensely crowded with students.
"Great, where are we gonna find a good spot now?" Vino sarcastically muttered as he looked around.
"Ruby!" a feminine voice called out. Turning their heads they fond a young girl with overflowing blonde hair waving at their direction. "Over here, I saved you a spot!"
Ruby's eyes flashed in recognition as she turned to her companions. "Oh! Hey, I gotta go! I'll see you guys after the ceremony!"
"Hey! Wait!" Jaune tried to stop, but she was already too far away, so he sighed. "Great. Where am I suppose to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?"
"Oh, you might find one sooner than you think, Jauney boy." Vino reassured him with a hand on his shoulder. "Now, I think I'm gonna find me a spot, see ya later."
"Wait, not you too!" Jaune called out, but Vino was already walking away, with a hand on his coat pocket and another giving Jaune a two-fingered salute.
After Ozpin's peculiar speech and Glynda dismissing the initiating students, Blake departed from the Amphitheater to take a better look around campus, seeing as she still had a few hours before joining the rest of the candidates in the ballroom tonight.
As dark as the headmaster's speech has been, the feline faunus could not deny the reality of it and gave credit to the wise man considering the speech would set the students up better for what's to come, a reality check if you will. But even with all that, Blake could feel that the headmaster was not himself today, she might not know him personally, but she noticed older students giving quizzical looks so that could only mean that Ozpin's behavior was not the usual.
Dismissing the current train of thought she was on, she continued on her stroll through the campus and making a bit of sight seeing. This went on for a half an hour until she began to get disinterested and decided to make a stop. Noticing an isolated bench beneath a tree, she approached it and sat with a grace, before looking around, as if making sure she was alone, withdrawing a book and starting reading it.
A few pages later and she was engrossed in the book, but this immersion was slightly broken by the sound of footsteps approaching at her location, to which Blake didn't pay too much mind. When the sound of those footsteps stopped beside her, Blake could only sigh.
"If you're looking for the ballroom, it's over that way." Blake answered without even looking from her book, pointing a finger to her right.
She didn't feel the presence leave however, wish annoyed her a bit, that is until she heard the presence chuckle... a deep and familiar chuckle.
"Are you that desperate to read another chapter of Ninjas of Love, Blake?"
That voice alone immediately made her snap her head at an alarming rate to the presence, her eyes widen and it took all of her willpower to not drop her book in complete shock upon seeing who was in front of her.
Red hair, bull horns, black clothing with red trimming and carrying a sheathed chokutō. The tall frame of Adam stood in front of her ever so patient with the faintest of smirks, but perhaps the most surprising feature that took her back were his eyes... his sharp, cold, EXPOSED amber eyes. It has been a long while since the last time she caught a glimpse of his eyes before he dawned his trademark mask for the remaining of the time she spent on the White Fang, she could've swore that those eyes were not that cold the last time she saw them, it pained her knowing exactly why they were like that.
"...Adam?" Blake uttered, still in shock.
"Mind if I take a seat?"
Blake wordlessly shook her head, scooting more over the edge of the bench to give the bull faunus some space. Adam took the seat beside Blake, leaning Wilt and Blush beside him, and they stood there in a pregnant silence, neither looking at each other for what looked like eternity in their minds. After a few more moments of silence, Adam broke it.
"So this is how you're planning to change an entire human society's view on faunus."
Blake hesitated, before glancing at him and responding. "Not exactly. I just want to become strong enough to make difference as a Huntress."
He snorted. "I hope you're not planning on doing that while wearing that bow."
"What about the bow?" Blake's eyes narrowed as a hand subconsciously touched said bow.
"I know how pitiful these humans can be, but hiding who you really are will only bring problems on the long run." Adam said with a serious look.
"I know!" she exclaimed. "But I want people to value me for who I am, not for what I am."
Adam gave her a deadpanned stare. "That sentence in the context that you're using is a bit contradicting on itself."
This only made Blake sigh in desperation as she her hands on her face.
"But it's your choice, as much as I disagree." Adam shrugged.
The feline faunus raised her head from her hands and gave Adam a questioning gaze. "How did you even found me? And what are you doing here?"
"After you left, I knew you didn't have too many choices on your table." Adam began as he crossed his arms. "It was either this or go back to your parents at Menagerie, and after what happened between you and them, I figured you would give it some time before you even contacted them."
Pain flashed momentarily through Blake's eyes at the mention of her parents before vanishing away as quick as it came.
"And I knew you just couldn't sit still with all the wrong that's happening in the world." He gave her a small smile. "You always had this sense of righteousness ever since we met years ago, it's admirable really."
Blake could only smile a bit in return.
"As for why I'm here..." Adam hesitated for a moment before sighing. "...That stunt you pulled back on the train, it made me reflect on my actions, my ideals and it made realize they have strayed a bit from their original purpose, just like the White Fang, and although I don't condemn the violence used by the Fang, considering we had to fight back somehow, I admit we may have gone overboard with it. After realizing all of this, I wanted to understand from your perspective, I wanted to understand how can you still have so much hope in this world, even after seeing what you saw."
"I guess the most simple way of putting it is: I came to follow your example to see if it really makes a difference."
They stood there in silence, gazing at each other for moments, before a faint smile split on Blake.
"So you, the leader of the Fang's Vale branch, left said Fang to chase a friend who deserted the group so you could get her prespective."
Adam scoffed. "It sounds idiotic when you put it like that."
"But it somehow fits you better." Blake said with a sly smirk.
"Shut up." He chuckled followed by Blake's giggles. "You have no idea of the amount of torture I've put myself through on those airships on the way here."
"Which begs the question how did anyone survive in that ship with you?" Blake joked.
"Willpower and lots of luck." This earned another round of chuckles from both sides, when it died down Adam continued. "If you don't mind, I'm going to take another look around. I guess we'll see each other at the ballroom tonight."
Picking Wilt and Blush, Adam pushed himself off the bench and began to walk, but after a few meters, Blake called him out.
"Hey Adam!"
Turning his head, he gave her his attention. "Yes?"
"You look a lot better without your mask." Blake said with a smile.
Although a bit taken back, Adam gave a faint smile. "And you would've looked a lot better without that bow."
Without paying too much attention to Blake's pout, he returned to his current path.
The night had arrived quicker than anyone anticipated, and the ballroom was immediately filled to to the brim with sleeping bags and students in their pajamas. It annoyed Adam these humans habits of showing their bodies to attract the girls, but he guessed there could have been worse things... that theory was however proven wrong by a certain blonde wearing a onesie.
Adam was lucky enough to find a decent corner after talking with Blake some more before calling it a night. He was wearing at the moment a gray long sleeved undershirt with a black pants, and he was calmly cleaning his blade with a cloth. Maintaining his weapon has always brought a comport to some degree ever since he created it, it always gave him the satisfaction seeing his crimson blade well maintained without a single nick or scratch and that it was always ready to be swift, he continued on cleaning his blade until his hearing picked on a commotion to his left.
Turning his head to source, he found a peculiar sight. Two girls, one redhead and another blonde, were fighting near where Blake was sitting with her book, who had a look discomfort and unable to figure it out what to do, and Adam rapidly noticed that the redhead had been the one who almost blown up the Schnee out of the cliffside earlier.
'Almost, unfortunately...'
"What in the world is going on over here!? Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep!?"
'Oh, speak of the little devil...'
After the appearance of the Schnee, the commotion turned into a pandemonium and Blake looked on the verge of desperation as she rolled her eyes. Adam could not stop the smirk at her dispense.
'Making new friends, I see.'
Before it could get worse, a certain male voice of reason interrupted the pandemonium.
"Whoever is making all this noise, COULD YOU JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!"
These set of words immediately put the girls in silence as they all turned wide-eyed at the owner of the voice. The owner of the voice had gray hair with purple tips tied into a low pony tail, he was wearing a white sleeveless shirt with baggy navy blue pants. The two most peculiar aspects of this teen was the black glove on his left hand with his entire forearm covered in bandages and the silver crucifix around his neck.
Seeing his job done, the stranger sighed in relief as he left. "THANK you."
The girls continued to stare dumbfoundly at the retreating stranger, unable to say anything, until Blake decided to blow out the candles.
And there goes another chapter, this one should set things up a bit. It's been a while since Adam made an appearance in this story (and it's about damn time too) although I didn't develop him the way I expected to in this chapter, this is only the beginning, since there's a lot more to come from him.
Alright, next chapter it's finally gonna be the initiation, thank you guys for being interested in this story so far and I'll see you guys in the next one.
See ya later.