Blake was unsure what she was feeling. She stood among the red leaves flowing amok through the sky, wondering exactly why she wanted to impress Adam so badly. Adam was cold. He didn't seem to care about anything or anyone, living life in a sociopathic state where he felt nothing for no one. He did what he did because it was necessary to his survival. But he wasn't a sociopath. He cared about things. He cared about battle, and she knew he wanted fauna to have the equal rights they deserve. He was a liberal-minded person, like many at the White Fang. But he was also mysterious, secret. He wasn't someone she wanted to trust, but she couldn't help herself. Adam didn't hide, he didn't order people around. He let them do what they wanted because he knew he had no control over them. Unlike so many people she knew, he merely lived in the shadows. He didn't live by them, and he didn't force others to do the same. And that was his kindness, the kindness of letting people live their own lives. Many people are kind because they help others. Adam was kind because he didn't. To Blake, he was different, so unlike anyone she'd ever known.

Blake cursed herself for being such a shallow idiot, being drawn to Adam simply because of his mystery. If she was dead set on being a fool and falling for him simply because she was too young to understand her feelings, she'd do so because she knew who he was, not the other way around. Having had time to calm down, she decided to find Adam and talk to him. She'd find out if she was simply an immature girl with a schoolgirl crush, or if she was an immature girl who felt something real. Blake stalked back into the base, looking for Adam. She found a solider.

"Excuse me...where can I find Adam?" She asked. The soldier looked at her.

"He's in the training room. The one you practiced in," was the answer.

"Thanks." Blake walked off, hoping he'd still be there. He was.

"Hey," Blake said. Adam looked at her.

"Hey," he replied. She sat down on a nearby bench, watching him cut through the air with vehement glee. His blade whistled as he cut it. His strikes were precise and elegant. He attacked without effort, seamlessly weaving through imaginary enemy after imaginary enemy, envisioning an entire battle scenario in an instant. His mind raced and he processed things with a speed Blake hadn't thought possible. Suddenly, he stopped.

"So. What are you doing here? You wanna go over your technique?" Adam asked.

"I want to ask you some questions," Blake replied.

"Like if I'm single?" He asked. Blake looked down, angry.

"You're making these jokes on purpose, aren't you?!" She asked, annoyed. Adam certainly was. He'd be an idiot not to pick up on her confused affection.

"Of course I am. So, Blake, what do you want to ask? A student's gotta know a master just as well as a master's gotta know a student, after all."

"Well...why join the White Fang? You're not obsessed with the cause, like a lot of people here...not that I'm saying you don't believe in it, you're just...not as zealous about it."

"Why'd you join the White Fang?" He asked her, throwing her question back.

"I'm asking you a question. I don't want another question in return."

"Just tell me, Blake. Why did you join the White Fang?" The girl sighed.

"I joined because I see what happens to faunas and I want to make things better...and I believe the only way to do that is through force." Adam chuckled.

"No personal vendetta?"

"My parents are still alive. I don't have any vendetta. I just have a sense of right and wrong."

"Interesting."

"So, now back to my question," Blake said forcefully.

"I need money and I need fun. I get both here."

"And?"

"And what?" Blake sighed.

"You're not exactly the deepest of people, but you're not shallow, either. You've got more reason than fun and money to join the White Fang." Adam sighed.

"You got me. When I was a kid, my parents were members of the White Fang, back when it was peaceful. Then, it changed, and my parents changed with it. Violence overtook them and the organization, and, being an impressionable kid, violence overtook me too. I decided that I'd fight for what I believe, same as you. By the way, they're dead now. My parents."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

"So...you used to be a real maverick, huh?" Blake asked. Adam chuckled. He spun his sword around, now resting in its sheathe.

"Nope. I've never been very philosophical and, like you said, deep. Survival comes first, belief comes second. I was born into this life, Blake. I wasn't going anywhere."

"I should have guessed. No childhood trauma or anything?"

"Nope. Real life doesn't work like that. Not everyone's been 'hardened' to the world or whatever bullshit they talk about in those books you read," Adam began. Blake growled. She wasn't keen on people insulting her literature.

"I was just born a bit less gung-ho than most," Adam said. Blake chuckled.

"Wow. I've always been...I guess you could say...enthralled by your air of mystery. I guess there's no real mystery about you at all. What I see is what I get."

"That's me. You're different, though. A lot different." Blake said nothing.

"Do you really want to impress a guy like me?" Adam asked.

"Why do you care?" Blake shot back.

"Because I don't like being looked up to. I don't like being idealized, and that's what you're doing. You're a kid, you don't even understand what you're feeling about me. I don't trust you not to make me into a hero. I'm not a hero, Blake. There are no heroes. If there were, the White Fang wouldn't be here." Blake bit her lip. Adam was probably right.

"So...no angst or sense of self-loathing?" She asked teasingly. Adam chuckled.

"Yep. Angst takes too much effort, and I don't see how I could hate this," he said, running a hand through his hair. Blake laughed.

"You look ridiculous."

"I do look ridiculous. Ridiculously sexy," he said. Blake frowned.

"Why do you do that to me?" She asked, annoyed.

"Because I can. So, you wanna call it quits for today?"

"...I think I want to train more. I want to see what you think about my technique, if that's alright." Adam grinned.

"That's what I'm here for."

Adam sighed. Thinking about those times made his heart fell empty, as if someone had gouged out his insides. There was no sadness, no regret, no nothing. But there was something there. He knew there was. This was what loneliness felt like, and it's what he felt ever since Blake left. He began to walk away from his resting spot and try his luck at buying a drink in a smaller town. However, his presence was wanted elsewhere. His cellphone rang, and he answered it eagerly.

"Adam. We've decided what route we want to take to get to the Dust shipment. It's being sent out tomorrow. We'll email you the coordinates, and we want you back at base. Now." The voice spoke firmly and quickly, and the person it belonged to made sure to hang up immediately after he spoke. Adam opened his email and found the map. Looking at it, his hand gripped the phone tighter. They were passing the ruins of a small town, a town he knew all too well. That town was where Blake changed forever. That town was where her parents died, and, thinking back, that town was when Blake started to go down the path that eventually led her to leave. Adam hated that town.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I WROTE FOR THIS STORY, BUT I REALLY WANT TO GET TO THE GOOD STUFF, LIKE MORE OF BLAKE'S PAST AND HER CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. I ALSO WANT TO MOVE ON WITH THE STORY; I WANT THERE TO BE MORE ACTION AND FIGHTING. AND WHO KNOWS? MAYBE, JUST MAYBE...ADAM AND BLAKE ARE GOING TO GET A SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME FIGHT SCENE!

ALSO, I NOW KNOW THAT SEASON 1 OF RWBY HAS 16 EPISODES. I REALLY HOPE THAT WE GET TO SEE ADAM IN ONE OF THOSE EPISODES, BECAUSE I'M NOT SURE IF I CAN MANAGE WAITING UNTIL THE SECOND SEASON FOR MY ADAM FIX!