Adam sat on the floor of the red forest, contemplating the mission. He didn't want to go. For the first time, Adam didn't want to go on a mission. He didn't think he could handle it, going to Blake's hometown again. Or maybe he could, and he just didn't want to. Adam had absolutely no idea. He was, as he had always been every since Blake left, confused. And that was when the soldier who Adam had worked with all those years ago, who had asked him about Blake, who had fought Glynda Goodwitch with him, sat next to Adam with a pack of beer in each hand.

"Hey, Adam," the soldier said.

"Hey. Come to drink away your nervousness?" Adam asked.

"Nah. I've come to help you drink away yours, buddy." At this, the masked man frowned. He didn't drink. He'd had beer once, and ended up spitting it all over his coat. It was disgusting.

"I don't drink. You know that." The soldier laughed.

"It's not about drinking, it's about unwinding. You don't wanna go to Blake's hometown like this, do you?" He asked, indicating Adam's entire body. The warrior was shaking.

"Blake's moved on, and so will I."

"And this shitty beer will help you do it. Look, I know you're really feeling her absence. You could shrug it off earlier, but as time passed, I guess you've just realized exactly how much she meant to you," the soldier said. He wore a kind smile on his face.

"And you know this how, exactly? Have you been reading my diary?" Adam asked scathingly.

"Nah. I can see it on your face. You spend a lot of time reminiscing, don't you?"

"Seriously, how do you know this shit?"

"Look, Adam, I know that dreamy look you've got on your face half the time. Blake had the same look." Adam barked out an unenthusiastic laugh at the soldier's observation.

"She's really rubbed off on me, then."

"That she has. Beer?" The soldier tossed a can to Adam, who snatched it out of the air without even looking. He stared at the cheap material it was made of and considered chucking it at a nearby tree. However, as he held the cold can in his hands, he moved it around. He heard the sloshing of alcohol inside, and he decided to do it. Adam had finally reached the breaking point. He was more of a sap than he thought. Popping the can open, he took a swig and gagged. The soldier, laughing next to him, had already finished his can.

"How can people drink this crap?!" He coughed, bending over as if he was going to vomit.

"It gets better, trust me. After all, beer's not about the taste, right? Come on. Finish that sucker, and you won't even notice how shitty the second can tastes," the soldier said helpfully.

"What makes you think I'll have a second can of this toxic waste?"

"You need it, Adam. You know you do." Adam took another swig and made a face, but swallowed it without incident.

"Why do you give a damn, anyway? We're not BFF's, we hardly even know each other," he asked. The soldier flashed Adam a smile.

"I'm interested in you. You know, just because you're different. You haven't got any angst or reason for what you do, you just do it because, well, it's what you do. You take the shit life throws at you and keep on moving, and it's easy for you. After all, you are the kind of guy who doesn't give a damn what kind of hand he's been dealt as long as he's got a hand. I guess I'd call you a survivor." Adam chuckled.

"You sure about that? I feel pretty damn angst-y right now. Blake...she meant a lot to me, and I guess it took me a while to understand what her being gone actually meant."

"So you liked her and now you're sad. When someone you love leaves, you're gonna be sad."

"...I think I'm more pissed than anything, really." By now, Adam had finished his first beer and was taking on his second. The soldier was right, after the first one, taste seemed to just fade away.

"Pissed?"

"Yeah. It's hard to accept that she left. I was sad at first and I'm sad now, but, well, I think I channeled some of that sadness into anger. Just so I could cope with it."

"I hear you. Anger's a lot easier to deal with than sadness," the soldier said. He had already finished three beers by now. Adam motioned to the can in his hand.

"You an alcoholic or something?" Adam normally never would have asked such a question, but the beer made him feel different, more relaxed and talkative. He wondered why he didn't try this earlier.

"I think that's what it's called. That is the thing where you drink a lot of beer, right?" The soldier rambled.

"Uh, yeah, I think that's it."

"Yeah, I guess it is. Started a few years back after my husband died. That's what got me into this whole fauna civil rights thing. I was a big gay rights activist, because, well, I'm all for equal rights. And I'm gay, too. Then I saw that faunas were taking a lot of shit, so I decided to join the White Fang, you know, because equality mean something to me, and here I am. Life really is crazy, huh?" The soldier explained. Adam clapped him on the back.

"Damn, that sucks. Sorry about that." After his third beer, Adam was feeling really odd. His speech became informal and he felt as if his body was being controlled by an outside force. Either this was strong beer or Adam couldn't hold his liquor to save his life.

"Yeah...guess that raises a lot of interesting questions as to why I'm interested in you, huh?" The soldier asked half-jokingly.

"Nah. You're not moving on anytime soon. You know, sentiment and all that jazz," Adam replied.

"Yeah, sentiment. It can be kind of a pain, huh?"

"It's not so bad, really, not when you get used to it." The soldier and Adam clinked cans in an attempt to cheer, but it was poorly executed and Adam ended up spilling his drink all over the soldier.

"You're gonna get it now..." The soldier said, and he splashed his drink on Adam.

"Gimme another one," he demanded.

"So you can splash me?"

"Uh...no?" The soldier then grabbed the beer packs and began to run. Adam got up shakily and chased him, grabbing one of the packs. The soldier took out a can and so did Adam. The two circled each other, threatening to splash, before feeling woozy. They sat down reluctantly and began to drink again.

"Blake would have a fit if she saw me drinking. She hated beer. Still does, probably. I kept telling her I'd give her a taste when she turned 18...she did not like that idea, lemme tell you," Adam said, his words slurring together. The soldier lay down next to him, nodding.

"Sounds like you were trying to get her drunk. Guess your girlfriend caught on, huh?" He asked. Adam made a face and playfully hit the soldier, who grabbed his shoulder and groaned.

"That's just fucked up. Fucked up. We did not have that kind of relationship," Adam said.

"Fuck me, that hurt," the soldier moaned.

"Suck it up."

"You suck it up."

"No, you."

"You."

"You...what were we talking about again?" Adam asked.

"I dunno. More beer?"

"Fuck yeah." A string of profanity followed as the two men drank their worries away. Well, at least Adam did. He still had no idea if the soldier was sad, nervous, or just really nice.

"So...how'd your husband die?" Adam asked after the two men had grown bored of cursing each other out. The soldier furrowed his brow.

"Car accident. Not a pretty sight."

"How'd you fare?"

"Let's just say that I used to be way uglier than I am now. Guess that fucking crash was good for something," the soldier said darkly. He then lightened up.

"I hear Blake's at Beacon," he said.

"Yeah, she is. She's off making friends and having the time of her fucking life while I sit here and wish she hadn't left. Seriously, do you think she even occasionally remembers the guy who taught her how to swing a hunk of metal around?" Adam snarled. The soldier chuckled nervously.

"Blake's not shallow and petty. She loves you and you love her. I'd bet money that she hasn't forgotten you...and she hasn't forgiven herself for leaving you behind." Adam laughed. His voice was loud but uneven, as if he couldn't decide the volume he wanted to speak at.

"Yeah, you're right. Blake wouldn't do that. She's a damn good person...I just get mad sometimes, you know? I just think of how she gets a little support group at Beacon and I've got jack shit, and then I get pissed because I don't want jack shit. I just want her back. I can't have her back, though. She's not a borrowed book, she's a living being, and she's the only one who can decide what she wants to do and where she wants to be, but goddamn, it still hurts."

"Well, I gotta give you props for letting her run off like that. Not many people can respect that the one they love doesn't wanna be with them," the soldier said. Adam ruffled his hair playfully.

"I've got no say in her life. And besides, making her stay kinda goes against everything I believe in as a member of the White Fang."

"I thought you didn't like beliefs."

"I'm a fucking hypocrite, who isn't?" The soldier laughed.

"True that, buddy. Fucking hypocrites till the end, that's us."

"Sure is." The men stopped talking, and simply looked up to the sky. For the first time after Blake left, Adam felt content. He felt free of worry and anger and sadness and everything he felt when he thought of Blake Belladonna. He could now talk about her, tell stories about her that he treasured, without wanting to rip his mouth off.

"Did I tell you about the time my husband hit on another guy, thinking it was me?" The soldier asked.

"Nah. Let's hear it. After this, I gotta tell you about when Blake accidentally read an erotic novel."

"Sounds good. Story swap! So, we were at this bar..."

Adam woke up with a massive headache. It was dark out, and the soldier lay next to him. Beer cans littered the ground beneath them. Adam grabbed the man and carried him back to base.

"This fucker better know where I can get some hangover medicine..."

AND THAT WRAPS UP THIS CHAPTER. ADAM TALKED TO SOME RANDOM NAMELESS GUY, GOT DRUNK, AND DROPPED THE F-BOMB MULTIPLE TIMES BEFORE GOING TO SLEEP AND WAKING UP WITH A HANGOVER. THAT'S SOMETHING NEW. ANYWAY, THIS CHAPTER WAS REALLY JUST MEANT TO BE A NICE LITTLE SCENE ESTABLISHING ADAM'S RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMEONE WHO ISN'T BLAKE AND HAVING HIM DEAL WITH SOME OF HIS ISSUES THROUGH THE HEALING POWER OF BEER. I ALSO WANTED AN EXCUSE TO HAVE ADAM SAY FUCK MULTIPLE TIMES. REVIEWS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME, NOT JUST BECAUSE I WANT THE CRITICISM, BUT ALSO BECAUSE I WANT TO TALK TO SOMEONE. I'M IN THE MOOD TO RAMBLE.

I FEEL THAT BLAKE IS SOMETHING OF A CRUTCH TO ADAM, SOMEONE WHO HELPED HIM OUT A LOT AND WHO HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT TO DO WITHOUT. I DON'T THINK HE'S BECOME DEPRESSED AND SUICIDAL BY HER HAVING LEFT HIM OR ANYTHING DRAMATIC LIKE THAT, BUT I DO THINK THAT HE'S DEALING WITH THE FACT THAT HE RELIED ON HER A LOT, AND NOW THAT SHE'S GONE, HE'S GOT NO SUPPORT SYSTEM TO FALL BACK ON. I'M GIVING HIM ONE IN THE FORM OF A NAMELESS ALCOHOLIC SOLDIER, BUT I DON'T THINK HE'S GOT ONE IN THE CANON WORLD OF RWBY, AND SO WHEN HE APPEARS IN THE SHOW, I'D LOVE TO SEE HOW HIS ISSUES WITH BLAKE MANIFEST THEMSELVES. HONESTLY, ADAM SEEMS LIKE A VERY MATURE CHARACTER FOR A FAMILY-FRIENDLY SHOW LIKE RWBY, WHICH INCREASES MY BELIEF THAT RWBY WILL START OUT LIGHTHEARTED AND BECOME VERY DARK (STORY-WISE, THAT IS. I DON'T THINK THEY'RE SUDDENLY GOING TO START CURSING OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT) AS THE SHOW GOES ON, DEALING WITH DEPRESSING THEMES AND THROWING A LOT OF CHALLENGES AT OUR HEROINES, AND THAT'S WHEN ADAM'S GOING TO MAKE HIS APPEARANCE. AT LEAST, THAT'S WHAT I THINK. RWBY HAS ALWYS BEEN INTERESTING AND UNIQUE FOR A SHOW WITH SUCH A CLICHE PREMISE, AND I THINK THAT AS IT GROWS DARKER THAT UNIQUE-NESS AND ABILITY TO TAKE THINGS AND CHARACTERS THAT SEEM VERY OVERUSED AND MAKE THEM INTO ORIGINAL IDEAS WILL REALLY GET A CHANCE TO SHINE.