Her feet scrapped over the cobblestone street, the ring of metal making her hands shake. Adam lunged again, Wilt lashing out but Blake lunged to the side, leaving a shadow clone as she closed the distance. Her attack hit the air as he spun, striking her with Wilt before his rifle fired. The bullet whizzed past her ear.
Blake tumbled back, blocking another flurry of attacks by Adam's sword before her feet touched the ground. She drew Gambol Shroud from its sheath and hurled it at her former partner. Blush fired again, knocking the weapon off track as Adam rushed the distance between them. Blake tugged the ribbon. The gun firing and shooting to her with the blade at Adam's back.
He didn't stop as he swung Blush to intercept the attack and fired again. Blake blocked the bullet with her sheath and parried the following slash before running past him, firing Gambol Shroud again to return it to her hand. She threw a clone at him and lunged at him under the cover with a snarl.
He blocked the strikes but Blake forced him to step back, his footing slipped and she pressed the advantage, hoping to finish him. The blade racked his side but his own came around to her head with a hiss. She blocked the blade but felt the wind leave her when his leg rose into her gut. Blake coughed but just managed to bring her weapons together and slash Adam's chest before she lunged away. His sword split the ground in front of him a moment later.
She braced her feet and sucked in breath as Adam righted himself, sheathing his sword and tugging at his torn jacket. His clothes were the only thing that had suffered any harm. His hand gripped the hilt and his stance shifted again for another attack.
"Adam, wait!" She almost screamed. The other man didn't move but neither did he speak. The slight shift of his head was the only trace that he had even heard her. His eyes remained hidden behind the white mask. "Why are you doing this? Please, we don't have to fight!" her chest was tight and pained. It must have been the blow that she had received. She tried to get her breath back as she watched her old friend.
Adam's mouth twisted into a snarl, baring his teeth. "You know why." He growled. "You betrayed me!" His sword flew from the sheath with a high pitched screech and a flash of red. She side stepped just enough that she could still feel the effect of his power cut the air. She watched it split the ground in front of her and cut a lock of hair from her head that had trailed behind. There was killer intent in that strike.
She saw Adam lunge again, closing the distance in a blink before his blade lashed out. The first slash grazed her chest but the second she caught with Gambol Shroud's sheath.
The sword struck her weapon and she swung her sword low. His sheath caught it and he pushed, making her stumble. He moved in a blur but Blake followed the step and the twist as he quickly sheathed Wilt and spun, drawing it. She drew her arms back but the sword was faster. Blake screamed as the edge cut into her arm and reached her chest, the force lifting her from her feet.
She managed to roll as she hit the ground, leaving a shadow clone to catch Adam's next attack. Her right arm was bleeding over her weapon's hilt. Her fingers dug into the grip as she steadied herself against the wall. Her hand clamped over the wound to staunch the bleeding as Adam took his stance again, sheathing his weapon.
The attack had broken her aura, cut right through it and into her arm. She could still move it, but her blood was flowing. She didn't know how bad it was, or how deep, she couldn't know without examining it, and that she lacked the time for. Adam hesitated, glaring at her without pressing his attack. His face twisted again, this time his lips turning up into a cruel sneer, smiling with his teeth bared. He started laughing as he drew his sword again.
Blake shifted her stance and raised her weapons. "Adam, listen to me!"
"Shut up!" He screamed. Adam shifted his feet and started to lunge, but changed at the last moment, bolting to the right. The ground exploded where his feet had been. Yellow light erupted out from the smoke as Adam skidded to a stop across the street.
The attacker appeared where Adam had stood. Gregor's hand fell to his side, and his head turned sharply from Adam to Blake. "Blake, are you alright?" He called. The girl was stunned for a moment, worried about the flashy entrance. She nodded once, pressing back on her wound. The bleeding was slowing. It wasn't a problem anymore. The other problem, Adam, was on his feet, his sword sheathed again as he faced down his new opponent.
Gregor turned to him as well, straightening his shoulders and spreading his feet. "You know I have a problem with guys that beat up on girls." He held up his empty hand towards Adam. "Why don't we just calm down and talk."
Adam scoffed. In a flash he was gone, a red blur crossing the street with Wilt screaming from the sheath. Gregor shifted, raising a hand and blocking the sword with his book. The leather cover held like steel against the blades edge, deflecting it with a shower of sparks.
"I guess not." Gregor growled. His free hand shot under, catching Adam's ribs with a sharp blow. The swordsman growled and lunged again, nearly slashing Gregor's chest but the man stumbled back. Adam pressed and Gregor deflected the blow again, retaliating with another vicious punch that Adam blocked and then spun into another attack.
Gregor blocked and the two began a fierce dance. Adam lashed out again and again, each blow being evaded or blocked with Gregor's book but the boy was quickly losing ground. He was fast but Adam was clearly the faster of the two.
When Adam tried to bring Wilt down to cleave him in two, Greg caught the blade between the pages of his book. Adam's snarl turned to shock as his weapon was held fast in Gregor's grip. Yellow light burst from his free hand just before he drove it straight into Adam's chest, sending the other boy rocketing across the street with a boom Blake could feel hit her chest.
Adam drove his sword into the stone, halting his movement with jerk. He slowly stood, huffing heavy breaths behind his mask.
"Back down now!" Gregor called. "I don't want to kill you!"
Blush answered from Adam as the man raised his weapon and fired a burst from the rifle.
One went wide. The other two caused bloody eruptions from Gregor's chest. He screamed in pain as he fell back, catching the next bullet with his book. Adam fired another shot before sheathing his sword and rushing in again. Blake didn't wait for Adam to deliver the killing blow and rushed from the wall to intercept him.
Gregor blocked the first strike with his book but the second knocked him off balance. Blake thrust her weapon into the fray, catching Adam's weapon and pushing him back. She lunged at him with a cry, her blade clashing with his in a flurry of metal. She attacked as fiercely as she could, trying to drive him back, to make him slip. He kept pace, matched her blow for blow until he struck back
Their weapons locked. Blake dug her boots against the ground as Adam pressed. His mask shielded his eyes and giving the red slits a furious presence. She could fell his hate, his anger stabbing through her heart. She tried to brace against him but there was something driving him beyond what she had ever seen.
With a growl he shoved, overpowering Blake and knocking her back. Her clone saved her from his blade but the next blow knocked her to the ground. Her aura held the edge at bay but the ground still hurt. Gregor flew back into the fight, attacking Adam with a vicious kick, blocking the counter with his book. Adam planted his foot and drew Wilt for another punishing blow. The edge met Gregor's book, the force carrying him across the ground.
The ground seemed to curl beneath Gregor, slowing and stopping him. He lifted his hand to Adam, palm outstretched. A sphere of golden light circled his hand before erupting in a stream of light. The swordsman sneered, drawing his weapon half from the sheath and blocking the blast with the edge. The light poured around and into his weapon.
The sword clicked back into the sheath, leaving Adam untouched. Instead of a wound, he had a new tooth filled grin across his face. His mask and jacket glowed, radiating power mixed with malice. A palpable destructive glee.
Gregor paled. "That's not good."
"Get away from him!" She knew even as she called it was too late. Adam planted his foot and his hand moved in a blur, pulling Wilt from his sheath in a sharp strike. She couldn't see the attack but she had seen his semblance before. She knew it was there. It was there and gone in the same instant.
The air exploded before Blake, engulfing Gregor with a flash of red light. The explosion was overcome by Gregor's scream as he was sent hurtling through the air, blood spraying the air. She watched his body sail past her and collide with a wall. The brick cracked before letting him tumble to the ground. She looked from Gregor to Adam, who quickly sheathed his sword.
Blake chanced a look back to Gregor who lay motionless on the ground before turning to face Adam, bring her weapon to bear. He took a moment to recover but was already stalking towards her, one hand on his blade.
"Hey!"
The call was echoed with a gunshot striking sparks across the cobblestone between them. Ruby bound down the street, crescent rose unfurled in her hands while Yang ran behind her, hair trailing like a cape. Adam fell back as Ruby fired another round his way. "Blake!" The little girl called again as they neared their friend.
The Faunus girl looked from her team to her old partner. Adam turned his mask to her sharply and back at the newcomers before growling and bounding down the street.
Ruby slid to Blake's side while her sister charged after the fleeing swordsman, weapons ready. Adam didn't break pace as he leapt, spinning in the air. His blade flashed in a dazzling series of swings, each one filling the air with the scrap of steel to stone. The brick building to his side exploding tears appearing along the edge and sending a fierce barrage of rock at his blond pursuer.
Yang stopped, shielding her arms as the rocks fell around her, smashing against her gauntlets and making her stumble back. As she punched last of the rocks out of the air she looked to find her enemy. The swordsman was gone. "Damn it." She cursed quietly.
"Are you ok?" Ruby asked gently touching the Faunus girl's shoulder. Blake recoiled from the touch, pressing on her bloody arm. "I'm fine." She said quietly. "It's just a scratch."
"Who was that guy?" Yang asked, rejoining the pair. "Why were you fighting him?"
Blake was quiet. She pressed on the wound, drawing her hand away to see the bleeding had all but stopped. The gash along her upper arm that had bled profusely, while painful, wasn't dangerous. She didn't want to answer Yang's first question. She didn't know how to answer the second one. As she thought about it, a question occurred to her.
"What are you two doing here?" The black haired girl looked form the older sister to the younger one, both bashfully looking away.
"We were getting food and we heard all the fighting." Yang said, her tone was convincing, almost genuine, but she was also a terrible liar. Blake turned her golden eyes on the younger sibling with a sharp glare.
"We were following you!" Ruby blurted. The younger girl quickly covered her mouth trying to pull the confession.
Her skin trembled as the Faunus turned her strongest glare from the younger sister to the older. Ruby was nosy, but only Yang would suggest something underhanded. "Why?" She asked her partner.
Yang dropped the halfhearted smile and replaced it with a motherly scowl Blake had only ever seen used on Ruby. "We were worried. You ran off with this guy after what happened like he's your new best friend. We didn't want you to get hurt."
Blake hadn't heard the last part of her friend's statement. At his mention she had remembered Gregor's state when she last saw him, on the receiving end of Adam's semblance and flying through air, spilling blood. She looked away from Yang to where he had fallen. To her surprise he was not only standing but slowly walking towards them.
"Good to see you girls. I'm glad you didn't get caught up in all of that. Now I think I should get going and you need to explain some of this to the police that are surly coming. Blake should probably get that cut looked at too. Okay?"
None of the girl's paid attention to his words. Their eyes were glued to his chest where a gash had traced from his hip to shoulder, tearing the shirt and jacket while digging into bleeding flesh. The more astonishing act was that as the boy spoke he dragged one finger along the cut, sealing it under his fingertips as thought it was a zipper, leaving his skin and muscle flawless behind his finger.
He shook he torn jacket and before their eyes the cloth stitched itself back together in a perfect imitation of his former state. The grey haired man looked from one girl to another, confusion mirroring their expression. "What?"
Author note: This will most likely be the last consistent update I have for a while. Between other projects, work and other problems I can't work on this as much as I would like. I will still try to finish it, or at least continue it. I really do feel when I let Darkside into the light it will get easier.
I am feeling a bit more confident about what I'm writing now that I have planned more of the story out.
So I hope you enjoyed the fight and as always you should tell me. Comments. Yeah, it's right there like an inch below this. C'mon, how hard is it? Thank you in advance for anyone who leaves a review. As always, have fun.