Chapter 8: Sentimentality

Weiss

I let out a shaky breath. "Adam."

He stares at me, unbelieving. "Weiss." It's a hushed whisper, barely audible, but I hear it. I listened for it. I thought I'd never hear his voice again, but here I am, standing in front of him.

I smile and let out a soft laugh. "I missed you."

He frowns. "Then, why did you leave?" The crushed look in his eyes, the disappointment, the utter loneliness that I perceive from him is tear inducing.

I feel my eyes water, that inching in the back of my eyes. "I had to figure some things out."

He steps closer to me, making me take in an impossible breath. My chest just feels so tight. I swallow slowly, trying to clear the very fear of this confrontation from my mind. He's standing so close now, and I have to crane my neck to look him in the eyes now. He reaches his hand to brush his thumb against my cheek. "Did you?"

I bite my lip as I feel myself leaning into his touch. "I did." He leans closer to me, then, and I feel as if my body is working without my mind. I feel myself lift onto my toes, trying to close the distance.

Unfortunately, my luck is rather lacking. A deliberate rustle of grass and clack of heels against rocks breaks the trance we both seemed to have been in. Adam turns around, blocking my view. "Adam, is that you?"

Blake. It's Blake. I cover the gasp that could come out. "Blake."

"It is. What the hell are you doing here?" I could here the aggravation in her voice, almost fury, but she's usually too call for that to slip through the mask she puts up.

I press closer to Adam, like I could hide from her, but I can't. I don't blend in with nature. I don't blend in with Adam. I can feel the vibration of his voice as he answers. "I've come for answers."

How hasn't she seen me? "You know why I left."

He laughs. "Not from you." My eyes widen.

"Then who?" Fear and something else is intertwined with each short syllable coming from her.

I choose that moment to collect myself and step from behind him. "Me."

Blake looks at me, disappointed. "Why are you out here with him? Did you plan this?"

I shake my head. "It was all by chance on my part. I was looking out that window," I point to the side, "and I saw a figure coming up the cliff. At first, I thought it was a Grimm, but then, I looked closer and saw Adam. It was Adam, and I couldn't stop myself from coming out here to meet him, to see him, to speak with him." I hang my head in shame. I should have been able to control myself, but I couldn't. I should have just left it all alone. He would have left eventually. I could have just hidden, both myself and my feelings. I should have. It would have been easier.

I pick my head up to see Blake with a concerned look on her face. "I'm not saying that you were stupid. No, wait, that's exactly what I'm saying. He could have come to kill you, and you would have offered yourself up like a fucking sacrifice."

The concern turns to disappointment, and I feel myself wanting to look at Adam and demand that he tell me it's not true. I couldn't take it if it was. I don't think I'd be able to stand it if he had come to kill me. I feel my composure slip, the one that I usually try so hard to keep. I turn to Adam, who is just standing there, not even denying anything. "Did you?"

He chooses that moment to look at me, and I see how pale he is. He's looking more and more like a corpse. It's like he's losing a lot of blood, but I don't see… there. His right arm. Blood is trickling from his fingertips. I gasp as he falls to his knees. He looks up at me with such sorrow and resignation. "I didn't. I couldn't kill you, like I could never kill Blake. I'm not that far gone yet."

I fall to the ground with him. I unbutton his coat and throw it off of him. Next, I rip his sleeve off to see blackening bite marks deep in his shoulder. I gasp. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He laughs. "You didn't have to. I just wanted to see you again before I die."

Tears threaten to spill once more. "You are not dying. All I have to do is stop the bleeding. Your Aura will heal it fairly easily." Hopefully. "When did you get this?"

He looks up and then at the wound. "This morning, I think."

Ah, so it's salvageable. There isn't any permanent damage. I breathe a sigh of relief. "Okay, good. It'll heal if I clean it." I reach into my bag and pull out a roll of bandages, some antiseptic, and a bottle of water. I pour water over it first, making sure that I rinse all of the blood off of it. I know that a bit more blood will appear, but the dried layer will be gone so that the antiseptic can do its job. I dab at it with a small piece of bandage in an attempt to dry it. I sigh as I see that they're not as deep as I thought. "You're very lucky. It's not as bad as it looked."

Adam opens his mouth but is interrupted by Blake. "Why the hell are you bandaging him up? Shouldn't we be beating the hell out of him? He did kidnap you."

I spray the harsh liquid on the wound, making him hiss. "Sorry. I should have said it would sting."

"Are you just going to ignore me?"

I place the bandages around his arm carefully, not too loose but not too tight. "Blake, truly, I have nothing against him. He helped me, really. I should be thanking him for a lot of things. He got me away from my father. I'm grateful for it all."

"You, you're grateful? Didn't he lock you up in that cell? I helped build that before coming to Beacon. This plan has been in motion for years."

I let myself slip a bit. I kiss the bandage, willing a bit of my Aura onto the site. I look up to see both Blake and Adam staring at me like I'm crazy. I blush, realizing what I just did. You can't exactly be subtle about Aura. It'll glow as soon as you activate it. "I didn't stay in that cell past three days." I stare into Blake's eyes, understanding her disbelief. "I almost died, Blake."

"How… Who saved you if you almost did?" I see that she can't grasp at the obvious answer. She won't believe that the Adam that she knows is the same Adam that I know, but he's not who she thinks he is.

I stand up, careful not to touch Adam's shoulder. "He's not the man you think he is."

She looks at me in indignation. "He's killed hundreds! How can you tell me that he's not who I think he is?" She keeps her entire body still, but tense, like she'll attack the moment something seems off.

I sigh. "He saved me, in so many ways, Blake." I try to will it all into her mind, every memory that we made, every change that I saw or experienced.

She shakes her head. "You're just delusional. You have Stockholm Syndrome or something. There's no way you of all people could have fallen in love with the enemy. Cause that's what this convoluted crap that you've been spewing points to."

"I've thought about this, Blake. A lot. It's not Stockholm Syndrome. I can feel that it's not so artificial." I clutch my heart at this. It can't be that. It has to be real. She's just trying to sow seeds of doubt.

She walks up to me and grabs my shoulders. "Snap out of it. You used to be so rational, questioning everything, but look at at you! You're a fucking simpering mess! What has gotten into you?"

I smack her arms away. "You don't understand."

"I do. Believe me, I do. He saved me, too, but he changed. He changed too much." She looks away from me to stare at Adam. I look, too. He's standing on his own now. He's not so pale, and it makes me smile.

"Blake. I'm sorry. I let the power and fear corrupt me. I couldn't hold onto the small piece of humanity left in me, and I'm ashamed. I should have been able to. I was strong enough, physically, but I had a weak will." He looks at me. "Weiss changed that. She gave me something to live for, a reason to take off the mask."

Blake looks at him with a hate filled gaze. "But I wasn't enough?"

Adam shook his head. "You were slipping into the shadows with me. I'm glad you left. It made me think. It made me hope. I had so much time to sink even deeper, but your leaving made me realize that I could leave, too. If I put the effort into it, if I had something to leave for, and now I do. Now, I hae Weiss." His head falls. "I know I've done horrible things, unimaginable things that I deserve punishment for, but I want to atone for my sins."

Blake frowns deeply. "That's bullshit. What the hell are you even trying to say, that you are going to leave the White Fang to its own devices? Are you going to be a coward like me?"

Adam frowns, too, and I look between them. "You weren't a coward. You did the right thing. You left when things got dark, something I need to do."

Blake slaps him, like a skin to skin crack echoing in the distance kind of slap. "Shut the fuck up." She's crying now. What's even happening. "You need to do what I was too afraid to. You need to go back. You need to change the Fang. You need to forget about all of the things you did. Forget about atonement. Just put all of your effort into reforming what you corrupted."

Adam holds his cheek, jaw open in shock. He seems as confused as I am. "I can't go back, Blake."

"Did you leave them, tell them you were?"

He shakes his head. "No. I didn't tell anyone."

"Then, you have a chance. Just take it. Leave here, go back. Change. If you've truly changed, you'd do this." Blake says as she points down into the woods.

"I can't." I look at him and see the defeated expression on his face.

"Why?" I speak up for the first time during their argument. Even when my heart clenched when Blake smacked him, I didn't say a word or make a sound, but it seems important to ask this. I have to know. "Why can't you go back." He looks me in the eye, and I understand. I know why he can't go back. It's the same thing that I saw in him that night. The loneliness, the nightmares, the fear, all of it must consume him when he's that deep in that stone fortress that he's isolated, without contact, and I can see why he doesn't want to go back. "Ah. You don't have to, Adam. Nobody should endure that."

"What the hell are you going on about? He was the fucking king in the White Fang. He's the leader!" Blake looks between us, clearly not seeing what I do.

I look at her. "There are some things that power alone cannot give you."

She stares at me, and I see the moment realization kicks in for her. "Oh. Adam." She looks at him in a different light, a softer light. "You're a fucking idiot. Why didn't you tell me?"

He snorts. "When have I ever been the touchy feely type?"

She gives an unamused laugh. "You're right, but I should have realized."

Adam shakes his head. "I didn't want you to know."

"Oh, how touching. You're making me gag with all of this sentimentality." I turn around and see the last person I would have imagined being here.

A/N: Oh oh! Can you guess who the newcomer is? *waggles eyebrows* But this chapter! This CHAPTER!

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