Sorry for not posting this yesterday, but whatever.
"…The valiance of the Students of Haven should be an example to us all. We must stand united against the Grimm, the White Fang, and all who may threaten our home. We have won the first battle of Haven, and if we remain vigilant, we will win every battle to come! Bless Mistral!" His speech earlier today had ended that way. Dustin thought it was kind of sappy, but sometimes, people liked sappy.
He'd just come from a dreadful emergency meeting where the vote to move Haven Academy's location had been tied. Leblanc had stymied him again. The vote would only be decided when Lord Radcliff returned from Atlas.
He was exhausted from the day, and after dinner, he collapsed into bed. He was only awoken by a mechanical voice clearing its throat.
He sat up with a start when he saw, sitting in a chair overlooking his bed, was a person—male, female, he didn't know—in dark clothing and armor. He tried getting up further, but he found that his wrists were shackled to the bed. With no effective way of fighting unless he used his semblance, he decided diplomacy was in order. "Who are you?"
"I am the Master," the person said. "And don't worry; I do not intend to harm you."
That was a small relief, but he didn't trust this "Master". "What do you want?"
"Only to tell you not to interfere with my Order's function. We have the same goals, Taryn, so perhaps we can come to a mutual understanding. You do not interfere with me while I do not interfere with whatever power grab you want to mask as patriotism."
"I do not seek power," Dustin said. It was the truth, he didn't. While if power should be given to him, he wouldn't refuse it, he would not try to interfere with what made Mistral great in the first place and stick to what his post was entitled to.
"Oh, you could easily take over. You have the people on your side, as well as the military. Your ascent would be relatively easy. But know this." The "Master" stood up from his chair. "If you continue to fight the Order of the Broken Moon, you will learn the price. Your daughter might come to harm."
He sneered at her. "If you touch one hair on her head, I will end YOU and your entire order!" The "Master" walked over to his side and took off his helmet. Underneath was a horrifying sight—the face of his wife. "No…" he said as the Master laughed and slapped him in the face.
He sprang up to grab her when she was gone, and so were the shackles. It was then that he realized that the Master was a master of illusion. The Master, male or female, was too tall to be his wife, as well as too broad-shouldered. That person was not his wife, so he did not have to worry about that.
His main concern was whether or not to follow the Master's request. There was no real reason to harm someone who was aiding his cause, in a way. He didn't want to put Crystal in danger either. For now he would stave off on taking action against the Order until properly prepared.
Adam was inspecting the troops that had come back from the attack on the power station. They'd infiltrated it easily, though getting back without getting followed back or picked up by the MDF was harder. In fact, it looked like one or two of them was missing. It was unfortunate, but not unexpected.
He looked each of them over one by one, and then he got to the last one. Talon looked as menacing as ever in full black and green armor, his face covered by a full face helmet. His wings look alright, but Adam wondered about why he didn't remove your helmet. "Helmet," he commanded.
Then he said through the voice filter built into the helmet that made him sound slightly menacing, "It's stuck, sir. I can't get it off."
Adam nodded. "Work on it. Dismissed." They filed out of the dark room.
He hated hiding in caves. They could never get enough light, and rain was always trickling in from the outside, making the whole thing damp. But since coming to Mistral, he had to do what the other leaders told him too, and they told him hiding in the cave was safer than hiding out in the open.
In fact, the other leaders had been awfully controlling of him since he got here. He came here to meet with them a few weeks ago and now they had forced him to stay, had him launch attack after attack against Mistral, and expected him to report to them. The only upside was keeping Talon, originally from a cell from Mistral, now turning out to be one of his best men.
Talon was an awful mystery though. He never talked about his past, never talked about his future, and didn't even like to talk about the present. The fact that they got him to talk at all was remarkable. But he wasn't there to talk; he was there to fight their mutual oppressors, and that didn't always need talking.
After the event of the day, he was tired, and went to his quarters to get some shuteye. It was a dark dank cave attached to another dark dank cave, but this one was smaller and had a bunk in it. An upside to being a leader was getting his own room, though he did miss having someone to talk to before falling asleep. He didn't feel like talking though, so that was a plus. He took off his boots, jacket, and mask, put his sword and sheath next to his bed, and settled in.
It wasn't long before he was interrupted though. A mechanical sound like clearing one throat got him up. He sat up, ready to ask Talon why he wasn't working on getting his helmet off, when he saw someone who definitely wasn't one of his men. Dark clothes, dark armor, and no evident gender, he sat in a chair he didn't remember being in the room, menacingly.
"Good evening, Adam Taurus," the person said. "I hope I'm disturbing you."
This stranger had picked the wrong room to break into. Adam reached for his sword, but it, sheath and all, flew from its place and into the stranger's hand. The stranger drew it, and pointed it at his throat. "Don't bother calling for guards either," the stranger said. "They won't come."
Adam gulped. So today was the day. Too bad. "If you're going to kill me, do it quickly."
The stranger shook his head. "I'm not here to kill you, though next time, I will, because if you don't stop your attacks, I will return with her."
The stranger pointed away from his throat and to the side. There stood another menacing figure, with a black and purple gi, a black jumpsuit, white gloves, white scarf, black boots, a bulky shield on her arm, and a full face Grimm mask. He took issue with the mask. "You dare dishonor the White Fang by siding with them?" he said.
"She wears the mask to hide herself," the stranger said, "and to show them what has forever been the face of death. To you, it will be also if you don't stop your attacks."
"Ha," Adam said bravely. "If you kill me, I'll only be replaced."
"Then she'll kill you and your entire cell, if not the entirety of the White Fang, however long that will take."
He glared at the stranger. "You dare threaten the White Fang. You dare to think one woman can destroy it?"
The stranger said back, "You dare to think she can't?" He continued to glare at the stranger until it spoke again. "Carrot and stick then. If you halt you attacks, I guarantee that you will find who you're looking for. That your hunt will be quite fruitful."
Adam cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
The stranger sheathed the sword, putting it back where it had been, and reached for the helmet obscuring its face. "I will help you track down the one you love and hate the most." The stranger removed the helmet, and revealed the face behind it. Black hair tumbled out of it as it revealed Blake's face. Suddenly, the voice was voice as well. "Blake Belladonna."
He looked at her in disbelief. This couldn't be Blake—it couldn't! She was in Vale! She couldn't be here.
He reached for his sword only for Blake or whoever it was to bash him in the face with the helmet. He almost slipped unconscious for a moment, and then grabbed his sword, slashing it at where—as it turned out—the intruders had been. They were gone, and he'd left a scorch mark on his wall for nothing.
Suddenly, a guard came in, rifle in hand. "Are you alright, sir?" he asked.
Adam nodded. "Yes, I'm fine." He would keep this meeting to himself, he thought. There was no reason to make it known that two intruders got past the defenses and threatened him. Though he thought he would do as the strangers asked, since it also aligned with what he had wanted to do for weeks. "Inform my lieutenants that I want to see them first thing in the morning to discuss halting our attacks."
The guard nodded obediently. "Yes, sir." Before leaving, he glanced at the wall. "That must have been some nightmare, sir."
After a moment, Adam replied, "Yes, a nightmare."
Thank you everyone who got here for bearing with me through this. I'll be taking a massive break from writing Haven, though I might write something you end up reading. But anyway, see you next time.