The crackling background noise of the flames eating away at the wooden railing and slowly climbing the columns supporting the upper floor was the only thing that Sun's mind could process as he remained in place, silent and horrified. A small, sickening gurgle came from Ghira as a rivulet of blood began to trail down the edge of his jaw. His knees shook just enough for Sun to notice as the man's eyes became glassy and unfocused. Without warning, Adam drove the blade in deeper, and let the hilt press against Ghira's chest as the tip erupted from the uncovered flesh of his back, coated in a fresh layer of blood.
"Ghira!" Sun screamed. He tried to move himself forward to stop the killing, but found his feet unwilling to part from the floor. His entire body seized as he watched Adam rip the weapon from Ghira's chest, leading the larger man to fall backward in a heap. As he reached the floor, Ghira's body went limp and no motion came from his chest, or the fingers on his outstretched hand. The final noise of his armored limb crashing to the floor rang out in the dining hall, and Adam smirked as he stared down at his fallen opponent.
Weak, unfamiliar noises escaped Sun's throat as he watched the man he thought of as his father die. Hot tears rushed down his cheeks as he grit his teeth and tightened his grip around his staff. The tip of the weapon trembled visibly in the air, and he resolved to return the favor with Adam's own life. Sun managed one step forward, before Adam's sword arm snapped to the side and thrust Wilt toward Sun's face. The bloody tip of the weapon rested mere feet from his eyes, and Sun glared up and along the steel to find Adam's remaining eye fixed upon him.
"…did I not tell you to meet me at the docks alone, little boy?" Adam chided in a sickeningly smooth tone. Sun's weapon continued to shake unsteadily as he kept it in a death grip, while the tip of Adam's sword remained perfectly still at its deadly angle. "This is the price you pay for your disobedience. Had you left Blake behind, I'd have merely taken her with me to watch as the White Fang moves into the endgame. I will admit, I almost respected you, in an odd way, for standing your ground against me. Now, though… now, your 'father' lies dead, and you'll soon join him. This could have been so easy."
Something primal surged through Sun's brain as he again took a step forward and brandished his staff, only to stop himself once again as he fixed Adam with a death glare. He let out a frustrated yell as he slashed his staff against the floor, resulting in a loud bang.
"You… you just made the biggest mistake of your life, Adam," Sun began as he struggled to keep his voice steady. "You'll suffer for this. You'll wish you had never even tried to set foot in Kuo Kuana, and after I'm done with your body, they won't even be able to identify you," Sun threatened. His breathing quickened as he began to circle his opponent, and Adam tracked him with the tip of Wilt.
Adam's smirk grew into a satisfied smile as he turned himself to keep his eye on Sun. "Good, good. That's what I like to hear. Keep acting like an animal. You're not worthy of joining the faunus who see the world for what it really is. If you're going to mangle me so badly, then let's get started. Come on. Hit me," he encouraged.
Among all of Ghira's words and witticisms, one particular piece of advice continued to replay itself in Sun's mind. "No."
"No?" Adam asked, with even more amusement in his voice. "Why hold back? Are you waiting for me to kill Blake, too? I'll admit, in your situation, I would, too. She's just such a downer."
Sun cracked his staff into two halves with a quick motion, and fired off a shot aimed just before Adam's feet with one of his nunchaku. Adam instinctively twirled his sword and shifted his body sideways to minimize himself as a target, before watching the shot miss entirely. He quirked a brow in confusion, before he gave Sun a nod of understanding.
"…I see. You know about my semblance, don't know?"
"When I hit you," Sun began, "there will be no blocking. There isn't going to be a final, fatal slash today. I know your semblance. You don't know mine."
Adam paused to consider Sun's words, before finally drawing Wilt back into its sheath with a chuckle. "Clever. Very, very clever. That being said, I still have the upper hand. Kali won't last much longer against Fennec and the backup I provided him. This house is crawling with Fang loyalists, and I'm sure Blake is tied up elsewhere in the halls… or maybe avoiding the situation, as she usually does, and hauling Ilia off to the authorities. I'd imagine the pair of you either made short work of her and tied her down with some pretty little ropes, or she managed to escape? No matter what, should you draw this out enough, she'll be here to worsen your odds even more."
Sun was struck with inspiration, and narrowed his eyes as he kept them locked on Adam. He let his adrenaline and sadness pour out into his voice as he spoke in the harshest, most unforgiving tone he could muster.
"…you think we let her escape, after how close she was to Blake, once? With how high-strung and tense you've made her, and with seeing her home up in flames in the distance? Ilia didn't escape, and we didn't capture her. Ilia's dead," Sun lied. "I had to pull Blake off her body before we were seen, and by the time I managed it, her entire torso was carved open. You're down one ally… and Blake is on her way to Fennec. I don't imagine he'll last long against her and Kali… especially with Blake in the state she's in. Ilia was the one thing that pushed her over the edge and into insanity… and you're mine."
Adam narrowed his eyes as Sun rushed forward and fired off two simultaneous shots while dipping into a spin and ending up on one knee. The swordsman reacted by blocking the bullet careening for his chest, while the second crashed into his left thigh and caused a pulse of red aura to creep up the limb. Adam looked down in disbelief as he realized the impending problem, and grit his teeth as Sun fired off another two rounds, for Adam's ankles. Again, one shot was blocked, while the other found its target and damaged his aura.
"Oh, you little bastard," Adam snarled as he went on the offensive. Wilt pulsed softly with the absorbed energy as he threw out a slash for Sun's throat, only for the younger faunus' whirling nunchaku to deflect the blade. Sun lashed out with a strike to Adam's face that ended up blocked once again, while using his other hand to fire a round into Adam's stomach. Adam let out an enraged growl as he leapt into the air and discharged what stored energy he had managed to build up in a wide, downward crescent beam. Sun flipped backward out of the way just in time to watch the wooden floor splinter upward from the impact.
"Simultaneous potshots aren't going to save you, boy!" Adam yelled as he sheathed his sword and spun the casing upward into both hands. He leveled the tool at Sun's chest and fired off a blast from the shotgun hidden within, only for Sun to duck and fire off two more shots in tandem in return. Adam weaved between the two while Sun smirked through his tears.
"Seems to be working pretty okay so far. Getting pissed? Then bring it!" he shouted in return, before running up to meet Adam. The pair clashed again as Adam drew Wilt and Sun crossed his nunchaku to catch the blade. Sun's arms tensed as he held off the descending blade, and he let out a sputtering groan as Adam kneed him hard in the stomach. Sun stepped backward several times and barely managed to avoid Wilt as Adam brought it down in a vicious slash, before rushing in with another. Sun did his best to catch the blow, but ended up recovering too slowly and taking a wide slash across the stomach. His aura flared at the hit, and he threw his guard back up just in time to redirect another strike to his side.
"You're holding back!" Adam accused as he launched into a quick flurry of blows. Sun danced and deflected as he whirled his nunchaku, doing his best just to stay alive and regain his momentum. "Why!? You'll get nowhere without striking me! Where's your precious semblance to save you?"
Sun whipped a nunchaku out to interrupt Adam's furious assault, only for the bull to successfully guard the flailing weapon. The blade of the sword pulsed a faint pink, and Sun cringed at the failure of the risky move. A sudden motion on the upper floor caught his attention in his peripheral vision, and Sun allowed himself to glance upward in hopes of finding an ally. Ilia was moving quickly and quietly along the upper balcony to get into position, and Sun flicked his eyes back to Adam's face as he caught another strike.
"I don't need my semblance for you. All I need is for you to keep making mistakes."
Adam retaliated by raising his shotgun once again and firing off two blasts back to back. Sun rolled along the ground to avoid the attacks, before diving over Ghira's body and reaching downward in midair. Adam followed by leaping along with Sun into a downward strike, only to recoil and stumble backward as his blade bounced off a surface of hardened steel.
Sun crouched down on one knee, tearfully glaring at Adam as he held his arm upward in a curled, defensive stance. Ghira's gauntlet wrapped around the entire circumference of his biceps and forearm, and the steel shimmered a bright orange glow in the growing firelight. Adam let out another frustrated yell as he dropped into a ready stance, with Ghira's body on the floor behind him.
"You think you can learn how to use that quickly enough for it to save you more than once? You're going to die here, Sun!"
"Not if she has anything to say about it."
Sun made a point to flick his gaze to his left. Adam followed the movement with his own eye, only to see nothing. Ilia dived from the other side on the upper floor swiftly and silently as she brandished her weapon and drew it down in a sideways slash. The electrified whip sizzled across Adam's neck and back, eliciting a scream from him as he fell forward to one knee. Sun took the opportunity to throw a haymaker forward with Ghira's gauntlet and caught Adam clean in the face, causing him to tumble backward in a heap as he let out a string of obscenities.
Ilia landed gracefully and looked at Adam with an expression of rage and grief while he covered his mouth with his free hand. He began to speak in a slur as smoke began to rise from his upper back and blood dripped from his gloved palm.
"You!? You dare to betray the White Fang!?"
"I'm just following your example!" Ilia shot back as she raised her contracted whip like a rapier and aimed it for Adam's head. Sun joined her side and rejoined his weapon into a long staff as he put his armored limb before himself to act as a shield. "You decided to forsake us and turn the Fang into your own little fanclub! Sienna was a good person, a great leader, and a hero to our people! I know what you did… and I also know that Ghira was even better," Ilia sniffled. She, too, was unsuccessfully trying to fight back tears.
Sun took a moment to rest his armored hand upon Ilia's shoulder, and gave her a reassuring nod. "It's okay. We've got this. This ends ton-"
The sentence was never finished as a massive gust of wind impacted the pair of faunus from the side. Ilia was blown clean off her feet as Sun leaned into his stance and wrapped his arms around her to keep her standing while another gust buffeted against them. Fennec Albain dashed to Adam's aid and stood between him and the pair of fighters as the door from which he came swung wildly back and forth upon its hinges.
"Brother Taurus! The Belladonna women are coming! My men can only hold them for so long! We need to kill these two, a-"
"No," Adam mumbled as he slowly rose, hand still clasped tightly on his jaw. "Call your men back… and hold them off. I need to join Cinnamon. Killing Ghira was enough."
"Sir? But…?" Fennec began to question as he looked over his shoulder, only for gunfire to echo from beyond the swinging doors.
"Do as I say!" Adam commanded as he turned to run for the nearby hallway. He made it barely three steps before an explosion of force rocked the nearby column and sent part of the upper balcony tumbling downward in a massive crash of burning rubble. Adam stopped just short of being crushed, and turned to face his new attacker as a familiar voice let out a feminine scream.
"Dad!?" Blake cried out from the doorway while standing next to her mother. Kali gasped in shock as she followed Blake's gaze, and the younger girl clasped both of her hands over her mouth. Kali's face twisted into a mask of rage as she began to run forward, her ethereal arms blazing with energy trails as she raised her incense burner.
"You bastards!"
Adam made no attempt to reply as he ducked behind the remains of the half-shattered column to avoid another explosion of force and spray of gunfire from Kali's pistols. Sun ran to meet Blake in the center of the room as Ilia dashed forward to clash weapons with Fennec, and Kali sprinted after Adam while scattering more explosion points around the base of the wall.
"He trusted you! He gave you everything!" Kali screamed as she continued her chase and raised the screaming severed head to blow holes into the wall. Adam continued to rush behind columns, narrowly avoiding the assault.
"Blake!" Sun yelled as he threw his arms around her, mere feet from Ghira's body. Blake buried her face into his chest as she began to sob horribly.
"Is… i-is he…?"
"Blake, I'm sorry, but we… we don't have time! We need to stop them, before they can.."
The entire room shook as another massive section of the balcony collapsed to the floor, barely missing Adam as he disappeared through a door and into another room. Kali let out an enraged scream as she watched him escape, and whirled upon the teens. Sun turned to look at her with a weary frown as Ilia continued to hold off Fennec's attempts to stab her with his sai.
"We need to get out of here!" Sun shouted. "This place is coming down, and there are still people on our side upstairs! I… I'll get Ghira out of here, but you three n-"
Another sound of sheering metal drowned out Sun as he tried to yell above the noise of the flames. Ilia furrowed her brow and stepped back as she watched a glittering corona of distorted air appear around the sides of Fennec's head, only for the entire ring to suddenly rush inward with a quick, deadly implosion. The squeezing impact crushed the man's skull and caused his head to cave in with a sickening crack as a shower of gore seeped through the fractures in his flesh and began to crawl down his shoulders as he collapsed to the floor, dead.
Ilia shrieked as she backpedaled away from the dying man, only to drop her weapon and fall onto her backside while she covered her eyes with her hands. Sun and Blake both looked away as Kali approached them, her aura and semblance fizzling out as she spoke in a shaky, furious voice.
"…this is war, now. He took my husband, and your father. I mean that to all of you," she added as she put her arms around Sun and Blake. "We need to get out of here immediately, and bring Ghira with us. Sun, help me lift. Blake and Ilia, scout us a path. Please."
Sun nodded as Kali let go of the pair, and kneeled down to loop his arms beneath Ghira's shoulders. Kali took hold of his legs and together they lifted, only for Blake to join them by putting her hands upon his lower back.
"…I can't. I can't let you two do this without me. Ilia, please…"
Ilia slowly uncovered her eyes and snatched up her weapon. She looked over at Fennec's corpse as she began to breathe harder and harder. All at once, panic set in, and she scurried over to the body and began to rifle through his pockets. Sun started to say something, only to stop as she withdrew the man's scroll from within his robes while lifting his sai in the other hand.
"…H-h-h-haven. He'll h-have information," Ilia stammered as her hand reflected the trembling of her voice. "I-I'll lead us out. I'm sorry. I-I'm so, so sorry…"
Sun shook his head as Ilia moved to take the point position. "No. This isn't your fault, Ilia. Let's just go."
Without another word, Ilia began to dash down the hall as the Belladonna family followed behind, carrying their fallen leader.
Author's Note:
This chapter barely made it out on time due to how long it took to get the sequence of events right and put everything I wanted to happen into it in a way that makes sense. I hope it lives up to expectations.
While Ghira's death will certainly have a major impact, the fluff aspect of this fic will continue once it's appropriate, and sooner than later. The general pace in terms of plot progression and story events from here, however, is going to ramp way the hell up.
Next update on Monday.
-RD