Adam walked out of a training room with a slight but satisfied smile; Ruby had made progress. He had long-since noticed Ruby's fatal flaw; although she was a prodigious talent (one would have to be to get into the most prestigious Huntsman Academy in Remnant) she relied too heavily on her Crescent Rose. He wasn't one too talk since his own Semblance required his using of some sort of conduit, but he still felt that he needed to at least teach her how to defend herself should she lose her weapon.
She probably won't be in too bad a position considering her speed, but it's always better safe than sorry.
This was actually a job that had been assigned to Mercury; sparring with students and finding any of interest and gauging their power/threat level. So far, the Invincible Girl was the only impressive one, although Mercury had remarked on Ren's potential for his own line of work.
The redhead had taken a shine to Ruby though.
Maybe it's the colour scheme, he thought as he walked towards the dorm rooms; he had to get his things together for the field trip.
"You're a difficult man to get information on."
The voice that declared that was a crass, almost slobby drawl that despite sounding like the last words of a degenerate before dozing off from drink, still sent several scintillating shivers through the soldier's spine.
Before he could react, the taurine General was married to the nearest wall.
"Qrow," he managed, the words slipping out of his mouth unwittingly for he was surprised at the sudden and intense killing intent sent at him.
"You know me," he stated, but his blood-tinted eyes seemed to be asking their subject how.
"Adam," Emerald's voice came a few minutes later, breaking through the tension of the two men's intense staring match, not at all dampened by the fact that one of them had them covered.
Both of them turned towards her instantly, causing the green-haired thief to break out in a cold sweat.
"Uh... Principal Ozpin's looking for you in his office."
"Okay."
Emerald looked intently at her teammate whose eyes had not returned to the man who had him against a wall but was instead looking at her directly.
{Is there a problem?}
She asked her question in an Illusion. That was one of the benefits of her Semblance; she could communicate with her partners in a completely untraceable manner by simply relaying the information in an illusion. Although this method was limited by it being simply one-sided.
Adam simply shook his head, prompting her to leave.
Qrow took a few seconds after her departure to finally let go of the taurine General.
xXx
"Mr. Taurus," Principal Ozpin said by way of greeting as the man in question walked into the office.
Adam simply smiled as he took a seat.
"Not surprised?" asked Ozpin lightly.
"Not really," he said as he pulled off his mask, "It's not an elaborate disguise. I'm actually surprised that I wasn't found out sooner."
Glynda's gaze shot down suddenly; she was clearly uncomfortable looking at the Faunus' scar even though she had seen it before.
"Well you haven't much of a reputation outside Menagerie... and too much of one within it."
"Some describe you as an eight foot tall brute, with horns of fire, others say you're like Inuwa Himself," Glynda commented, still subtly avoiding his face.
"Needless to say, neither description is accurate."
"We've actually known for several weeks," Ozpin added, "You've been under very strict surveillance for most of your stay here... as I'm sure you've noticed."
He had, but was unbothered by it since the spies drew their boundaries at their dorm rooms.
"Why confront me on it now though?"
"Today," Glynda began, "Is your fieldtrip to Forever Fall. As you know, it will be one with minimal staff supervision. We're not sure what your intentions are, and you have given us no reasons to suspect you thus far."
"However," Ozpin continued with a now hardened gaze, "Just in case your plan is something idiotic like threatening my students, I decided that it'd be best for you to know that we are ...aware of you."
Glynda's gaze sharpened once the threat had been delivered, watching for the sort of reaction this man would have. Despite being much stronger than him, the Vice Principal was extremely wary of him. He was a man of no small mystery and a history written boldly in blood and destruction.
That was why she couldn't help but start when this man gave a small laugh in response to the threat he was given. It was not the cold, demonic laugh she would expect from a butcher like the man before her, instead it was one that held sincere amusement. As though the Principal of the most prestigious Hunstman Academy in the land had told him a joke.
Ironically, his natural reaction served only to strengthen her conviction of the man's dangerous nature.
"You needn't worry about anything like that," Adam continued after giving a brief apology for his outburst, "I hold no ill-will (or at least intentions) to any staff or student here. Even if I did, it would likely be unsuccessful... besides, what sort of monster would target defenceless kids?"
Ozpin's gaze had not once left that of the General, seemingly not even fazed by the ghastly scar on the latter's face.
"I've read the odd report on the Mena Massacre," he said suddenly, earning the first negative reaction from Adam in the form of a minute flinch.
"What would you say the person who did that was thinking, mutilating those corpses beyond recognition?"
Ozpin inched ever closer to the redhead as he spoke, so close that one could mistake their conversation for an intimate one between friends.
"Personally, I feel that the perpetrator, whoever he is, didn't do it out of hatred, neither was he deranged. Instead; he wasted dozens of people and devastated their corpses just to send some sort of message. A monster would have simply killed them, but a soldier… is much scarier don't you think?"
Adam felt an unconscious pressure from the grey-haired Principal, his seemingly casual mannerisms seemed much more a threat than the one he had vocalised a minute or so ago.
"I'd have to agree," Qrow said as he walked into the office.
"You're late," Glynda rebuked.
"Sorry, those br-" the red-eyed Huntsman stopped his sentence midway on seeing Adam.
"Hey Uncle Qrow," Adam said snidely, on noticing that Qrow had now recognised him.
xXx
Adam walked briskly out of the elevator, and just nearly ran into Ruby who had been waiting outside for him.
"Oh," she yelped, "Neo told me to get you. Or at least told Emerald to tell me to get you. Hehe."
"Thanks," he responded dryly, "All ready for the fieldtrip?"
"Yup," she said, trying her best to sound cute, "Cou-"
"No, you can't ride with me on the bullhead," he cut in, "You have a team and a partner, you need to interact with them, you can't just keep avoiding them."
"I don't avoid all of them," she responded, kicking the floor.
"The Schnee is your partner, if anything, you need her the most."
"Fine," she shouted poutingly, "I didn't want to go with you anyway."
"Enjoy your trip too," he chuckled after the red blur that was running away from him.
There was something different about him, she thought as she blitzed away, although she eventually discarded the thought as she failed to pinpoint the exact difference.
Did she really not notice?
Adam asked himself as he ran his hand through his bright, windswept hair that was no longer covered by his mask.
xXx
"You mean he's possibly associated with Raven?" Glynda questioned.
"I'm sure you heard me the first time," came Qrow's irritated reply.
"Now, now, play nice," Ozpin mediated amusedly as he took a sip from his mug, "Do you think she sent him?"
"Doubt it," he grumbled back, "But of course I'll check him out either way."
xXx
On the bullhead, students sat next to their partners comfortably, with the exception of team JNPR because they were missing their team leader. According to Glynda, he was last seen talking with the Principal, so they weren't worried about his absence.
The trip didn't take that long, and the students dropped in the north-western region of the very expansive forest. The students filed out of the aircraft happily, excited that they'd be able to participate in an activity away from Glynda's oppressive gaze.
"Watch it!" came a shout from the front of the crowd of students.
"I'm sorry," responded a tanned boy with a pair of dog ears, shakily to Cardin Winchester, whom he had just collided with.
"No problem," said Cardin, with a twisted smile as he picked the boy up.
"Are you okay?" asked Blake who was at the back of the crowd, "I heard everything."
"Oh, it w-was nothing," answered the boy who was clearly still shaken from the earlier encounter.
Blake looked at him for a second before walking forward, deciding to avoid trouble. The black-haired broad with a bow took a second to take in the beauty of Forever Fall. This beautiful expanse of red leaves was the start -and end- of so many things. They called it Forever Fall, but wasn't autumn the season of change?
She felt that it was the very essence of this forest; the fact that it was forever in a state of change that catalysed her actions that day.
xXx
Adam had just been appointed General and his first charge was to establish a branch in Vale. It had been about three years since the White Fang had raised their red flag, and the new face of freedom had spread aggressively throughout the borders of Menagerie.
Remnant saw the White Fang as terrorists, zealots who fought against Human occupation, but the Faunus of Menagerie saw them as heroes, a light of freedom that would deliver the long-yearned-for equality between Humans and Faunus. The White Fang, seen as a Faunus illuminative, decided to spread this light to the rest of Remnant.
Naturally, the organisation already had many imitators and admirers who donned the uniform and went out in protests and rallies and raids in the name of the peace the White Fang sought, but these were mere sects, groups without unity or order.
This was Adam's mission, to bring order to the Vale and unite the White Fang across the entire kingdom.
Forever Fall was the base of the White Fang's Vale operations while Adam was still in charge. It was an expansive forest that cut through most of the kingdom, it's industrialisation hindered by the abundance of the Creatures of Grimm. That made it an ideal hiding place for the just over a dozen elites of the Fang that Adam had in his charge, although the creatures were no walkover.
Luckily, the base was very temporary. Although the official mission of expansion had only just begun, Adam had already been in constant communication with certain sects of White Fang imitators, whom he had educated extensively on the doctrine of the organisation as well as provided support by way resources.
The entire trajectory was derailed though by appearance of three humans in the camp without even so much as a whistle from the scouts.
Adam walked out of his tent and cautiously approached the group, his instincts bombarding him with one message: these people were bad news.
"No need to bare your fangs gentlemen," the leader of the group, a young woman with dark hair and sultry yet sharp amber eyes and an even more sultry manner, said jokingly, her unimpressive joke not damaging her almost scorching air of danger and sensuality. Adam's eyes roamed the entire group, resisting the compulsion to stare at the leader a little longer than was necessary.
"Gonna invite us in?" asked the grey-haired youth on her right side.
"Of course," Adam responded tersely as he led them into his tent.
Not long after the humans left, although the scent of the danger that had wafted into the camp with their appearance remained pervasively.
"What did they want?" Blake asked, her worry clear even behind her Grimm mask.
"Nothing we need to bother ourselves with," he said dismissively, signalling two of his subordinates and ordering them to follow the group of humans.
"Let's get moving! You all have fifteen minutes to pack up."
"You too," he said to his mentee, "We have an early morning tomorrow."
xXx
"Perfect," Adam said sinisterly, standing amidst the scrap metal that had been the Atlesian Knight-130's merely a moment ago.
"Move up to next car, I'll set the charges."
"What... what about the crew members?"
Blake asked her question fearfully, knowing very well what usually happened to the innocent crew on missions like this.
"What about them?" he asked as though he couldn't understand what she meant; after all, it wasn't her first mission.
"They're not all bad, and some of them are faunus... leaving them to die in the explosion is..."
The redhead sighed deeply as he furiously tried to rub the tiredness he felt out of his eyes through his mask; he hadn't gotten any sleep the previous night -again.
"What would you have us do then?" came his tired response.
"Cut the car they're in or throw them off the train so that the Grimm, who are most likely already approaching the train due to the crew's negativity, can finish them off? Or perhaps take them back to our camp that isn't equipped to take care of that many hostages."
"You certainly aren't suggesting that we leave our mission and escort them out of the forest at which point, the appearance of the White Fang in Vale will be confirmed and every Huntsman, soldier and mercenary in the kingdom will want a piece of us."
His tirade had left the already shy cat Faunus mute, regretting her decision to speak up.
"I'm sorry," he said in his softer, 'mentor' voice, "But this is war: people die; innocent, guilty... it doesn't matter. We'll save who we can without jeopardizing our mission, but the mission the cause our comrades have fought and died for and that we're ready to fight and die for comes first. Move up to the next car, I'll set the charges."
The command was far gentler than earlier, and for the first time since she had known him, his voice betrayed tiredness. Perhaps it was this gentleness and tiredness that sparked something in the cool cat-girl. Ordinarily, she would have listened to him, but she sensed within him the same tiredness she felt, she sensed that he too might be feeling the same as she did.
"Adam, I-"
The pair were suddenly flung out of the car, being so absorbed in the current moment that they were caught off-guard by the surprisingly stealthy spider sentinel.
"Buy me some time!" he shouted at his partner who nodded and rushed at the Spider-droid.
xXx
She turned towards her teammates and wondered if this was truly the freedom she had set out for; a spoiled racist leader, an apathetic partner and her bumbling sister. She turned towards her mentor, a man who she had both feared and admired since their first meeting, a man… whose horns were no longer hidden under his disguise.
Blake was not the only one who noticed, cementing Ruby's 'oblivious' status. The pair of black horns drew stares from many students, all of whom were surprised that their class rep had apparently grown them in between periods. Adam walked boldly, more boldly than he had in several weeks. It was nice to get some air up there, especially in Forever Fall's cool breeze.
The great wood was an accursed venue for the General, the plans he had had begun were being pulled apart to the point of fraying from the moment he had entered that place.
xXx
Roses blanketed the landscape in place of the Spider Droid that had just been destroyed by the White Fang duo, spreading out as far as the eyes could see and setting the forest ablaze with a different type of red hue.
Adam turned around, prepared to make some sort of pun. However, his train of thought was put to a halt when he saw that his partner was on the car they had been blasted out of earlier.
"Bye," Blake said simply, as she cut through the joints, separating the two cars.
"Are you... deserting?" he asked silently, so silently in fact that even he didn't hear the enunciation of the question. He couldn't understand what was happening at that point. What was she thinking.
He took a step forward, before bounding towards the retreating car landing in front of his mentee, his eyes lock with the amber ones behind her mask.
"What... are you doing?" his question was asked measuredly, as though he was literally weighing each word.
Blake made to speak, but instead her mouth moved inaudibly, similarly to Adam's a few moments earlier.
"I asked you a question soldier!"
Up until this moment, Blake had actually been unsure of what she was doing, or why she was doing it. It felt as though she was following a plotted course, navigating on autopilot. But Adam's words just now... they opened her eyes.
"I'm... not a soldier... I never was, this life... isn't for someone like me."
"Your first kill," Adam stated knowingly, frustrated at having not noticed it in her earlier, "It was... unavoidable, you saved your comrades' lives. I already told you, people die in w-"
"I didn't sign up for war!"
"I signed up for staging protests and handing out fliers and treating the wounded, not for being a butcher."
Her response had started as a scream before dropping in volume continuously.
Adam could relate to her dilemma; this wasn't the first time in his three years when a subordinate had broken down, there were days that even he felt on the brink.
"I understand," he said gently, approaching her slowly as he did, "It's something everyone struggles with. That's why we have counsellors you can always talk to."
He looked at her still uneasy expression and sighed silently.
"Look... no one's expecting you to just get over it and act like nothing happened; we can arrange for you to go back to your former duties for the time being, it'll even be good for people to see the Princess after all this time."
"I don't know if what we're doing is right."
Her whisper stopped the General cold, his outstretched hand falling to his side
"I've been trying to ignore this for years- the feeling that our mission is... wrong in some way. But my hands are stained now, I can't ignore that. I have to know if what I stained them for was worth it... is worth it. And I can't do it with the Fang, with you."
Adam was genuinely surprised; Blake had always been fervent in her devotion to the Fang. He had looked at her often as the bridge between the new rule of the Fang, and the older system of chieftaincy. That was part of the reason he had consented to be her mentor.
As the General, he often took missions on his own, or collaborated with subordinates on certain missions, but outside the General Trio, he never exclusively partnered with anyone.
He had taken her under his wing partially to see her devotion and partially groom her to be high-ranking Fang member in the future, his hope was that she would be Khan's successor, but it seemed that it wasn't meant to be now.
"I understand; you want freedom..." he responded gravely, as he took a battle stance, "…However, freedom must be fought for."
Taking her in will be troublesome, but I can't let a deserter go for no reason.
"Freedom must be fought for," Blake echoed his statement, a revered mantra within the White Fang, as she pulled out Gambol Shroud.
"There's no scenario in which you win against me, and I'm not going to be gentle just because you were my subordinate."
"We'll just see about that General," she said as she rushed at him, attacking before he could draw his red blade. He jumped backwards, evading her blade just before it hit, but failing to avoid getting caught by the chain of her weapon and instead getting pulled down by his ankle.
He fortunately was able to draw his blade before she nailed him with her cleaver therefore saving himself from the embarrassment of being one-shot by his student.
"I'd say I have more than a shot against you," she mocked while spinning around her former trainer, "You haven't slept in days. You haven't made time to train since you became General. You're exhausted from the fight we just had… and I have your number."
The wink she punctuated the last part of her sentence with was the last straw for Adam, he sheathed Wilt and landed a flurry of punches on her before propelling the blade into her midriff and sending her flying.
"You're awfully chatty tod-" his stopped his sentence midway to shoot at the Grimm that had been sneaking towards Blake's fallen form.
It was an Occultum, a reptile-like Grimm that adhered to shadows as a form of camouflage. The shot felled the beast, and prompted the rest of its lounge to discard their camouflage. The pair, who had been in the middle of a fray just moments ago, found themselves back-to-back once more, their falling out unable to drill out instinct formed by dozens of life and death situations as a team.
"You should run," he said to her in a whisper.
"W-what?"
"You were deserting the White Fang and before I could take you in for questioning, we were attacked by a Grimm hoard, serving as enough of a distraction for you to make off with the target."
"I don't understand."
"It's a good story isn't it?"
"It... it is, thank you."
"Keep in mind that if you ever see me again, you should run as I'm likely there to kill you," he stated sinisterly.
"Leave your mask behind though," he added, almost as an afterthought, "It's a soldier's mask."
With her mask gone, she had nothing to hide the hurt in her amber eyes at his statement, he either didn't notice or didn't care as he charged up his blade with his burning red Aura.
xXx
Adam walked into the new camp hours later, exhausted and, though he was clearly lighter than he had been on setting out.
"What took you so long?" queried a petit girl with a Grimm-themed cowl, once he stepped into his tent.
"There were… complications," he answered tersely.
"Obviously," commented a huge man who leaned against one of the tent's poles, "Where's the Belladonna girl?"
"That's-"
"Complicated?" suggested the petit girl, earning an annoyed smile from Adam.
The two 'guests' were Generals Sheena and Banesaw, the leaders of the White Fang's Atlas and Vacuo operations respectively.
"I can't believe that she talked us into this," Sheena stated in frustration.
"Allying with humans is nothing new, so long as they're useful enough."
"Never on this scale though," Banesaw injected, "We're going to lose many men."
Following the grave statement, there were sounds of explosions in the camp that made the three Generals storm out of the tent.
"What is this?" Banesaw queried angrily on seeing their soldiers spread out on the floor of the camp beneath a human's feet.
"We could've gone to anyone for help," Cinder, the human in question answered, as she strutted towards the trio, stepping over a few of the injured Fang in her path.
"Our plan could be beneficial to both of us or just one of us."
She stared deeply at Adam, attempting to intimidate the freedom fighter with her scorching gaze.
"Interesting."
Adam's words were chased immediately after by a morbid laugh, one that confused their opponents but seemed to make the other two Generals tense up.
Banesaw and Sheena followed suit, the latter throwing in an exasperated sigh before charging at Emerald with Nerium Thorn.
Adam and Cinder's brawl made its way to the other side of the camp. Adam had the upper hand since he had initiated the fray unexpectedly. Nevertheless, she was a skilled warrior and she would be able to turn the tide... is what she told herself. Despite the protests from his exhausted body and drained Aura, the red-haired General pushed his speed to its limits, trying to drown his opponent in the wave of terrifying stabs and slashes.
His plan was effective, as Cinder's graceful parries and blocks grew increasingly frantic with each new kata he engaged. The full stop was a vicious kick the sultry Huntress took straight to her face, causing her to drop her weapons. Adam stalked her fallen body and aimed to land a final blow.
xXx
The fray between the other pairs was cut short by Adam's frame being flung towards them, Cinder followed, albeit not as quickly since she was walking not 'flying'. The lady was livid, her eye and body glowing mystically as she aimed for a final shot of her own.
"That's enough Cinder," came the voice of a giant whose grand physique eclipsed even Banesaw's.
"Hazel… sir," she said responded meekly to the man who was apparently called Hazel, "What are you doing here? I already promised to take of this; you... needn't have bothered yourself with coming."
"She was worried that you would not be able to handle a situation this… delicate," he put his response on hold to examine the destroyed White Fang camp and the combatants who had taken his arrival as an opportunity to regroup.
"It would seem that her worries were not unfounded."
Cinder opened her mouth to object, but had no opportunity to do so as he simply walked past her and towards Adam.
"Young man," he said gently "Your men aren't dead, but they will die if they aren't given appropriate medical care."
"We have access to that care and are willing to offer it as a… peace offering, along with something more," he said as he tilted his head towards the cases of pure Dust Cinder had brought grumpily, "As a show of our sincerity in this partnership."
"I'm sure you are averse to the idea of working under us and dying for a cause that isn't yours, but we assure you that we always keep our partners' best interests in mind. Think about it this way: would you rather your men die working together with a force that can propel your cause further or die now having accomplished nothing?"
"You have no reason to fight us, the risk greatly outweighs the reward; the White Fang is strong in Menagerie, but Vale is much different, we have the resources and means through which you can achieve all you seek and more."
"Do we have a deal Mr. Taurus?" Hazel asked finally, smiling slightly as the younger man shook his outstretched hand.
xXx
Not long enough, he thought irritably, at both Blake and the humans.
He had told her that he understood, but he had been lying; he could understand her doubts and the inner conflict it must have ensued within the young Faunus. He could not however, understand how the conclusion she came to was running away, to do nothing and hope that even if she left her people to perish, she would feel better about herself.
He would have killed her himself or left her to perish in the flood of Grimm, but the complications that would ensue would be too much to handle; the Princess of Menagerie perishing on a run of the mill mission wasn't something that would be without consequences. Taking her in would also be more complicated as he would have to escort her back to Menagerie and endure a trial that bureaucracy could stretch out infinitely, something the chieftaincy would delight in doing as it would keep Adam away from Vale at such a crucial time, handicapping their expansion efforts.
Letting her go was the only practical course of action, warning her had been merely a courtesy; as if he actually came after her, running wouldn't help any.
I expected the stink eye, but shouldn't she have let up by now?
He thought this as he stole a glance at Emerald who had been glaring daggers at him since they got on the bullhead, him ignoring the messages she sent using Hallucinations didn't help either.
{Why is he brazenly showing his horns?}
The green-haired thief vented through one of her illusions to Mercury, as they harvested sap away from Adam and Neo.
{Cinder was very specific about him hiding his identity as a Faunus.}
"This much is to be expected," he responded while discreetly sneaking a taste of the candy-like tree essence.
"What do you mean?" she asked, no longer bothering with her Semblance.
"Remember when we first met him? He was all about answering to no one, he's a prideful man who was basically bullied into this 'partnership'. Even if he doesn't do anything drastic for the sake of his men, he's bound to rebel from time to time."
"You're surprisingly aware of others."
"Knowing a man is sometimes instrumental to killing him," he whispered to her, as he waved at team SYBR who were walking past them.
xXx
"What did you call us out for?" Yang said irritably as the three girls walked behind their small leader. She had led them out a fair distance from the rest of the teams, although she hadn't given any explanation.
The Ice Queen suddenly halted, as though satisfied with the distance, before turning towards her teammates, revealing a penitent face.
"I'm sorry," she said to them genuinely, "I know that our team has not been operating as a unit, and I acknowledge my fault in that, I hope that you can forgive me and we can work to overcome our issues together... as a team."
The three girls were suspicious; despite her apparent sincerity, her choice of words was reminiscent of an SDC advertisement.
"See," she said as she rubbed her knuckle into Weiss' hair, "I told you she was cool. She might be racist and talk like a Dust ad, but she's cool all the same."
Yang was the first to offer an olive branch, firstly because she had felt that Blake had thrown the entire matter out of proportion as she had never noticed the girl treat anyone differently due to their presence or lack of a tail; she was a bitch to everyone.
"What?" she responded, freeing herself from Yang's armpit.
"I'll have you know that all members of the Schnee Dust Company welcome everyone regardless of their race, creed or political inclination."
"Now I know I've seen that ad before," Ruby giggled as she joined Yang beside Weiss. The group of three looked at Blake expectantly, hoping she'd welcome the chance of unity. Before she could speak, her bow twitched, it seemed she heard something.
xXx
Deeper in the forest, a tan dog Faunus was on the ground, surrounded by Cardin, Russell and Dove of Team CRDL.
"Hey pal," Cardin said as he bent over the Faunus, holding a small vial in his hand, "Know what this is?"
The terrified Faunus managed a shake of his head as an answer.
"This," he said like a teacher in class, "Is Slytherin venom. Now, if you paid attention in Grimm Studies, you know that Slytherins are a very small snake-like Grimm related to the King Taijitu, only difference is, it's a venomous snake rather than a constrictor. It can be found in abundance in Forever Fall, exactly why no one will be suspicious when you're bitten by one."
"W-why are you doing this?" he asked in fear, Cardin was usually polite, (when he wasn't beating people up) and easygoing, he couldn't understand what had made him so sinister.
The question seemed to startle Cardin, as though he hadn't considered the question before.
He actually paused for a whole minute to seemingly ponder the reason.
"Perhaps it's for my amusement, perhaps it's an experiment," he started with a menacing smirk, "but whatever it is isn't the concern of an animal like you."
"Those aren't nice things to say," the voice of Adam called out, stopping Cardin's foot from connecting with Shouter's face as though by magic.
He looked at the class rep intensely, his eyes zeroing in on the pair of horns that he was seeing for the very first time.
"What is this, a zoo?" he asked, looking around and confirming that the class rep was alone, and they therefore had the numbers advantage.
The redhead was admittedly amused by this and placed his hand on the hilt of his blade, prepared to clash with the Team CRDL leader.
"Cardin, stop!" shouted Weiss, who had followed behind Blake after she had run off in this direction. Despite just having arrived, they all understood completely what was happening.
The sudden evaporation of the numbers advantage seemed to allow Cardin calm down, and his muscles that were tensed to the maximum in preparation for a fight slacked immediately.
"You're siding with them then?" he asked with a tired sigh, his brown eyes staring almost tearfully into her frosty blue ones.
"He was your family too, you know?"
The Ice Queen virtually melted at the question, visibly quivering with emotion but still barely able to voice her dissent.
"It isn't us or them. And this isn't the way to do it."
"...You're not wrong," he mumbled, before picking up the dog Faunus gently, apparently giving up since he was outnumbered and couldn't risk the situation escalating.
"I'm terribly sorry for the prank I pulled and I hope there are no hard feelings."
The genuineness with which the apology was made would have convinced even Robyn Hill, even the ones who had witnessed his 'prank' very nearly bought his mock apology.
xXx
"Figures you would know racist trash like him," Blake shot at Weiss who was still in a bad state from the encounter.
"Hey," she managed in his defense, "Cardin's just… misguided."
"I can't believe that you're defending him!"
"He's… been through a lot; I know it's no excuse, bu-"
"But nothing!"
Blake seemed irate at her team leader, furious that she'd even try to justify what they'd just witnessed and even worse, not surprised at all that a Schnee would do exactly that.
"You wanted to know if I forgave you, well the answer is no. That's the only thing people like do, you apologize and try to pretend that you're not part of the problem."
"I never proposed that he shouldn't be punished!" she responded hotly, shocked at Blake's unreasonable rebuke, "I'm simply asking that you shouldn't judge him before understanding his reasons."
"Of course you'd say that."
"You say that like you know anything about me," Weiss shouted angrily, "You've judged me from the first day you met me and for what? Not because I was rude to Ruby; you don't care about her, you don't care about anyone on this team. For Orus' sake, you care about the characters in your stupid books more than this team. I'm not saying I'm not part of the problem, but at least I'm trying to help this team, you however are too busy straddling some moral high horse to see that."
"That's enough," Adam said cutting off Blake's response before she could form it, "Let's rendezvous with Glynda now."
Cardin and his teammates were surprisingly unbothered by this idea and fell in line behind the class rep.
"How come?" asked Ruby who ran to his side as though wanting to guard him from the racist bullies.
"We're attracting a fair amount of Grimm," he stated without slowing down, he didn't mention the bad vibe he had been getting of recent.
"What about Cardin?" Weiss asked worriedly, the target of this worry seemed unbothered however.
"I only saw him trying to strike… What's his name again?"
"I'm Shouter Danky," he answered shyly, clinging to Adam as Ruby did.
"I only saw him attempting to hit Dylan, my duty as class rep ends there but if you need me to bear witness if you choose to report him, I'll help out."
"T-thanks," he said meekly.
Adam was infuriated by this… Shouter; he was a Huntsman in training and yet he shook like a leaf whenever his name was called. Even though he was outnumbered, he could have yelled for help, but instead chose to whimper like some type of dog.
He would never survive in the White Fang; they accepted weaklings, but never cowards.
Only cowards got to Hell, he repeated the White Fang mantra in his head as he walked ahead of the students; Blake's indignation contrasting Yang's apathy, but all their demeanours failing to rival Ruby's attempt to glare at Cardin angrily while staring at his mace in awe.
"Can anyone else hear that?" asked Blake who was tailing the group moodily until she picked up on the sound and alerted her present company of the subtle, yet beautiful melody.
The beautiful tune obviously came from a stringed instrument, maybe a violin.
It had been playing for a while, they all suddenly noticed, for almost as long as they'd been in the forest, it simply blended into the ambience of the red wood so well that they had subconsciously accepted it as part of the forest itself. But now, it changed from its natural, assimilative quality to a powerful, jarring timbre that made the russet foliage quake.
"Beautiful isn't it?" asked Cardin as both Russell Thrush and Dove Bronzewing disappeared from the group.
xXx
"So," Pyrrha asked when they were done gathering samples and Nora was done gorging herself, "What do you guys want to do?"
"We're okay as we are," Ren said mildly, placing the jars next to him so that Nora wouldn't get the chance to empty them out.
"Uh, yeah we're okay," Nora said as she lay on the forest floor.
"Come on, guys, we still have a few hours left, we can do whatever we want!"
"You don't need to do this, you know," Ren responded as he rested up against a tree.
"Don't need to do what?"
"Include us," Nora answered while playing with the leaves, "We're used to being the dynamic duo, we can stand being just a pair. Not to mention that it seems you're only talking to us because Jaune's not here."
"Oh no," Pyrrha responded desperately, "I'll admit that earlier made me realise that I didn't know much about you two, but I swear I'm not trying to patronise you, I really would like to know you guys more. And it's not like I like talking to Jaune more or anything, he's just..."
"Terrible at combat?" offered Ren, as that was his guess as to why they spent so much time together.
"Really cute?" asked Nora with a devious smile.
Pyrrha's blush at this statement was all the confirmation they needed.
"Pay up Ren," Nora declared victoriously.
"We never made a bet," he stated simply.
"Spoilsport."
"Either way," Ren said, turning to the still blushing Pyrrha, "What would you like us to do?"
"Well, I've always wanted to explore Forever Fall," she mused almost dreamily, "I've read about it and seen documentaries, but I never had the opportunity to explore. It's on my top ten locations to visit."
The long chart she pulled out showing different locations across the four kingdoms and beyond, impressed Ren, the dark-haired boy nodding as he scanned some of them.
"I hear that Erin Basil is beautiful this time of year," he commented, "How come you never travelled though?"
"It's… complicated," Pyrrha's sombre tone was quickly replaced by a bright one as she proceeded to ask Nora and Ren about the places that they'd travelled to. The pair had travelled throughout Solitas, and had visited many a destination in Sanus.
"You guys have been everywhere!"
Pyrrha's energetic voice conveyed her awe- and a small dose of jealousy- vividly, making the pair blush as they had never thought too much of their many adventures and had certainly never seen anyone who thought so much of it either.
"Why would you ever leave such an amazing life to study at Beacon? I'd never leave," she said twirling in the ecstasy of imagining such an awesome life; no burden, not even the cell of a roof, unfettered, free.
"You're adorable," Ren virtually giggled, "Moving about isn't as romantic as all that, though it is special in its own way."
"Sorry about that," Pyrrha said with a slightly embarrassed laugh.
She couldn't believe she was being so free with this pair; she had honestly started conversation out of courtesy, as she ought to have being a Mary Sue and whatnot, but she was revealing a part of herself that she had fallen out of touch with.
"I get wanting to settle down," she responded, laying down next to Nora on a bed of leaves, "But why come to Beacon?"
"We actually weren't looking to settle down," Nora answered, apparently ready to chair further discussion, "We kind of met this rich guy and saved him from Grimm. Long story short, he decided to sponsor us since we're pretty good at this already."
"Oh, didn't peg you two as the sponsorship type. I thought you'd be more used to living life the way you want."
"We do," Ren responded, adamantly against lying down on the dry leaves, "But it's not like we're going to get an opportunity like this ever again. Training at the best Huntsman Academy in Remnant is merely a dream for most."
"For most," Nora sniped.
"We couldn't keep moving about forever," Ren answered evenly despite his surprise, "It was a good opportunity to settle down."
"Because you said so?"
"I'm not having this conversation with you now."
"Why? I'm not some kid, I-"
"Because there's a Black Wave approaching and they're probably not going to wait for us to finish."
Ren's declaration drew the ladies' attention towards the small tremors that shook the entire forest.
"Let's regroup with Mrs. Goodwitch," he said, packing the jars into the satchel he brought with him in one swift motion, and helping both of them up.
"There could be students out there, we should help them out."
"Nora, if there's a Grimm Hoard, the best thing we can do is regroup with Goodwitch; if we get caught in a Wave, we'll end up causing more trouble for everyone."
xXx
The students were in disarray; some were shouting hysterically while others were on the verge of tears. The scene shocked team JNPR, although the students weren't hardened veterans, they were still more composed than this; they were all Huntsmen-in-training after all. The scene was intensified by the dissolving Grimm cadavers and the scarier, approaching Mrs. Goodwitch.
"Where've you been?" Goodwitch shouted on spotting three-quarters of team JNPR.
"We wer-"
"It doesn't matter," she cut in, "Have you seen teams SYBR, CRDL and Adam Vulpes?"
"No. They aren't here?"
"No, they went deeper into the forest, and I haven't been able to search for them with all of… this," she punctuated her last statement by waving her hands towards the hysterical students.
"We can form a search party and look for them," Pyrrha and Nora proffered eagerly.
"That's not going to happen. With so much negativity, more Grimm will be on us soon. And I can't leave the students unprotected and I'm certainly not going to allow you to go on your own."
"You're going to leave them behind?"
"Never," she rebuked, "One of the best Huntsmen in all of Vale is looking for them right now and they'll meet us in Beacon."
"I'm flattered," Qrow, the man in question, said as he walked up from behind her.
"What are you doing? You're supposed to b-"
"Don't get your panties in a twist," he said as he wrapped an arm round her shoulder and pulled her to the side, "Adam is there with them, this is the perfect opportunity to observe him."
"Your nieces are there too, they are at risk."
"They're also Huntresses in training," he bit back, "I've told them time without number the risks of this job even as students."
"You're ready to risk their lives for this?"
"Their lives aren't in any danger; as you said, I'm one of the best Huntsmen in Vale."
xXx
On a distant cliff, a pale boy with combed back blue hair stood solitarily, furiously bowing on a stringed instrument, absorbed in the world that his music was creating. So much so that he didn't even notice the appearance of his teammates next to him, not until Russell placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Time to go."