Summary: An encounter with the Invincible Girl leaves Adam reeling and reminiscing. And Pyrrha tries to understand herself and her new role as team leader.
Notes: Adam backstory time. Comment/review
"Bring up the next one!"
The order came from a man in a clean grey uniform and a foul-seeming demeanour and it was obeyed swiftly, as the 'next one' he requested was moved forward in the form of a small and malnourished faunus with virtually invisible horns and dirty red hair that looked more like brown.
He stared vacuously forward, moving as he was pulled like a puppet- showing no agency otherwise. Before him, next to the desk on which the man in a grey uniform was seated, he saw a girl laying down on the floor.
She was about his age and matched his ragged appearance perfectly; emaciated, dirty and soulless.
Literally soulless.
They were both skeletal puppets, leading a life unworthy of living and lacking of the very essence of it. The only difference was this: the girl's strings had been cut, there was no use for her anymore, she had been discarded, the extinguishing of her life-force being as unceremonious and unimportant as the spark itself.
He had seen what had cut those strings; it was a red liquid fed to her.
The same liquid that was being measured out by the grey uniform before him.
The same liquid that his head was tilted back to make sure he swallowed.
It would kill him.
It would kill him, but he did nothing; he showed not a measure of resistance, not a sliver of defiance. A normal child would cry.
A normal child would bite.
A normal child would scream.
But he was not a normal child.
No, he was a puppet.
Gulp.
The liquid travelled down his throat rapidly, its taste unperceivable to him.
As he awaited the result, his vision faded, the already dark cave receding to full blackness.
It seemed like his strings had been cut.
xXx
"Jaune did what?"
The question came from none other than the Invincible Girl, shocked by the information she had been given.
"Mr. Arc accepted my offer of a temporary transfer to Vacuo's Shade Academy, although the possibility remains that he could decide to become a permanent enrolee. He just a few hours, I had assumed that he told you already."
"...Why?"
Pyrrha couldn't have said for a million lien who her question was directed at, perhaps Inuwa.
"That's simple," Ozpin said, apparently prepared to answer, "He wasn't a real Huntsman; he lied his way here and led inadequately, something that could have easily resulted in casualties."
"Y-you knew about that?"
"I did, from before he ever stepped foot on this campus."
"Why did you allow him then?"
"Because he can be Pyrrha," he smiled warmly at her at this moment, catching her off guard, "He's a young man of great potential; he only needs to channel it. That is also the reason he had to leave."
"I... was helping him, he didn't need to leave."
"I'll be frank Ms Nikos; your training would have gotten him killed and most likely, you all would have followed suit. You made some progress, but ultimately, you're like the breeze that ignites the spark, but kills the flame. The honest greatest benefit gained under your tutorship was the inflation of your own ego."
"What?"
Pyrrha's rage at her attempts to help her friend being reduced to mere posturing was clear in her voice as she rose from her seat impulsively.
Was I really doing that?
Her thoughts arrested her motion midway as though she had been struck by lightning; was there truth to what he had said.
"I don't mean to say that you were motivated selfishly, but ultimately, you could only ever smother him. You don't have to feel bad; part of caring for someone is knowing when to let them go."
Pyrrha sat immobile for a full minute trying to process the information she was given.
"The reason I called you here is because the leadership role in your team is now vacant, of course I feel you'll be most qualified to lead them."
"Why me? You just said yourself how my selfishness and naiveté got in the way of my teammate's progress"
"That's very true, but it's only natural for a young leader to make such mistakes, I was pointing it out for your edification, I trust fully that you've taken the words to heart, I believe that you're better-equipped to be leader than you were before you stepped in my office.
"And you had always been the ideal choice for leader to be honest," he punctuated this with a silent sip from his mug, "Your charisma and power can inspire even recluses like Ren and Nora."
"If I was ideal... why was Jaune the leader then?"
Her question had a measure of hesitation to it, she felt as though she was measuring her words now; she was still unbalanced by the shocks her Principal delivered, so she paid special attention to what she said.
"Well, that was for the purpose of his development; Jaune has the same issue of ego you do, except much worse. His very presence constituted a threat to the safety of your team; a four-man cell is only as weak as its weakest. The weight of leadership was a good anchor as it made him more fully realise that his decisions were tied to the futures of people other than himself."
"I... understand. Thank you for trusting me with this task."
I hope you're right.
"You don't need to doubt yourself. I'm telling you all these things because you're ready to hear them. ''The key to peace is enlightenment and the key to light is-'"
"Refinement and refinement comes from revelation. And so, in everything, examine yourself and the awareness you gain from this will strengthen your heart and guide your light to your brother."
The lines they had repeated were Lunarist Scripture, Pyrrha had heard it and completed the sentence on instinct, unwittingly interrupting her Principal. Although he seemed not bothered at all and simply beamed at her.
"You'll do great."
xXx
"Good match," Mrs. Goodwitch said as the two background characters that had just finished their match shook hands and returned to their seats.
"Next match is..." she declared while watching the Randomiser, "Team JNPR vs Team CRDL," the machine read.
"It seems that I've not recalibrated it yet," the blonde teacher said with a frown, "You can opt to skip today's duel, the circumstances are... understandable."
Understandable they were; it had only been a few days since both teams had lost their leaders, giving them some time to adjust was only fair.
Honestly, neither side needed adjustment, it sucked not having a leader officially, but it wouldn't stop either team from focusing on the reason they were here.
"Thank you, Mrs. Goodwitch," team CRDL said, although it didn't affect them all that much, they weren't going to miss an opportunity to dodge the dreaded duel especially since they would have to face the Invincible Girl of all people, that girl had no chill.
"I actually don't mind a duel," Pyrrha 'Mary Sue' Nikos said, much to the chagrin of her teammates, who had already resolved to miss any activities whenever the opportunity presented itself.
"Could it be one-on-one instead? I'm not sure my teammates are as eager as I am."
Glynda smiled at the warm giggle the equally warm redhead had punctuated her sentence with.
"Why not, Miss Nikos? Do you have an opponent in mind?"
She walked up towards the Vice Principal and whispered something into her ear, as though scared to say it out loud.
"Mr. Vulpes, do you mind stepping into the ring?"
Adam, who had been watching absentmindedly, was surprised for a few seconds, not sure all of a sudden why the Invincible Girl would challenge him. Still, he walked to the changing area obediently and emerged with his weapon, ready for the match-up.
"Ready?" Mrs. Goodwitch asked, and after being satisfied that they were, she dropped her hand, indicating the duel had begun.
xXx
It was a short battle; Adam had been knocked out of the ring after an exchange of intense blows. No one ever lasted long against the Invincible Girl, but they all usually lasted longer than a few seconds.
Team AMEN bowed their heads in shame along with the rest of the class, feeling second-hand shame on watching their leader and class rep getting mopped.
Somehow, no one was more disappointed than Pyrrha herself.
Ever since the incident in Forever Fall, whenever Team SYBR detailed their experience in avoiding and surviving the Grimm, a part that was never missing was the role Adam had played in it. He had not only lead them, according to their narrative, but he had cut through droves of the Creatures of Grimm single-handedly.
That was what had sparked her sudden interest in duelling him. The reality however, fell way short of her expectations.
Adam lay down on the floor, wondering if he was overdoing it.
He definitely was; Ozpin alongside a number of staff and students already had an idea of his power level, so hiding it didn't serve too much of a purpose, but at the same time, it wasn't wise to show them too much, especially now that he was aware of they had Qrow himself spying on him, meaning that they were aware of his weakness to apathy.
The brilliant plan he came up with was to lose every match and lose it quickly, the less he showed off, the less they could analyse.
It was a decision he made with full knowledge of the consequences, not least of which would be the utter and irrecoverable damage to his pride.
It was okay though; since when did his pride begin to matter?
xXx
"What do you think happened with Adam earlier?" Yang asked, awkwardly using crutches to follow the file out of the class in between Blake and Weiss as the group filed out of the class, planning on checking Ruby, who was still in the hospital, healing from the backlash of using Burning Blossom.
Yang was convinced that not even the Invincible Girl could take down Adam after seeing him cleave through Grimm on their last mission.
"Most likely," Weiss said, while stroking her chin wisely, "He's injured from overstraining himself in Forever Fall, Cardin and Shouter were sent off campus to recover from the ordeal, and Ruby's still in bed. I can only imagine what state Adam, must be in right now."
"That makes sense," Blake said, agreeing with the Schnee, "Still, it must be quite the serious recoil if he fell so quickly."
It was the strangest thing, and it had started just after they returned from Forever Fall; Blake's attitude had done a 180 in terms of Weiss, she found herself agreeing with her, and not scoffing or making a snide comment every time she spoke. She even saved a seat for her once in a while.
xXx
Adam rested alone in Glynda's Basics of Battle class.
His mind was in a wreck; memories flooded his mind and gave him migraines although he still looked passively upwards as though nothing was happening.
xXx
His eyes snapped open, liberating him from the darkness.
He was currently in a room.
He didn't even know if he could call it that; it was four square metres; something so large would 'comfortably' fit at least eight people. And even more shocking, he was on a bed.
What was happening?
Where was he?
He ran his hand through his hair to find that part of it was matted to his forehead due to his excessive sudation.
He was literally in shock.
He had never felt a bed before.
He didn't understand the softness and warmness and safeness he was feeling.
Finally, after his contemplation lasting a few hours, he came to a conclusion.
I'm dead.
That was the only logical explanation; he had seen that liquid kill the girl before him and apparently many others, it only made sense that he had followed suit.
He felt no great degree of shock from his inference; life had not meant anything to him.
Grrr.
His stomach growled suddenly. He had been hungry for a while, but he had been lost in the sensation of the bed beneath him, but now, his body was insistent; he had to find something to eat.
What's there to eat in the otherworld?
He dropped to the ground, for the first time noticing that there was a rug there. The sensation of the soft fabric on his grimy feet, led him to genuine ecstasy.
Still, he was able to overcome his feeling and walked towards the door, pushing it open without the remotest shadow of fear.
His sentiment was a side-effect of the apathy present in the rations given to the workers here. Every single meal contained, it ran through the veins of each and every slave till they succumbed to exhaustion or the vicious beatings from the supervisors.
So he walked out of the room, unbothered with the possible dangers behind this unknown place, he was dead after all.
"So you're up," came a voice from outside the door immediately he opened it, causing him to shut it immediately after, although its motion was halted by someone's foot.
"That's good," it was the voice of a man, he walked in with a clean grey uniform and grabbed the young faunus by his chin and gave him a short look-over.
He walked out of the room suddenly and the boy immediately followed after him; although no command had been given, the man's mere manner had said to him "Follow me".
And so he did, trying and failing to keep up with the man's steady gait.
Not too long after, he was in a nicely-lit room, with a few other faunus children of about his age and just as dirty and grimy, but with eyes that almost glowed in comparison to how they had been a few hours ago; like they had suddenly been animated.
A bed could do that to you.
After a few more were brought in, then the children were filed into cubicles that turned out to be showers.
Under the strong jet of hot water, the young faunus discovered parts of him he wasn't even aware he had as they were always hidden under grime.
After thorough scrubbing, they were all given fashionable black uniforms, although Adam wouldn't know whether something was fashionable or not, he just knew that he liked it.
They were all assembled back in the room, and they looked at themselves and each other in amazement; they could very literally not understand what was happening. It was like a psychedelic trip on steroids.
"Enjoying yourselves?" came a sultry voice that knocked the children out of their awe.
The voice came from a woman with a stark white uniform, she walked slowly and intently to the front of the room, her striking looks and powerful Aura taking their full attention somehow even more than her uniform.
The children nodded seriously in response to her question.
"That's good," she said, as she bent in front of the one of the children and place her palm unto her chest, "Lemme show you something."
Immediately she said those words, a bright blue light shone from the girl; starting from her chest, and spreading to the rest of her body, it was her Aura.
He pondered what was happening calmly; already having maxed out the number of times he could be shocked in a day.
While he mused, the lady had made her way in front of him and did the same thing she had done for the other children.
A dark red light bloomed broodingly from his chest before surrounding his body and disappearing as it had for everyone else.
"Do you understand what is happening?" she asked after she was done with all the children.
The children shook their heads to show their lack of comprehension.
"Follow me," she said before walking out of the room. They made no delay in doing exactly as she said, and followed orderly in a single file, the scene was akin to something you'd see at a kindergarten.
xXx
"This," she began, spreading out her arms as though prepared to embrace something, "Is Campis Inquinavi."
They had followed her out from underground and emerged in a town.
It wasn't a grand town, or even particularly beautiful. It was a typical mining town with many warehouse-like buildings.
The children's eyes all dilated, even him who thought he could not be surprised at any more than he had been already was gobsmacked by something so... big.
The children ought not to have been shocked at all; after all... they had lived in this very town for practically all their lives.
The lady smiled, clearly amused at their reactions.
"Campis is what is known as a mining colony; we extract Dust primarily but other minerals too if they present themselves. It's very dangerous work, so we use slaves to do it."
"You are all slaves," she said, as she caressed the surprised face of one the children, "You all belong to the Schnee Dust Company."
Adam understood what a slave was, but nothing else; he especially didn't understand why slaves were dressed in clothes much more valuable than they were or why she was explaining their position to them.
"That's where you all come in; mining colonies like this are generally located outside the kingdoms."
This practise was of course the culture as such a high-scale of mining activity in residential areas would be a health hazard, but another reason for this was to avoid scrutiny from the Hunstman Academies, Police, Military and other law enforcement organisations.
Mining was a very dangerous and therefore expensive enterprise. The prevailing method was the use of slaves. Robots were available for the purpose, but they were expensive and for such volatile work, the smell and night vision of the faunus were at times indispensible.
This method came with many drawbacks though.
The colonies were always located far away from the kingdoms and therefore susceptible to Grimm attacks especially since negativity was abundant among the slaves. The negativity was curtailed by the use of apathy, but even that had limits as non-stop dosage would leave the subjects brain-dead. Even the children who had just been taken off the drug would likely have memory and mood irregularities in the future, not to mention a proclivity towards addiction.
Even if they could completely prevent negativity-which they couldn't- Grimm attacks would still be rampant.
Hiring Huntsmen was also out of the question; not only were they unbelievably expensive, they would likely be resistant to the methods used in these colonies, and as more light was shed on these practises, the more likely the companies would suffer major losses from being revealed.
All these went through the mind of Cerise- the lady in a white uniform- as she looked at the slaves, considering how much to tell them. Although she had made this speech before, as this was an annual process, she generally gauged the intelligence of the group before deciding how much of the information she could give would be absolutely overwhelming.
"Fear not though," she continued, "There's a chance for all of you to become more than slaves: your Auras, your Semblances and your servitude are all that is required. Follow me, and I'll explain more."
They followed her throughout the city, watching the town they had all grown up in for the first time.
The experiences a hundred times over for a puppet and those of a human even once were not comparable. The apathy they were on from being toddlers, made them virtual drones; perpetually looking and never perceiving and hearing but never understanding.
"Your Auras are those bright lights that came out of you earlier," she said as she walked past one of the many quarters the slaves occupied, "They make you much more valuable than the average slave, same with your Semblances, but I will explain them in detail off-screen as the author already did that and we don't want to make the text too long."
"Technically," said one the supervisors who was tailing the flock of children, "He explains it in the future though."
"We're defeating the purpose of skipping the explanation if we're still just extending the text by breaking the fourth wall."
"You're right ma'am, but it's the writer's fault, doesn't he know that some moments are serious and that breaking the fourth wall during them kills any and all tension during the scene?"
"At the same time though," another responded, "This is fanfiction; as he's neither paid nor beholden to editors, it's the perfect medium to play around with."
"Moving on," the lady said, "So long as you continue to serve, you will all one day enjoy complete freedom."
The kids were young, they'd spent the last three or four years of their lives completely jacked up on apathy, but they weren't stupid, freedom was merely a lie.
"I can see your disbelief," she said amusedly, "But had I told you that you would wake up on beds, be given showers, and dressed in such fine attire, would you have believed me? Alas, you have witnessed it yourself, so have a little faith why don't you?"
"You see, Campis Inquinavi, the mining colony we're all in is outside the kingdoms. What that means is that we're all very susceptible to attacks from the creatures of Grimm, some of you may not be all that familiar with them, but rest assured they're the worst thing you will ever meet.
Consequently, we need a constant inflow of soldiers who can defend this very profitable SDC enterprise. While it may be more reliable to train people using Huntsman Academies, it is much more expensive and takes at least four years, but with you little darlings, everything is so much easier."
Adam got so little out of that explanation that he felt it was more for the benefit of the readers than anything else. He understood that he was a slave though, and that he only needed to be subservient to earn his freedom.
Whatever that was.
xXx
"I've been waiting for you," Adam had wanted to be alone, but it clearly wasn't going to happen though, Pyrrha's statement just now was all the proof needed.
"And what can I do for you, Pyrrha?" he said, lacing his statement with more sarcasm than was healthy.
"Why did you throw the match earlier?"
"That's an interesting way to describe my complete and utter loss to the Invincible Girl."
Not to mention that it didn't answer his question.
"Don't call me that," the redhead responded tensely.
"I apologise," he said mildly, while eyeing an escape route, "But I don't know what to tell you regarding our duel."
Pyrrha was confused at Adam's attitude; she had been under the impression that they were on friendly terms, put she could clearly hear hints of contempt as he spoke.
Truthfully, the stories of Adam's power weren't what had inspired her to duel with him. She had already gotten an idea of his strength from their brief foray with the Spider-Droid. It was the stories of his leadership that made her want the matchup so desperately.
Just recently, she had had the responsibilities of leadership cast upon her despite her perspective of herself being tenuous. She had wanted someone respected for his leadership to be an opponent. What she expected from the interaction she couldn't herself say, but she knew that it would mean... something.
Instead, instead her resolve had been disrespected; she had been treated like some sort of joke.
"You know, Ruby won't stop talking about you," Pyrrha said, her anger and disappointment "That entire team seems to think so highly of you. None of them mentioned that you were a coward though."
The ex-White Fang leader who had been looking for a way to leave, entirely disinterested in the drama of Mistral's pride, had an immediate reaction to her last line.
Without losing a second, he threw a gloved fist at her that cut through the wind as it sailed directly at her face.
The battle prodigy was of course able to easily block him. The pair-despite Adam's eyes being closed- clashed looks, their gazes locked for sixty-second moments.
"I see," Adam said smugly before dropping his fist, "Pyrrha Nikos, the pride of Mistral, winner of the Mistral something or other four times in a row, a Peter Pumpkin cereal advocate... You know that cereal really isn't healthy for you."
"Get to your point," she said irritably, expecting him to challenge her to a fight, although she wasn't looking forward to a friendly match this time, she planned fully on kicking his ass.
"That was a quote from the Argus Digest, praising Mistral's brightest star," Adam said as he moved up closer to her, his voice becoming somehow more and patronising, "But they failed to mention this bad habit of yours."
"What are y-"
"I noticed it first in the Emerald Forest," he interrupted, and smirked on seeing her flinch in response, "Your fight against the Deathstalker, a formidable foe, but hardly strong enough to bother someone with your achievements."
What's he talking about?
The redhead was genuinely confused as to what he meant.
"Bad habit"? Was he simply messing with her?
"I had wondered if the praise that constantly adorned your name was merely hyperbole. Our fight against the Spider-Droid proved that that wasn't the case. You were every bit as competent as you were given credit for."
"Why did you need the help of your 'Was the praise given to you just hyperbole?' I wondered. But
then we got to fight against that Spider Droid together and I concluded that that wasn't the case."
"Why were you able to do so well against the Spider Droid, but so hopeless against a DeathStalker? The answer was easy enough to get."
He paused, drawing his answer out dramatically.
"You call me a coward," he said, "Coming from a liar like you that really hurts."
"No need to interrupt yet, I'll explain... How do I say this? It's best to frame it as a question," he said while stroking his chin, "You could have taken that Deathstalker down by yourself, but you didn't, why?"
Adam had a really nasty streak; he had never let anyone get away with offending him. Perhaps momentarily, but he went to ridiculous lengths to avenge his ego if he had perceived that it had been damaged.
Luckily, he didn't often feel offended. Mostly, he saw it as beneath to carry out retribution on people he saw as worthy. It seemed as though the Invincible Girl cleared this requirement and after him not only losing to her embarrassingly (although by his own design) but also her current challenge, he wanted to try his best to avenge his ego.
"I-I don't understand what you mean," she responded in confusion. She could've taken it down; she wasn't injured that day, she wasn't distracted or overwhelmed, so why couldn- didn't she.
"You don't? Okay then, how did you feel when you beat the Grimm with your teammates?"
"This is stupid," Pyrrha said as she pushed past Adam, "You're just trying to get under my skin."
"Trying and succeeding," he said with a smile as the warrior girl retreated for him.
Fuck I'm petty.
He said to himself, acknowledging his nature before walking in the opposite direction
"She isn't wrong though," he whispered.
xXx
"Why do you think we didn't help him?" a girl with short brown hair and a pair of mouse ears asked as she looked at Adam. She was referring to the slave whose corpse was being dragged away by a supervisor, the same slave the two had watched get beaten until he became said corpse.
"'Cause we're slaves too," Adam said back, pulling her by the arm away from the scene to avoid trouble, "And we're smart enough not to forget that."
"Doesn't it bother you... watching something like that?" she whispered, angry at something, "I couldn't sleep for days last time."
"You didn't do anything wrong," he said irritably in return.
Why was she talking about this now? They'd been watching this for the over a year they'd been 'promoted', she had always expressed her disgust for it, but she was asking obvious questions, questions that no slave liked to be asked.
"Do you have nightmares about it?"
Adam shot a glance at her as though he found her question ridiculous; he didn't have dreams, nightmare or otherwise. His sleep was meant for just that-sleep. It wasn't his place to consider lives that he had no right to consider, he was a slave, the only thing he did was what he was told.
"You should face problems you can fix, worrying about people who are no worse off than you are is ridiculous."
"It's because we're in the same situation that it's so scary; we could be next."
Adam flinched at her statement , he had of course long considered this, but hearing it from her was a little shocking.
"You aren't wrong," he responded, looking away from her, "Let's go see the old man, someone that ugly is bound to chase the nightmares away."
She consented, nodding her head and following his lead.
It was hard to believe that it was more than a year since they first slept on a real mattress, since they were 'promoted' to higher slaves. A clean bed, a study desk, classes between shifts, food that tasted, it didn't always taste good, but it tasted. It was amazing to even imagine that they were a part of this sort of life.
The two faunus ascended from the mines and into the town that rested above it. This town held all the mines 'employees' from the lowest of slaves to the senior supervisors. They were entitled to this only because it was given to them, it was their responsibility to never forget who owned them and let that direct their every action.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the entrance of a forge, the only one in the town.
"Hey, old man," Adam said as he moved into the smithy, "Dead yet?"
His crass question earned him small punch from Sheena and a horseshoe to his face from within the shack.
"Seems not."
"Of course not," said an old man, who limped out of the back of the smithy to meet the two 'brats' at the door, "I'll outlive both of you."
Despite his limp, his voice and basically everything about him, the man was actually not that old; he was in his 40's at the latest. That didn't stop his being known as the old man all around the settlement, must have been due to his great personality.
"Of course, sir," Sheena said politely, as her gaze locked unto a scrap of metal in a corner, "Is that...?"
"Yup," the Old Man said proudly, as he brought it close to her, "It's a piece of Atlesian pyrrhotite, the purest sample one can find."
Sheena's eyes turned into saucers in glee as both of them talked away. Adam simply took a step outside the shop while they conversed; he had no idea what they were talking about. Sheena was very knowledgeable, only as old as Adam, but she knew more than even the older slaves.
That was part of the only reason the two interacted; he followed her everywhere because it was dangerous to move about the mines alone, especially for a girl, he wouldn't be too much of a help, he was a ten year-old, but he always had a sword strapped to his waist, so he was a deterrent nonetheless. Even the 'black suits' would think twice so long as there was a pair together.
In exchange, she would tell him something new every night, something strange, something exotic, something he'd probably never get to see.
A lot of what she told him was written in books in the small library in the centre of the settlement, but he needed to train constantly or he'd really never get to see any of them in person. Plus, his reading wasn't all that good.
Besides, Sheena told the stories better than any books could.
"Move!" one of the older slaves said as he rushed past and pushed Adam to the ground. The red-haired faunus' hand move instantly to his blade hilt, ready to start a fight. His eyes were blood-red.
"Adam!" Sheena called out, knocking him back into his senses. This was the second part of their arrangement; she was there to make sure that Adam didn't do anything stupid.
The boy seemed to possess the stereotypical bull's rage, he had never known before, because the apathy kept him under control, but without it he needed something else, because insubordination would not be tolerated.
They were still slaves, valuable ones, but slaves nonetheless, and there would be no hesitation to toss them out if they ever forgot this fact. That was where Sheena came in; her Semblance Suggestion was a vocal one that was able to create suggestions as the name... suggested.
So using a keyword, she could influence another to a particular action. In Adam's case, she only needed to call his name to calm him down.
"Thanks," he said as he got up to his feet, "...Again."
"No problem," she said, "Will you be okay by yourself? I need to go get something alone."
This had been happening of recent, her leaving without any explanation by herself. He was naturally helpless to complain, although the looks he gave her should have sent the message clearly enough. She was free to do what she wanted he couldn't as well force her to be protected.
"When will you be back?" he asked in reservation.
"Soon," she answered, more vaguely than was fair, but Adam simply shrugged it off, she wouldn't tell him more if he pressed her, he only hoped that she wouldn't do something stupid.
"The little lady's shook," came the old man from within the smithy after she had gone, "What happened?"
"Saw someone get killed," he responded unworriedly, "Probably just buck-breaking."
Buckbreaking.
Few words have ever embodied the wickedness of man like that pair; slaves needed to be reminded, needed to be reminded that they were slaves, that they were less than men, that they were property and that their only purpose was to carry out whatever task they were given.
How did you remind them of that though? How did you remind them that they were nothing? Well, you showed them.
Supervisors picked slaves at random and tortured and degraded them, it didn't matter if the slave had done anything wrong or not.
Some supervisors seemed to enjoy it, some were sympathetic, some didn't care, they were just property, it didn't matter.
"I see," the old man said sadly, "What a shame."
"Lemme guess, you think that I should have done something too?"
The old man didn't answer for a while, instead, he took a seat and pulled out his pipe and took a short drag.
"What do you think the source of all evil is?"
"Don't really believe in that," Adam said, he knew the word, but it was one of the more complicated ones, it had so many different meanings, "Don't understand it well enough to say...Creatures of Grimm? Bad people, maybe?"
"Evil comes from complacency, when we don't actively fight darkness, it spreads and consumes and breeds evil. It's like a fire."
"What about you? You've been here a lot longer than I've been, why haven't you fought back."
A painful but wide-toothed smile was the response the boy was given.
"Why do you think I walk with a limp?"
"This is exactly why I don't react. You're lucky, at least you're still alive. That doesn't mean I'm risking my hide to be some sort of performative hero. Especially 'cause none of them would do the same for me."
"You and the lady won't be together for long," the old man said as he retreated into his shop, "She sees the world much differently than you do, she should, she's seen a whole lot more of it than you have."
Adam gave no response to that, instead turning his head and waiting for the Sun to set.
xXx
"You didn't have to wait for me," Sheena said on seeing Adam at the entrance of the smithy.
"If you insist," he said as he rose to his feet, "Finish whatever you were doing?"
"Uh, yeah," she responded nervously, "Sorry for keeping you waiting."
"The old man wanted me to give you something," he said as he pulled something out from his pocket.
"Are you kidding?" she said as she saw the bright red pyrrhotite sample he had retrieved from his pocket.
"What does it do?" he asked, "Other than glow that is."
"I'll show you once we get inside," she said as she led him back to the slave quarters.
"Clasp it in your hands," she said excitedly, as soon as they entered his room, "Now pour your Aura into, only a little, slowly if not it'll be problematic."
Her directive earned her a cocked eyebrow from the red-haired boy, but he did as she said anyway.
Suddenly, the mineral's glow bathed the entire room.
"Wow!" Adam said, wide-eyed.
"That's not all," she said as she placed her hands under his. There was a gentle hum in the air, small pieces of metal in the room started moving slightly and the two children's hair stood on end and waved almost like they were underwater.
"It's kind of romantic, don't you think?" Sheena asked.
Romantic?
He wasn't sure what the word meant, but he couldn't ask her, it might ruin the mood, not to mention he never asked her for more than one thing every night.
"Yeah," he said, hoping she couldn't tell that he didn't know the word, even though she always did.
"Adam," she said silently, "Do you want to kiss me?"
Now he knew that he knew what this word meant, if only his brain hadn't shut down. She took his silence as an answer, and leaned in towards his face, her hair waving into his, meeting before their lips did.
It was over within a second.
He couldn't find a single word to explain what he felt in that moment. Although that may have been because of his limited vocabulary to be honest.
"By the way," she whispered into his ear, "This is what 'romantic' means."
xXx
"I'm sorry for that," Sheena said as he escorted her to her room.
Adam had been struck dumb since the kiss, if that was what it was called, he couldn't remember what the word meant for the life of him.
"It's okay," he said, not wanting her to feel too uncomfortable, "I mean, it's... better than okay."
He was scratching his head in a nervous gesture, she didn't know he had nervous gestures, he didn't know that he had nervous gestures. It was all so strange.
"See you tomorrow," he said as she walked into her room.
She didn't respond, it was strange, but so was the entire night, so he just shrugged it off and went to sleep.
xXx
At least he tried to; he just couldn't remember what a 'kiss' was.
He finally rose from his bed, determined to find out. He slinked out of his room and went towards the library, it was a good thing that it was always unlocked.
He rushed in, scanning the sections for a dictionary. Even though he wasn't very literate, Sheena had ensured that he could use one, and armed with the pronunciation of the word, it only took him several minutes to find it.
It read: "To touch with the lips or press the lips against, usually to express love or affection or passion, or as part of a greeting."
So, they had certainly kissed, but what did that mean? He checked another dictionary, it had nearly the exact same definition, but the sentence attached to the definition read: "Kisses are the messengers of love and tenderness."
Did that mean that she loved him? Did he love her? Did they love each other?
"Love: an intense feeling of affection and care towards another person," he whispered to himself, at least he could remember what that meant. Since they kissed, that meant that they loved each other and that meant... He had no idea what that meant.
But he felt that he had to find out, even if he spent the whole time there.
xXx
"Are you okay?" Blake asked, managing to locate her former partner, who was seated in the school garden, caught up in his reverie.
"Why did you join?" Adam asked, knowing that she'd understand what he meant.
"You already know I was born into it," she said, "It seemed like the right thing to do. Having a part in liberating your entire race... sounds like the stuff superheroes do doesn't it?"
"Why did you leave then?" he asked, not answering her question.
"Before you came, we weren't making an impact," Blake said, "...Once you did, we did make an impact, but with the blood of others. It was like no matter what we did, we always got it wrong."
"And now? Are you going to give up because your other attempts failed?"
"Never," she responded quickly, "...But I don't know what to do, to be honest. For now, I'm just here to keep my head low, and figure out my next move. I wasn't fit to be a soldier, not in that kind of war. Who knows what I'll find out about myself?"
"Interesting," he said as he rose from his seat, "Thank you for that."
"Any reason for the query?" she asked as she kept pace with him.
"I've been having doubts of my own. You helped me understand something."
"And that is?"
"That I don't understand," he said with a small chuckle, "And that for the first time, I'm in a place where I can take time to understand, so I'm going to try my best to do so."
Actually, he had discovered something similar with his past self and his former partner; complacency, just like the old man said.
She was here waiting while there was a fight going on, same as he had been before that day; before he had been woken up.
xXx
The sound of bells woke up the whole of Campis Inquinavi.
Bells were never good.
All the slaves descended into the mines, ready to do whatever was required of them.
"Welcome all!" shouted Cerise, the most senior supervisor of Campis, Adam had hardly seen her since she introduced them into their new roles about a year ago, if she was here, then it was certainly something bad.
"You may not all know this," she continued, "But some of you have been stealing supplies."
Adam's eyes started searching for Sheena urgently; he had a terrible feeling about all of this.
"Now, don't get me wrong; I understand, sometimes the rations aren't enough, your friend needs medicine, etcetera. I'd do exactly the same thing..."
Her pause made Adam realise that he was holding his breath, and he was aware that everyone else here was doing the same also.
"But, you know, that's the problem; you're slaves, you don't get to make the decisions that I do. You don't have the right to put you needs or the needs of your friends or any other person's needs above mine. Men get choices, slaves take orders."
A small group of faunus were taken up to the stage that Cerise was on. Unsurprisingly, Sheena was part of that group.
Adam knew what was coming; he had seen it happen time and time again.
Sheena was going to be broken.
Above all else, Adam cared for his own life, he couldn't risk it for her when nothing would be yielded from it and yet, he needed to know; he needed to know what she meant by that kiss.
Even during all this, his curiosity still burned, it was a terrible itch, Sheena was the only one who could scratch it, she would be dead or broken if he did nothing now, she would most likely still die if he did do something, both of them would.
But, maybe he could get the answer before that happened.
He neglected to ask himself if the answer was worth it, he just pulled a throwing dagger from his belt, and threw it at Helena.
Since she had placed the younger slaves at the front to 'educate' them better, it was a clear shot.
That didn't mean it was going to work.
"Thanks, babe," Helena said to a tall man that caught the blade midair, "You know my weakness is small, low-trajectory knives."
Adam jumped immediately after the blade, and struck the man square on the face, but he was an adult with a strong Aura and Adam was a kid with a not so strong Aura, so the lack of effect was unsurprising.
Adam was thrown away by a slap from the man, the slaves moved to restrain him, but the man ordered them to move aside, Adam's lesson was going to be personal.
It definitely would have been if the boy hadn't been knocked silly by that single blow. He couldn't stand, but he really wanted his answer, so he did, or tried to and collapsed once more.
Damn it! At this rate...
His body was being rained on by a flurry of kicks and he really wished that his sword was a shield, because most of the blows missed or glanced it.
He was too determined to lose, but he was losing either way.
He just really wanted his answer, and his Aura was reacting to it, while it had been whittling away slowly at first, it suddeny started to grow with each hit.
Suddenly, the growing Aura burst out in a red wave, pushing back the man attacking him and others in close proximity.
"Sheena," he whispered as he somehow got to his feet before falling back down and passing out.
xXx
"What's got you thinking so much?"
The question came from Blake who was walking him back to his room after their short chat.
"I couldn't say for... sure," the pause in his sentence was as a result of seeing Pyrrha Nikos, for the third time too many today.
Was she stalking him?
"Could both of us talk alone?"
"I'd really rather not," he said until Blake grabbed him by the ear and pushed him toward her.
She smiled at him and waved before walking back to her own dorm room.
An awkward silence settled between the two redheads, he stared at her from behind his mask.
She really reminds me of her, he thought, he felt that he had been repressing the thoughts, but he saw it more and more with every meeting. She had the same innocent eyes, the same self-righteousness, the same carelessness.
Perhaps that's why he was so aggressive against her.
"You asked me how I felt after we defeated the Deathstalker," Pyrrha said to Adam.
"Actually, I was just venting then, so there's no need to bother yourself with what I said."
"You're a great leader," she said, "If you believe what team SYBR says. I want to be something like that, and a certain old man brought it to my attention that the only way to do that is to tackle my flaws. Please, help me do that."
Adam rolled his eyes behind his mask, but still decided to help her.
"You felt good after defeating the DeathStalker with your friends, you felt like you were part of a real team," Adam started, "However, whether you did it consciously or not, you held back against the DeathStalker, allowing your friends to chip in and consequently making them feel as though you weren't some unapproachable demigod. You didn't want to scare them off with your excellence, so you nerfed yourself, so to speak so that you would accept you."
"Don't get me wrong," Adam continued, "As a leader, you're going to have to nerf yourself a couple times to make your team look better or to allow them do more, but your intention wasn't teamwork, you didn't give your best, and one of your friends could've gotten hurt just because you wanted to fit in."
"Thank you," she said laboriously, it wasn't easy to learn dark truths about one's self, "What about the other thing? You said that my reaction earlier confirmed something for you, what is that?"
"Nothing important," he said, "I'm going to keep that to myself."
"Can't convince otherwise?"
He shook his head in response.
"Sorry for calling you a coward," she said apologetically.
"Don't be," he answered back, "Few words have been spoken that were as true. I've been a coward for a long time."
xXx
He woke up in a nice, furnished office, at least it was nice until his gaze locked unto the Senior
Supervisor, Helena. "Adam," she said with a cruel smile, "Let me explain what is happening. During your attempt to... I'm not sure, take out everyone in the mines, then escape right into the arms of the Grimm, I guess. You exhibited what seems to be your Semblance. I've explained this before, a slave with Aura is really valuable, but a slave with a Semblance is... well, more valuable than that. That is why you're still alive."
"Could I talk with Sheena?" he asked politely after making sure she was done.
"Who?"
"She's one of the people you were going to punish this morning," Adam said.
"How cute," Helena mocked, as she grabbed a fistful of bright red hair and tugged, "But I've explained this to you before, slaves don't get requests."
"But they do get opportunities," she continued, after letting his hair go, "You have an opportunity to increase your status and be on the fast track to freedom. The girl is dead by the way, all of them are."
Such was the life of a slave, so inconsequential that mentioning that a whole group of them were killed didn't warrant being said in another breath.
Adam was shocked, but that much was to be expected, he didn't understand why he imagined that they would not be punished after his unsuccessful breakout attempt.
His temper didn't flare like it usually did, there wasn't any rage, but whatever it is that he was feeling was much worse, in his anger, he always jumped forward not caring whether he'd win or not, just wanting to get his hands on whoever was in front of him.
This time, he was going to win, everyone here, everything was going to burn.
"My only purpose is to be at your disposal," he said wearily, exhausted from everything that had happened.
"Good," she said, "There is a punishment attached to your insubordination, follow Nikolai here and that will be all for today."
Adam followed resignedly, whatever punishment he was to face, he was now an asset, it would be terrible, but he'd live, he wouldn't be broken.
xXx
"Hey, kid," said the old man as he walked towards Adam who lay on his bed, on eye covered in a bandage, "How're you holding up?"
"I was just branded to remind me that I am nothing but property."
"I'm sorry," he responded, not sure what else to say. "Before Sheena... left us, she wanted me to give you this," he pulled out that red sample of pyrrhotite the two were with last night, "She said that she thought you were brave a-"
"Brave: Ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage," the bull faunus repeated this sentence a few times, the old man actually thought that he was in shock or something for a while and wondered whether to leave him be for a while.
"No matter how many times I repeat it," he said, "I can't see myself being 'brave'. I've been a coward for a long time, I'm not going to stop anytime soon."
"What? But, bu-"
This was supposed to be the moment when Adam decided that he would fight for equality for his people, that he would never allow the same fates that befell Sheena and him to befall anyone else.
"But look where my cowardice got me right?" he said pointing at his bandaged eye, "This is supposed be a lesson right? Engineered by some god or other, to teach me the error of my ways... But I'm too pissed off to even care, I don't care enough to acknowledge this lesson. I have other plans."
"Revenge?"
"Slaves aren't permitted revenge. Haven't you been paying attention, old man?"
"And by the way," he said as he threw the sample of pyrrhotite back at the man, "Don't need the memento... I won't ever forget any of this."
"You know," the old man said as he left, "The little lady would be sad seeing you like this."
"It didn't bother her enough to stay. That means she doesn't get to complain." This is when he was supposed to become a hero, but that didn't matter to him, why should he care about something like that?
He paid for his complacency, the scar on his face and the hole in his heart were the evidence, the only thing left was to make sure that everyone else paid for theirs too.
That was Adam, he had no answer, no friends, no understanding, but he had a purpose, a mission.
It was as hollow and base as missions got, but it was a mission nonetheless.