Summary: Adam's fogged up memory clears up a little more as he rediscovers himself a little more.

There's a mystery behind the White Fang's ability to stay hidden despite Beacon's best efforts.

And the tension and distrust between Weiss and Blake grow deeper than ever.

Note: A little more world building plus Adam's backstory and some mystery surrounding the White Fang.

Monday morning.

Team SYBR were back in school, enduring a Grimm Studies class but worried about Adam.

The previous night, he had shown up out of the blue and helped them against the White Fang, but in the course of the battle, he was struck down by a blast from the girl that had been with them, Penny, and he remained missing as far as they knew.

Damn it, Weiss thought to herself, This is all my fault.

She had lost her cool against the General and allowed her teammates attack on their own without any coordination. Had she been cooler, this wouldn't have happened. That's what she told herself at least.

"The soul," Professor Port said to his class, as he wrote down the words on the board.

"For the most part, we've discussed ways to combat the Grimm, but today, we're going to do something a little different."

"We're going to discuss the possible origins of the Creatures and one of the more globally accepted, although still axiomatic, beliefs in the discussion surrounding these beasts.

"The point which I'm referring to is the theorised connection between the soul and the Creatures of Grimm... Could anyone help us to expand on this point?"

"Many believe that the Grimm's drive to attack people comes from their souls, or rather, their lack of one," Pyrrha Nikos said brightly, managing to look perfect even though they had all spent the night looking for their classmates, "Every creature has a soul, though they do differ; plants have a vegetative soul, which gives them life, animals a sensitive soul, which gives them intelligence and instinct and man has a spiritual soul, which is believed to be the source of our Aura and Semblances."

"Grimm Creatures however have what is known as an anti-soul, although lower academies simply say that they have none at all."

"Very apt, Miss Nikos," the professor responded happily, "To the rest of the class, her answer is a summary of The Soul Theory put forth by Jastor Gold, a scientist who I think was a little... quirky, but still has an idea worth exploring.

"An anti-soul is named so because it is believed that they are driven towards the living by a soul-like existence that is attracted to its opposite in a spiritual soul. This sufficiently explains why Grimm are only interested in man and often ignore animals, reports have even claimed to have observed commensal behaviour between the two."

"The verification of this theory has proven rather impossible due to the difficulties in examining the creatures of Grimm and the fact that a soul is a rather intangible concept, one that many scientists still reject the existence of. However, those points are irrelevant for our purposes, as what we're here to do is understand the Creatures, after all, half of the fear is in the mystery."

xXx

Adam's eyes opened slightly, his damaged eye seeing only red, the only problem was that his undamaged eye was seeing the same thing. His vision was entirely occupied by a red mist, it had been a while, but it was familiar.

xXx

The twelve-year-old Adam laid on the floor a similar red vision dancing before his eyes through the stupor he was in.

What happened? The boy thought to himself.

Suddenly, the memories came flooding back to him; everything had gone according to plan, the apathy supply was sabotaged, the slaves had started rebelling, and…

xXx

Adam snuck down into the tunnels, between the ongoing chaos and the fact that he had spent most of the last few days running the simulation of this moment in his head; he was able to arrive at the tunnel entrance quickly.

The boy stared at the door and psyched himself into moving forward, he was prepared, he was ready to take his vengeance. He rushed in, sprinting through the tunnels as quickly as his bull blood would allow him and arriving before the door, clenching the hilt of his new blade, Nerium Thorn, in his hand as he readied his Semblance.

Moonslice allowed him to convert energy into Aura through whatever weapon he was using, from kinetic energy or impacts from blasts, he was able to absorb them and convert them into Aura for his own attacks. The boy raised his blade that had stored energy from earlier and raised his blade, the weapon burning with his crimson Aura as he struck the vault door.

The result was a vault door with hardly a scratch on it.

Nanto alloy, the very one the door was made with, was a valuable and extremely durable metal that was impossible to break through without a powerful Semblance or mighty ammunition. Dealing with its durability was hard enough, but its most valuable attribute was its ability to store, absorb and release large amounts of kinetic energy once hit.

That was the case for most attacks, but Adam's Moonslice worked with a similar mechanism; he was able to store the energy and send it back at his target. Therefore, even though the Nanto door would send his attack back with greater force, he could absorb the rebound and deliver an even greater force. Just like rallying in tennis, this would go on until one side gave in.

That was the plan.

That was the plan but for some reason, Adam simply stood there after his first attack, his hands shaking with... fear?

After all this he was scared?

After all the manipulation, hatred, struggles, he was backing down?

"Adam!"

The bull faunus raised his head slowly to see that the person who called him was none other than Ethan, he was looking up at him and holding his hand. He seemed to have called him more than once.

"Are you okay? The uproar is dying down, but they could still use your help, let's go."

Adam showed no resistance, he allowed himself to be pulled along by the child's soft hands, dragging his feet across the stone floors as though in a stupor.

All that talk about revenge being my duty, all the planning and manipulation, all of this… just so that I could back out at the last second.

All that... what a fucking joke! I'm... not strong enough, it's exactly like last time.

He suddenly stopped, his one eye scanned the boy before him, and then the vault door behind him.

He pulled his arm free suddenly, running back towards the door and pulling Nerium Thorn out once more, the blade invisible beneath the mass of burning red Aura that virtually screamed in rage. Everyone in the town that was even slightly Aura-sensitive could feel it, even the Grimm Creatures who had been unreactive in their cells started getting excited, clawing at the source of that rage.

Adam himself felt caught up in their beastly furore, feeling a strange euphoria from their excitement and bloodlust.

Suddenly, a powerful roar shot through the tunnels, it was alike to a cold bucket of water. It shocked Adam out of his Frenzy, sobriety descending on him in merely a second, even the Creatures quieted down.

That very second, Adam grabbed Ethan by the waist and began to sprint out of the tunnels. There was a large boom behind the Faunus as he ran, but he didn't turn around to see what it was, as though afraid he'd turn into a pillar of salt if he did.

Seconds later, he was flying through the air, unsure what had occurred, his mind still in flight and flight mode, mid-sail, his vision was covered in red, and he closed his eyes.

xXx

Presently, Adam was trudging towards Beacon Academy, the clothes he had been wearing, transformed into rags and drawing gazes wherever he went.

A few minutes later, he was in Ozpin's office, forgetting his manners and taking a sofa there to himself.

"I'm sure that you were aware of the shipment that the White Fang had commandeered beforehand," Glynda said sternly, "The least that you could have done was inform us earlier."

"Because the VPD are renowned for their competence," Adam responded testily, "They've failed to capture the Fang on every occasion. Besides, letting them have the shipment and following them to their new base was a more rewarding plan of action."

"It would have worked perfectly if not for your students messing everything up," he said in annoyance, "Still, I've confirmed that both Generals Banesaw and Sheena are in Vale, and they seem to be here to stay."

"Sheena and Banesaw?" both Principal and Vice asked simultaneously, although the latter's voice carried a hint of panic.

"My former co-generals," Adam responded, "She's known as Red Rain in Atlas, he isn't known as anything outside Menagerie. Many of us actually believe that he's dead, he's that careful. Her Semblance allows her to squeeze into the smallest spaces, she can go places even cockroaches can't, he doesn't have a Semblance that I'm aware of."

"This information would have been just as welcome earlier," Glynda said with a scowl.

"The Atlas military has been dealing with her for months, I assumed that you already had information on her, and like I said, he's basically a ghost," Adam said, before pausing for a few seconds, "That's the reason that comes to mind, but it's possible that I still have a bias towards the Fang."

"Did you find out anything else?"

"This is very likely their last Dust raid," he said, "All the bases that I raided were getting ready to move, they had all been ordered to leave the heart of the city. They weren't told where they'd be going though. I was hoping to tail them following the offloading of the shipment. As you know, your students, as well as two others interfered and nearly got themselves killed."

"Yes," Ozpin said, "We're thankful for your help in the matter."

"Hey," he said as he stood up from the sofa, "I'm the class rep, so that's part of my job already."

"Get some rest, Mr. Taurus," Ozpin said, "We have a lot more work to do."

Shortly after he left, Qrow walked out from the shadows of the office.

"Were you able to find anything?"

"No," he said frustration, looking down in contemplation.

"What's the matter?"

"The ships they used to move the Dust, I should have been able to track them. There's only one thing that would normally be able to hide a target that big from me."

"Magic," Glynda whispered.

xXx

Meanwhile, in Vale's Infinity Mall, Sun Wukong was in big trouble.

The monkey faunus sat on a bench behind the bars of the 'jail cell' there, waiting for the cops to come pick him up after he had been caught trying to steal something.

"Get out!" shouted a member of mall security as he opened the cell door.

It was the same one who had caught him. Before this, Sun was under the impression that all mall cops were fat, doughnut-eating sloths, however this one was as alert as an owl and had grabbed the almost professional thief before he could even take a bite of his ill-gotten fruit.

"I don't need to tell you that if I ever catch him again, I'll turn him over to the cops," the security man said to an old man who was standing outside the cell.

"Of course sir, I apologize for the trouble," the geezer said before turning to Sun, "Let's go boy."

Sun was confident of two things; one was that he had never met this person before in his life, and the second was that although he would use this opportunity for liberation, he was going to be in trouble in he stayed around this guy. There was nothing like a free meal and he wasn't comfortable with the price that this was likely to carry.

Sun needn't have worried about any ulterior motive from the man though as immediately they exited the mall, he began to walk away from the faunus youth.

This is usually the part where they ask for unreasonable methods of compensation for the help, he thought, genuinely confused.

Not only was the man not asking for anything, but his body language even said that he wanted nothing to do with Wukong. In fact, if he didn't know any better, he'd say the person had disdain for him.

Nah, what's there to disdain? A good looking, upstanding fellow like me?

"Hey!" a lady from across the street alongside her companions called towards Sun.

So they're behind it, he thought as he walked towards them, They must have given the geezer money to spring me.

On closer inspection, he noticed that the group was made up of faunus, Sun didn't like interacting with faunus; they were usually trouble. Blake was an exceptions to his rule, and she proved to lead to even more trouble than most.

"What do you want?" Sun asked, dispensing with his usual nonchalance when discussing with them.

"No need to be like that," one of the lady's companions, a lad with a rat's tail said coaxingly, "We simply want to talk."

"Start talking then."

"It's not exactly convenient to discuss in the open," the rat faunus said, seemingly unperturbed by Sun's aversion to him, "I'm Tilling by the way."

"These are my friends," he added, turning to his two companions, a tall man and another, the one who had called for him earlier, a freckled girl who strangely had both dog ears and a fox tail, "We work for Mig Royston."

The last statement seemed to capture Sun's attention, and he gave Tilling a look that asked for a form of verification, Tilling simply nodded as he beckoned the boy to follow them.

xXx

"Do you think it was a little harsh leaving Nora alone?" Pyrrha asked guiltily to Ren as the two went to their dorms to change.

"She fell asleep during Mrs. Goodwitch's class, her fate was already sealed."

"But don't you think that we should have woken her up rather than draw moustaches on her face?"

"Perhaps," Ren said, clearly not disturbed, although Nora would let him have it later.

"Either way," he said, changing the topic, "I noticed that you're quite knowledgeable when it comes to that Soul Theory stuff, a hobby of yours?"

"Not really," she answered, "It's just because most of the theories are based off Lunarist teachings, and you have to be knowledgeable about those if not they kick you out."

"That last part was a joke," she added nervously after noticing Ren's lack of response, "You aren't actually kicked out if you aren't familiar with the doctrine."

"Oh," Ren said, "You're a Lunarist? It wasn't ever brought up in any of the tournaments or other stuff I've seen you on."

"You've watched my old fights?" she asked, feeling embarrassed for some reason.

Ren was unsure how to react to that though, and decided that to ignore the question.

"Either way," Ren asked, "Is Adam still missing?"

"Yeah," Pyrrha responded sadly, "The police arrived before team SYBR could find him, and they had all been detained before being sent back to campus, so they didn't have any opportunity to go back and search."

Ping.

"Speak of the devil," she said, looking at the notification she just got on her scroll, "Weiss wants us to help look for him after we're done with classes. We won't be allowed off campus till then."

Ren nodded, following her out.

Little did they know, the subject of their concern was asleep a few rooms away.

Adam had decided that he was going to take the day off, he was still exhausted from his weeks of 'hard work' and felt that he deserved it.

xXx

Adam woke up suddenly, shocked that he was alive.

He could tell that he was alive because his entire body was aching and he could smell smoke, making him wish that he wasn't. The smoke in addition to the sun shining in his now exposed, damaged eye irritated him to no end.

Wait a minute, he thought, I'm supposed to be underground. Why is the sun in my eyes?

He looked around to notice not only was he still underground, but the tunnels had been destroyed, something had broken through the ceiling of the tunnels.

"Adam," asked Ethan who seemed to be just waking up also, "What happened?"

The redhead wanted to know too, he turned around and saw that the vault door had been broken apart. This confirmed his fear that the Grimm had broken out as he was too terrified to make sure last time.

He made to stand up, but his right leg did not respond, he looked down and saw that his leg had been nicked. He had been asleep for some time, so his depleted Aura should have been revitalized, meaning that the wound on his calf should have been showing signs of closing up by now. Instead, there was no change at all.

After several attempts at stimulating his leg Adam was able to walk out the tunnel, assisted by Ethan.

The scene before them literally caused the two boys to collapse.

The entire landscape indescribable, certainly, in part, due to the fact that it had now been destroyed, but mostly due to the fact that the sheer number of corpses that covered the area obscured it.

Ethan immediately let go of Adam and ran towards what would have been his mother's cottage, desperately trying to avoid the cadavers in his path. Adam, who was almost as shocked, ran after the boy, limping as he tried to use Nerium to support his weight.

He approached to see that the boy was inspecting corpses one by one, overcoming his necrophobia much too quickly.

"What are you doing?" Adam asked coldly, his bloodshot eye staring into the boy.

"They're somewhere here!" he shouted back to Adam.

"You can't possibly know that," he responded, even colder than before, his eyes narrowing and observing Ethan more and more intensely.

"I can feel it," Ethan responded obstinately, resolving to completely drown Adam out from that point on.

Adam looked at the boy with something akin to pity for a few seconds before bending down and checking the corpses alongside him. Ethan was shocked, but he simply kept quiet and resolved to thank Adam properly later.

Adam had attributed his grabbing the boy on seeing that Grimm to instinct, he attributed his following him to the shock of the scene that had greeted them.

What did he attribute this to? He wondered. Perhaps it was pity, though it was more likely it was a deeply facinorous part of him, that took some sort of pleasure from giving this boy pointless hope.

xXx

Hours later, they were still making their way through the corpses, looking for something; they certainly were no longer searching for the boy's parents anymore, the time passed had made it apparent that they wouldn't find them anymore.

Ethan must have been looking for closure; perhaps he believed within himself that seeing their corpses would help him resolve what had happened in his heart.

Adam was looking for closure too; would his vengeance be complete without seeing the very corpses of his enemies? He wasn't sure; he had never taken revenge before.

"Let's stop," Adam said as he stood up.

"We c-"

"Haven't you noticed something strange?" he asked, cutting Ethan off, "The corpses have been here for hours, they've even began rotting..." Ethan was confused as to why Adam was stating the obvious, it didn't take the hours they dug through the cadavers to infer that much. Was he delirious?

"…And yet, there isn't a single fly."

Although he had tried to keep digging as Adam was talking, the realisation surprised him into stopping. That was right, not a single fly, or ant or vulture, here there were, at least a few thousand corpses, and none of the scavengers showed up. What was even more surprising was that despite this atmosphere of death, and the distress in the air, not a single Creature of Grimm had made an appearance.

"You may have not noticed," Adam said, "But your Aura has been chipping away all this while. It's probably due to that substance." The substance he was referring to was a sort of green moss-like one that now covered most of the corpses.

"The Grimm from before most likely has something to with this; everything living, even our Auras and the Grimm, if they count as being alive, avoid this place. We'll rest for now, we can continue tomorrow."

Ethan was clearly hesitant, but he couldn't deny the logic in his words. The boy had been in a type of frenzy, so even though he felt his steady exhaustion, he took no note of it, if the substance was eroding his Aura, he didn't want to imagine what would happen when he exhausted it.

At the same time, the 'moss' kept growing as time passed, overnight, it would definitely spread a lot more.

While Ethan contemplated this, he noticed that there was something wrong with Adam; the faunus' body was quivering, and his face was pale.

"This is nothing," Adam responded, "I have a small cache in the tunnels, since they're mostly intact, we can grab the supplies and leave… for now."

The last part was certainly added for Ethan's benefit, and so he decided to accept it, helping Adam, who despite his state was able to move much better than initially. The two made their way down the tunnels, and into a small cavity that Nigel, who was certainly a part of the sea of corpses, had told him about.

Immediately he opened the door, a figure burst out of the door, nearly throwing the two boys down. The figure that burst out was small, emaciated and certainly not human.

Its body was covered in a wrinkly fold of flesh that gave it a likeness to prunes, its eyes were a dirty green, and its mouth was… covered in chocolate? Adam was genuinely surprised at this, and tried looking at his cache, although he was already certain that the creature before him had already helped itself to most of the supplies.

As he looked at it more, he couldn't help but feel that he had seen it before. Just as his memory struck him however, he blacked out.

xXx

"That went as expected," said Tilling as he and his companions watched Sun walk away in the distance.

"Not as though we can expect much from scum like him," the girl with dog ears said as she spat on the ground, disgust clear from her Aura.

"Still," said another individual, clearly older than all his present company, "You can't expect him to have a different view, especially in Vale where the White Fang have contradicted their own goals with a great deal of their actions."

"That's only because the Generals weren't here," she said, "That human, Torchwick overstepped his bounds, who knows how crazy he'd have gone if Perry wasn't there watching him. I doubt we'll have to worry about it after today though."

"Yeah," Tilling inputted, "Either way, we were able to get that over with sooner than expected, let's head for a café or something and have a good time. Haven't had much time to see the city at all with all the raids and thefts."

"We should report back immediately," the hybrid girl said in objection, unfortunately, all her companions ignored her as they made their way to the nearest café, forcing her to follow suit.

xXx

"Torchwick," came Banesaw's furious voice, "You have not been wise."

The sentence was punctuated by the man in question flying across the room of the warehouse they were in and into a few crates.

As Banesaw approached the fallen figure, two people jumped in front of him, protecting the man. The red and white duo somehow eyed Banesaw lazily and sternly at the same time.

"You don't want to do that again," said one of them, cocking her head to the side.

"And you don't want me to teach you why it's disrespectful to interrupt a conversation between two grown-ups," said Sheena, who had suddenly appeared between the two ladies, shocking them backwards towards Roman.

"Who'd have thought that Junior'd lend you his favourite bodyguards?"

"A lot is at stake," Banesaw added, "And without Neopolitan by his side, Roman is vulnerable… more so than usual."

"That's why it puzzles me that he'd do so many reckless things despite his weakness," the General continued as he approached the trio before him. The White Fang soldiers immediately readied their weapons in response to the hostility, most of them were trained on Banesaw and Sheena. Seeing as they were mostly new recruits who did not fully understand the dogma of the White Fang and were actually won over by the redhead fiend's charisma and charm, they could not be expected to honour their real superiors.

"Humph," the general scoffed condescendingly before letting out a roar that shook all the soldiers, some of them even dropped their weapons unconsciously.

"Now calm down people," Roman finally said, genuinely surprised by the strength behind the General's roar, "We got off on the wrong foot, earlier, why don't we kiss and make up?"

To this, Banesaw leaned in towards Roman, as though actually taking his words literally.

Instead of the scene that would have instantly created the Banewick ship, the general whispered into Roman's ear: "Your Semblance doesn't work on me, so be careful that I not lose my temper."

"Duly noted," Roman said sourly, his lips now constricted to a thin line.

"What do you think we are?" Banesaw roared, as though daring any of the soldiers he was addressing to answer his question, "Do you think we're just another cult? Another rebellious movement where you can all just come and make trouble and move on?"

"The White Fang is more than that. Much more than that, if you aren't disgusted by the way your own people are treated even in their own Kingdom and homes, the way companies exploit them, the way that their voices are ignored. If your blood doesn't boil when these people talk to you like an animal and treat you even worse, then walk away right now."

As if compelled, many of the White Fang members dropped their weapons and masks, and walked out of the warehouse. The only ones left were the few whose eyes were ignited, even behind their masks, when the general spoke, those that truly believed in the message that he spoke of.

"Talk about thinning the herd," Roman said with a scoff, not being able to hold his faunus joke in.

Nobody paid attention to him however as Banesaw was still speaking.

"From today on," he said, "The White Fang's Vale operations will be a completely different organisation."

Cheers erupted from the warehouse, although it surprisingly didn't draw any attention from anyone around.

xXx

Sometime after, the two Generals walked into a private room, leaving behind the revelry of the newly indoctrinated terrorists. As they moved, Sheena suddenly collapsed, her fall thankfully arrested by her tall companion.

"Thanks," she said after spending a minute or two to compose herself, "This is getting harder and harder somehow."

"You do great," Banesaw said gently, raising her back unto her feet.

"I know," she said, holding her hand out for a piece of chocolate that the bigger man obliged to giving her, "Know I said it already, but this was a lot easier the first time."

"You and I remember quite differently on that matter," he said simply as the two continued walking.

xXx

Adam was unconscious, his mind moving through a haze between reality and dreams, in manner that made Inception look tame.

He heard a loud sound, a chorus of some sort, he heard thousands of voices in what sounded like a cheer.

In a few seconds, it was evident that the sounds he heard were not cheers, they were screams and wails and moans.

Before him, stood thousands of corpses, each staring at the redhead with varied expressions.

Some asked questions, their sharp gazes peering into him to demand their answers. Some expressed their betrayal, fear and anger, their gazes enough to penetrate even Aura. Some just were, their expressions were beyond his understanding.

The gazes were all the members of Campis Inquinavi. They cursed at him, whispered to him, pleaded with him, their voices loud even though their lips remained sealed, their eyes shouting enough to shake the place.

Despite the cacophony, Adam's gaze was silent; he peered back at each and every one of them. His own gaze held nothing.

No apology.

No pity.

No guilt.

He may as well have been staring at a blank page.

"You're all dead," his gaze finally said, acknowledging those before him, "So why are you bothering me?"

"I must be dead too," he reasoned, accepting this reality, and ignoring the rage that swelled in the crowd before him.

Suddenly, a laugh broke out, it wasn't the kind of laughter that helped the atmosphere at all, it wasn't a warm guffaw that invited others to join in it, it was a crass chuckle that irritated and enraged everyone who heard it.

It came from a phantasm that looked much older than it actually was, next to it, another two phantasms covered their faces in embarrassment of the one next to them.

Despite this, he was able to lock gazes with the couple and he could hear them say: "Go."

Adam sat up suddenly, his eyes widening and his entire face covered in sweat. Before him, before he could gain his bearings, he fell onto the ground, although from where, he did not know.

"Are you okay?" asked Ethan, shouting for some reason.

Yeah, he said silently with a nod, before realizing that he could barely even hear his own thoughts.

He turned around and saw a phenomenon that was too bizarre for the author, with his rudimentary writing skills, to describe. Although it was still nightfall, the entire sky was bathed in different glows of light.

The source of the light was Campis Inquinavi, which was several kilometres behind and one huge blaze.

"We blew up the mines!" Ethan shouted once more.

"That way, even if I couldn't find them, they can at least rest in peace. And look…" he added pointing towards the source of the light, "These lights are too bright for them to lose their way, and they make great fireworks."

Adam looked at Ethan admiringly; he was somehow able to rally despite the traumas the day had carried for him. How he managed to blow up the mines, gather the supplies and carry him this far was something he… genuinely couldn't understand.

How did he do all of those things?

Adam was deeply suspicious of the on goings, and for the first time, he noticed that there was someone next to Ethan this whole time.

It was the same creature that jumped out of Adam's cache earlier, the same one, he noticed, that he had given chocolate to the previous night. Under the glow of the Dust explosion, he could see it perfectly, every wrinkle on its dry skin.

At first, it had looked somewhat scary, but now, with its dirty green eyes staring back at him, it simply looked disgusting.

"What is that?" Adam asked tersely as he rose to his feet, not feeling any of the pain or resistance he had felt before his 'nap'.

" She's a friend," Ethan said defensively trying to shield 'her' from Adam with his body.

"We're going to have to struggle for survival," Adam said as he stretched out for his blade, "We can't exactly afford to have friends."

"She's useful," Ethan insisted, "I was only able to fix up your leg because of her."

That wound was something that he had never experienced before, every attempt by his Aura to heal it was futile, and he got worse by the second. Yet, that 'girl' was able to heal it?

"How?" Adam asked suspiciously.

"Sh-" Ethan made to start explaining, but stopped when he saw the 'girl' pull on his clothes.

"I-it's a secret," he said, much to Adam's amusement, "But Sheena has to stay, I'm not going anywhere without her."

"Is that so?" Adam asked, his amusement very evident in his speech.

"Either way, he said as he began tying up the supplies together, "All of you have to pull your own weight. I'm not going to baby any of you."

Ethan was surprised, he had expected that he'd have to convince him more, and feared that it would escalate into conflict.

The three of them walked away from the myriad of reactions taking place behind them, the fire, steam, wind and every other type of Dust was combusted into the huge explosion behind them.

Somewhere in the midst of the explosion was Campis Inquinavi, somewhere there was the only home that most of them had known.

Still, the three walked away quickly, preparing to find another.

xXx

'Get up, it's lunchtime," Emerald called, in one of her few lines in the fanfic.

"How long have I been asleep for?" he asked, feeling as though he could use a lot more than he got.

"Wouldn't know," she said as she walked out the door, "Come on, Neo and Mercury are already there."

It was strange, Adam thought to himself as he sat up groggily in his bed, it was strange that he had followed them that day. After all, they were kids and they'd only slow him down.

Ethan knew the surrounding areas well, as he spent most of his days buried in books, and Sheena was apparently very good at healing.

That was the reason he used that day, the last excuse he ever made. Because from then on, he never even asked why he went with them, he just did.

xXx

"Adam, you're okay," shouted Ruby as she jumped on to the bull Faunus, "We were all worried about you."

"Yeah," Blake inputted, seeing that her teammate was drawing attention, "That fever really had us worried."

The Principal had asked all of them to explain Adam's absence to be as a result of a fever since they couldn't as well say that he was injured fighting terrorists.

The remaining members of team SYBR and NVL also came and welcomed their class rep.

"You should have seen Ruby," Nora laughed, "She cleaned up the entire class, and ran errands and everything. Only time I've seen her that fast when it came to actual work."

Adam let out a small laugh, which revealed to him how awkward the atmosphere here was.

The members of team SYBR looked like they were when Weiss first became leader, except several times worse.

There was a clear, deep animus between Weiss and Blake, and all the other students close by we're caught up in it.

"Blake," Adam said sternly, seeing that it was getting worse and worse.

The brunette kept on glaring at the Schnee heiress for a few seconds before composing herself, making the greater half of the negativity in the air dissolve. Weiss simply walked away after that, disgust evident in her gait as Yang chased after her.

Things weren't looking good for team SYBR.

Notes: The OC's for the White Fang that appear in this chapter are all based off animal heroes from classic kid movies.

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