The moment Sienna stepped out of the room, that happy smile instantly faded, as though some switch had, again, been flipped.
Her body ached, and her mind reeled. As were her eyes filled with unshed tears.
With an uneasy arm Sienna rubbed them out, slowly making her way down the corridor. She'd have to see if she could find somewhere else to sleep.
She reckoned that boy needed somewhere to himself for once.
But…
Just as she'd started walking, she froze halfway down.
Would that boy die in the night?
The thought hit Sienna like a meteor. No, her thoughts argued, in a battle between reason and pure fear. He is safe. That boy is free here.
That boy could not even move without you. He needs you.
That boy will live. He…
Adam. That boy has a name. It's… Adam.
Sienna turned around, her eyes wide and her skin cold.
Only the pale, interior breeze of night greeted her behind.
Ilia Amitola stood in front of the door, her shoulders hunched, her gaze fixed on the slip of paper in her hand.
"…If you're lucky, he probably hasn't left the dining area yet! S"
Overnight, all of her plans had been flipped. Sienna was going to work with her today. Ilia was going to have a normal first training day with the person who'd been helping her adjust for the last handful of months, except when just this morning she'd been told all of that was now entirely discarded.
Sienna was busy today, and Ilia was supposed to find some guy she'd never heard of who'd train her. Some guy by the last name "Taurus."
The longer she stared at the paper, the more irritated Ilia's expression became. The deep brown spots along her dark vanilla skin began turning pink, and with a dejected groan she cast her head back and began storming down the corridor.
Ilia was a newer recruit, having shown up basically out of nowhere with nothing to her other than the words, "I'd like to join the White Fang." Not those exact words, obviously, but the exact meaning in whatever the words were. She couldn't remember, it was a while ago!
She hadn't quite gotten there yet, but she had been given her own room. It was quite cozy.
In truth she'd been on Menagerie, where the garrison she now called home was, for two years. But the circumstances which led her to the island was something she preferred ignoring.
Her long, walnut hair was tied back in a thick ponytail, which curled into itself at its end. She wore simple trainee garbs, a white tunic with gray trimming and a pair of black shorts. As she walked Ilia passed other full-fledged members of the White Fang, half of them wearing these weirdly creepy, weirdly silly-looking masks.
When she turned the corner and came face to face with the dining area, a huge room filled with people seated at tables or lined up to get food, she was momentarily startled. Ilia stood in the doorway, instantly feeling this… routine sense of anxiety.
Wait. Why was she getting anxious? This wasn't the first time she's been in here. Been in a cafeteria in general. Why was she getting so…
Ilia sighed. She knew why.
But then, an interruption. A friendly interruption.
"Good to see you, Amitola!" In came Yu, who bumped into her from behind and quickly grabbed her shoulders before she could stumble. He was one of the White Fang's lieutenants, a tall, muscular brute of a Faunus with a mask that covered his face. Despite his formidable appearance, though, he was an easy pal to her.
Yu quickly noticed the expression Ilia had and readjusted himself. "Oh, what's up? And… hey, isn't—"
"Sienna is busy. She couldn't train me today."
"Ah. Understandable. Lately she seems to always be busy," Yu chuckled, clearly trying to liven up Ilia's sour mood.
Didn't work. "But I was told to come here and find someone who can train me. She gave me his name… but I have no clue who he is."
"Let me see." Yu leaned over and studied the note Ilia held out to him. Quietly, he read, "I apologize for getting this to you so late, but I will be unable to…"
Yu was frozen for a moment, as his eyes fell upon a singular word.
Then, he leaned away with a laugh and nodded. "I know exactly who you're talking about! Huh, should've figured she'd pick Adam of all people…"
"… Adam ? Who's he?"
Yu looked across the crowd of people seated to eat and pointed towards the far end of the room. "He's right over there."
Ilia looked that direction, a perplexed frown on her face. But she walked onward, through the sea of people dining on their breakfast, before coming upon…
Just the sight of him was enough to startle a yelp out of Ilia.
Sitting at one of the tables, eating an egg with a fork, was a young man… an extremely tall, lean young man, with red hair that went out at the back and then tapered into brown at his neck. He bore two medium-sized horns which sprouted backwards from his forehead. He wore a mask which concealed his eyes and half of his nose, a sleek black jacket with long sleeves and pointed shoulders, black pants, and black gloves. Just… lots of black. Maybe too much. He looked kind of scary. Really scary, actually.
Ilia gulped. Was… was this her guy? This was her guy?
With a prayer in her heart, she tiptoed up to the table. She tentatively put her fingers on it, gritting her teeth in anticipation, but he didn't look up from his egg for a second.
"…Excuse me." Ilia rasped, immediately leaning away as she words left her lips. But upon receiving no reply, her anxiety began fading. "Excuse me!"
No reply.
"Um. Are you… Taurus? Or, A- Adam ?" Ilia asked with a tilt of her head, rather impatiently. " Taurus Adam ? Or is it… Adam Taurus ? Either way… EXCUSE me! You know I'm talking to you, right?"
Still didn't look up. He carefully placed the last bit of egg into his mouth. She noticed that his hand trembled heavily as he did so, and even as he placed his hand back down on the table it still shook.
"…Do you have your ears clogged or something?!" Ilia yelled, only to stumble back as Adam leaned his upper body back and gently wiped his mouth with a napkin.
She waited for seven long, agonizing seconds, before…
"I'm just told," he replied, "talking while eating is bad manners."
His voice wasn't intimidating at all…
Ilia, for some odd reason, grew flustered at the comment. "Well… don't talk about manners when you're wearing that outfit!"
Adam turned to her, and his lips parted without a sound. She'd bamboozled him. "You don't like it?"
"No! It looks stupid. You look scary! You look stupid and you're supposed to TRAIN ME!" Ilia cried, her frustration reaching a peak as she covered her face, "This is all stupid! This is the stupidest thing I'll ever do! I—"
"I'm training you?"
Ilia looked back up, her eyes wide. "You didn't know that?"
Adam blankly turned back to his plate. "Nope."
"S-Seriously? No… no one told you…?" Ilia inched back to the table, leaning over it slightly. Pure despair had begun to fill her squeaky voice.
"Nope."
She stared forward long and hard, before she slumped to the table with a long groan. "eughhhaaaa aaahhhhhhhhhhh …"
Adam stared at her a few seconds before he scratched his head awkwardly. At that, Ilia looked up. "…can I have some of that?"
"Nope."
"UGH!" She pounded her fists on the table and grunted. "I'm starving…"
Adam sighed and returned his gaze back to his own food. "Well, you could just get your own. They're still serving breakfast."
"But I don't have anything to pay with!"
"It's free. It's…" he tilted his head. "always been free?"
"Well I haven't always been here!" Ilia cried, looking up and glaring bullets at him.
Adam stood up. He probably towered over everybody in the entire room.
"Here," he muttered, walking past her, "follow me."
Ilia looked over her shoulder and saw that he was walking towards the front of the dining center. She hurried to him, though frustration still lingered in her mind.
Adam got to the front counter and leaned his arm across the table. One of the ladies working there, a Faunus with clawed hands, noticed him and walked by.
"Hello. We'd…" Almost instantly he faltered. When no words came to his mind, Adam simply smiled. A stupid-looking, awkward smile.
Ilia looked up at him and raised a brow. He leaned towards her after a few moments and whispered, "I don't normally talk to them."
"…Are you alright, sir?" The lady asked.
He instantly looked back at the lady, straightening up. "…Uh-huh. I'll just… have another egg, miss. Thank you," Adam quickly replied, scratching his shaky palms. Ilia sighed and, looking to the side, grabbed a packet of some… white, block thing.
As the two walked down the next hall upon being given their food, Ilia spoke, "You've eaten three eggs."
"They help with your bones."
"But wouldn't that gross you out?"
Adam swallowed before he spoke again. "Not really. Better than the stuff I used to eat."
Ilia laughed indignantly. "Which was what?"
"Stuff you don't even want to know. This way."
Suddenly he took a left through the outside door, which lead out into the larger courtyard. Ilia followed, though she began feeling rather confused.
"…I thought the training grounds were inside?" She asked, as Adam finished off the egg.
"It is."
Ilia frowned. "So why aren't we-"
"I wouldn't train you well. I know that much." He stated bluntly, not looking back at her as he walked down the path towards the exiting gate. "I'm not even finished training myself."
"You're not?!"
"Nope."
"Then why did—"
Adam shrugged. Ilia groaned.
"…are you like, close? With Sienna, I mean?"
"What's this about Sienna?" In an instant he'd spun around, the plate held in both his hands. His voice had changed seemingly out of… surprise at the name mentioned.
Ilia gulped, her eyes briefly fleeing to the area around her. "Um… she was the one who wrote the note to me? I asked if you were close with her…?"
"Can I…" his voice came out in a higher note than it had been beforehand, and Adam cleared his throat. "see the note she gave you?"
Ilia looked down and quickly pulled out the note. She handed it to him, and below the mask his eyes darted across the words.
And after a few moments, a reply arrived. "…She calls me by my last name…?"
"Huh?"
"N-Nothing. Only read half of it," Adam replied nonchalantly, handing her back the note as he continued walking down the path. Ilia stared at him blankly for a couple moments, before hurrying on after him.
The markets of the settlement the two were headed into were packed full of other Faunus working at stands and shops, transporting boxes or baskets of… whatever Ilia thought at the time, and children were running around at their feet. The smell of fish, fruit, and the sea ocean hit her fast, and she had to be constantly observant not to bump into a passerby. The sun was bright above her head, and she could hear seagulls flying high amidst the sounds of voices and the distant tune of music.
"If you get lost," Adam called from the front, "just head to where you smell fish. That's where you and I are headed first."
"Everywhere smells like fish, though!" Ilia protested, looking about herself. She stepped away from a younger boy with webbed fingers and gazelle horns, who was dragging a significantly large Tuna on the ground behind him. " Everywhere …!"
"Then go to the place that really smells like it."
Her eyes scanned the area above the crowd, and finally, Ilia spotted an area a few yards from the market, where the shops faded into a beach. Fish were lined up on wooden tables and fishing poles were leaning on palm trees. Even Faunus with fish tails instead of legs were sitting on the sand beside the ebbing waters, braiding pearl necklaces.
Ilia politely made her way past the crowd. Adam was standing next to a couple of boxes, one of which he'd already hoisted up onto a shoulder.
"Alright, task one. These boxes are filled with fish. We…" he pointed towards a distant building about a block away, settling just upon the shoreline. "are going to take them over there. Okay?"
"That's it?"
"Nope. I have more stuff for you and I to do," Adam answered with a small grin, picking up another box and setting it on his other shoulder. "Here. Pick one up and follow me."
Ilia nervously looked down at the pile of boxes. Slowly she picked one up, placing it over her shoulder and beginning to walk.
The sucker was heavy. Either filled with tons of little fish, or a couple of huge fish. Maybe both. Probably both.
Why was she even worrying? Ilia didn't even like fish that much.
When she arrived at the building, her face was half drenched in sweat. She dropped the box down on the ground and slunked forward, panting.
"Aughhh… is it always this hot here…?" She asked, while Adam quietly picked up her box and placed it next to the two he'd dropped off.
"Have you never been outside here?"
"I-I have! Just… not when it's this hot…" Ilia retorted, flustered. She looked back down, her hands on her spotted kneecaps. "…nevermind. What's the next thing…?"
"Right there." Adam pointed over towards the coast, where a small area had been sectioned off. This sectioned area seemed to be some… oceanic garden, as these huge, lush lettuce plants were floating atop the water. Ilia saw Aquatic Faunus harvesting them in baskets, along with some small purple fruits.
"…I'm not good at swimming!" Ilia cried, looking back. Adam simply nodded at her statement, walking down the steps onto the more sandy wood road.
Ilia came after him and noticed he was standing beside two docked coracles. He got in one and, slowly, she got in another.
"You know how to work these things, right?" Adam asked, kicking off the beach and into the water. "If not… it's not that deep here."
"I… um…" Ilia was briefly nervous, before her prior irritation returned. "…Yeah. Sure. Totally know what I'm doing. Thanks for the training on boating, Ad—!"
Ilia accidentally pushed off a smidge too hard and her raft went flying out on the water, bumping into Adam and spinning around in circles. Ilia's eyes widened and she let the paddle fall to her lap, instead leaning back and clutching the sides of the vessel for dear, holy life.
But as soon as she'd stopped spinning, Ilia saw that Adam was smiling at her. "No problem."
Her eyebrows furrowed. At first she guessed he was just trying to push her buttons as so many before always did, but the smile was so genuine that she doubted he even knew she was being sarcastic.
Like a very dumb puppy…
They both paddled over to the sectioned garden and before Ilia could reach out for one of the plants, Adam stopped her. "Hang on. I need to… explain something to you before we start."
Ilia stared at him. "…Uh huh," she mumbled, leaning back.
He cleared his throat. "Firstly, this is a plant known as the Floating Shore Plant."
"Very wise name."
"I'm not done. It is native to Menagerie and is found only on Menagerie. This plant," Adam continued, pointing at one of the large plants while still keeping set eye contact with Ilia, "serves two purposes. You see, at first, this little purple fruit thing is placed on a section of sea water. It's sickly and it essentially serves as the plant's seed, as when it starts sprouting roots the roots go to the top while the weight of the fruit flips it down under the water. However, the water of the ocean causes this small fruit to begin sprouting into a bunch of larger purple fruits, and while those grow the roots at the top of the plant start sprouting into plants sort of like lettuce. Eventually so many fruits are sprouted under the plant that the plant can no longer hold that kind of weight while floating, and that is typically when the plant is ready to be harvested. The leaves are taken first, and they're all cut at once straight from the roots. Then, someone below is tasked with catching the sinking clump of fruits in a basket to be pulled up to the surface. Afterwards, a new seed is placed on the water and it begins growing again. Rinse and repeat. These leaves can be turned into food or medicines, and the same can be said about the fruit, though it's also used as a waterproof paint that can withstand rain and storm water on any type of surface. Even plants that don't fully grow into being able to be harvested, or vice versa, grow too big and instead sink to the bottom of this bay, are useful. The former is often eaten on by the ocean's wildlife, and you can actually trace which fish you catch has eaten bits of one of these plants before or not. Usually their eyeballs are a lot more dilated. And the ladder is useful not only for fish to eat on but also, smaller fish sometimes set up homes within the green leaves for shelter and protection, sort of like anemones. Obviously these plants don't sting, but they do have enough space for fish to hide in. Even an entirely new kind of seaweed was developed here after multiple plants sank to the bottom, and after their fruits either dissolved or were eaten over time, the plants roots would actually attach to the sea floor and eventually begin reproducing as an entirely new species. And while Menagerie has begun to reopen many of its previously closed trading boarders, this very plant is the one thing all of us collectively plan to never let leave its native island. But the plant remains so precious to outsiders that there have even been cases of humans sneaking onto the island overseas just to try and smuggle a couple plants back home. Of course, they'd never actually…"
Ilia looked down at her lap, and her eyelid twitched. "C-can we start picking, or whatever…?"
Adam paused. He closed his lips and then eased the coracle closer to a particular plant. "Alright. Like I said, you usually just cut them all at once, but since you're a beginner we're just gonna go the harder way."
Adam took his hand and gently plucked a singular leaf from the plant. Okay, Ilia thought. So I just gotta pl
Adam proceeded to shove the leaf into his mouth. He chewed it up and swallowed, with not a word. Not a damn word.
"WH-WHAT THE HELL?!" Ilia yelled, leaning far away from him in her boat. "We're supposed to be harvesting these, not… eating them raw! You're such a pig! "
"Well, if you let me finish what I was explaining to you a minute ago," Adam corrected coldly, continuing to pick off leaves and stick them at his side in the coracle. "You usually want to eat one of the leaves before you just hoist the whole batch. If one's bad, usually the rest are bad too. You know. That's how plants work?"
"Well… I'm not a plant PERSON." Ilia hissed, turning towards a plant closer to her. She paddled over to it and began plucking, albeit more clumsily than he was doing. "Never have been. Not even when I was tested over it!"
"Tested over it?"
Ilia's eyes widened.
Oops.
"…Um…" she swallowed, turning away. "… Yeah . Like, in school."
"Oh." Adam tilted his head. "What kind of school did you go to?"
"I got to go to this big fancy school in Atlas. Learned all the maths and the sciences and the literatures, blah blah…" Ilia droned on, hunching her shoulders. Her voice picked on a tinge of sadness to it. "I came from Mantle… not many girls like me got that kind of opportunity I did. To learn with and be with people so much higher above you."
Adam just nodded. "I don't know where that place is, but I also came from Atlas. Kind of."
"Yeah?"
"Mhm. The son of…"
He paused.
What was it again?
"…a baker and a dentist."
"Huh. Wonder how those kinds of people mix," Ilia mumbled, shaking her head. "Both my—"
"What do you mean 'mix'?!" Adam yelled, only to instantly realize he'd spoken both a little too loudly and a little too soon. "…I apologize. Continue."
This dude was so weird. "Both my parents worked the same job. They mined from morning to night at some big… well, mining place, and I barely ever saw them. But they tried keeping in contact with me any way they could, at least un—"
She froze. Again. Again she'd slipped up, and her eyes went wide.
But surprisingly enough, Adam accidentally spared her from an uncomfortable situation. "Hey."
Ilia looked up quickly. "Wh-what?" She asked, her voice a croak.
The two stared at each other for an awkward five seconds, before Adam continued with, "The leaves also help with your mood." As the words left his lips, he smiled at her.
There was not a hint of light in Ilia's thousand mile stare. Deadpanly she plucked a leaf from the pile at her side and took a bite from it, her eyes half lidded and her neck bent forward. And with a dramatic movement of her arm, Ilia gave him a thumbs up.
After about an hour of harvesting each of the plants, the two of them docked their boats on the sand and bagged up every leaf.
"Are we about done…?" Ilia asked, handing Adam her sack of leaves. He handed both sacks over to a nearby Faunus sitting on the beach, who promptly took them and slipped back under the waters.
"Nope," he replied, "back to the boxes!"
Ilia jerked at the words. "Huh?" But as she expressed her confusion Adam had already begun walking off. "WoahwoahWOAH wait a second! I thought we were done with the boxes?"
Adam looked over his shoulder at her. "Nope. Still got a couple more to carry around."
"Th-then why didn't we just do that before harvesting these plants? You know," Ilia's voice rose back into a yell, "LIKE A LOGICAL PERSON WOULD?!"
Adam spun around. He faced her head on, this face still an expressionless mask… even with the already-physical-literal-mask covering half of it.
"No clue." And he spun back around and kept walking, beginning to hum lightly to himself.
The spots on Ilia's face turned pink, and her eyes flashed red. "…HEY! Excuse you, I need an answer! …ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU'RE THE GUY WHOSE BEEN STRINGING ME AROUND ALL DAY!… LIKE A FISH ON A BARBED WIRE!"
"You don't catch fish with barbed wires, Ilia."
"I KNOW THAT, ASSHOLE !" Ilia stomped up in front of him, momentarily blocking his path. "You're gonna listen to ME, ADAM TAURUS! Every plan you've given me is a plan you immediately contradict! I should be training how to fight under someone famous, NOT DOING CHORES WITH… WITH JUST SOME GUY ! You're just some guy! Some guy who is STRESSING ME OUT AND MAKING ME FEEL USELESS!"
"I'm making you feel useless?" Adam asked, briefly sounding apologetic. His right hand came up slightly from his side.
"A TINY BIT!" Ilia squeaked.
Adam's face shifted into a more mild expression, before his lips parted and he looked around. "…Oh. Um, how about instead… you can go help those people over there."
Ilia looked towards where he was now pointing. On the other side of the main path, two kids and what she assumed to be their mother were trying to put up a sign.
With that, Ilia puffed out her chest and held her chin high. She strutted confidently across the beach and to the small family, whilst Adam walked in the direction of a pile of large wooden crates.
Without a word Ilia picked up a hammer from the ground and squatted down. They were currently working on the sign's base, which was just another wooden block that needed to be nailed down with four smaller wood pieces. Lots of wood. Okay.
Afterwards, she picked up a nail from off the ground and gingerly held it against the wood of the base. Just as she did so Ilia saw a tall shadow pass over her, and she turned to find Adam standing above her, holding two large boxes over either shoulder.
"You making yourself useful?" He asked kindly, a dumb smile on his face. Ilia scowled, only to shake herself off and look up at him with a rather smug glare.
"You know what? I am , actually. I am actually making myself very useful. I'm not being useless one bit! See? Look at me. Using a hammer and nails without ever being taught how to. Because I'm just that useful." Ilia gestured to the base. "I'm the most useful person ever, actually. I'm useful. See? I build. "
Ilia then proceeded to jam the hammer directly into her finger.
Adam visibly winced. He began setting the crates down on the pathway just as Ilia bent her head into the crook of her arm and groaned.
"uuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH….!"
The sun was beginning to set. Ilia was sitting on a bench, her finger now bound in thin, white wraps. Her face was twisted into a dejected frown and not once did she look up from the ground. Adam kept passing by back and forth in front of her, carrying boxes to one place and then going back for more, repeating that cycle a seemingly endless amount of times.
But it seemed Ilia had hardly any prior frustration left in her. She just looked sad. Very, very sad.
But after a while of her just… sitting there, looking down at her knees, a thump at her side alarmed her. But sure enough.
It was just Adam.
"You alright?"
Ilia frowned. She glanced at her finger, holding it up to him. "My finger's just fi—"
"No. I mean you ." Adam's voice became firm again. "What's going on?"
"N-nothing is going on!" Ilia snapped back, turning her body away from him. "I'm just…"
"Alright."
She looked back at him. Adam was still sitting there, though he was no longer looking at her, and instead, up at the sunset in the sky.
Ilia's shoulders lost their tense positioning and she let out a breath.
"…Um…" her voice cracked. "…there actually is something going on."
Adam remained silent. Ilia guessed he was prompting her to continue. She hoped.
"But you have to promise not to tell anybody. Not even if they might… uh, ask. Okay?"
Adam turned to her, his face still without a hint of emotion, and nodded. She swallowed nervously.
Ilia closed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "T-two years ago, I… got into this school. I told you that much, didn't I? How I got into this nice school in Atlas?"
Silence.
"Y-yeah. That part was true. But I never truly felt comfortable there. I made friends, lots even, and I studied well. Got A's and B's, that always made my parents proud. But… I had to hide myself. F-from everybody… no one could know I was a Faunus. Do you…"
She looked back up at him, a weird desperation in her eyes. "Do you get that?"
Adam nodded slowly. "I think."
He thought. That was a good enough answer for her. Ilia resumed with another shaky breath, "A lot about me I had to completely change just to fit in. Blend in with the crowd. And while the spots were easy to hide… my brain wasn't so lucky.
"My friends used to say these things… stuff about Faunus. How we were all these dirty, clumsy and evil beasts, more Grimm than Man. Nothing but tricksters and scoundrels who should be put in their place, deserved to be. And… I'd agree to it. I'd say these things, too, even believed it. It was betrayal. Through and through, it was betrayal. Something I will never not be guilty of. But…"
Ilia brought her legs up and hugged her knees. The longer she went on, the more her composure shrank into itself. "I knew one girl. She was my roommate. She was nice, funny… pretty… she'd help me study for tests and straighten my hair in the mornings, and she was just… so kind. I figured she was different. She was my truest friend. My truest friend who I could laugh with forever and ever… who maybe, I could try and become something more to. More than just her friend. Up until…"
She found herself caught in a breath. Ilia blinked tears out of her eyes.
"…Do you want to know why I came to Menagerie?" She asked softly. "O-one night I… I was walking down the hall, in school. But I heard them laughing in one of the classrooms, that sick… disgusting laugh! All of my friends, laughing and cackling like witches… because of what they were watching. They were watching the news, a dust mine had collapsed… the very same dust mine my parents had been working at, and…"
Adam's expression shifted. "Ilia…"
"They were just laughing ! Oh, they laughed, and they laughed and they laughed and I couldn't stand it! That stupid laugh I'd had to learn just to stand beside them! I couldn't stand any of it, so I…!" Ilia covered her mouth. Her hair became blue and her skin turned a sharp green. "I-I kicked my best friend down and I broke her teeth and ran!
"I ran like a coward until I got here! I wanted to join you guys, join the White Fang to try and make a difference! Try and redeem myself from all I'd said and done, b-but… now I'm here, acting just like them to you! Some awful, cruel—!"
"Ilia."
Adam's raised voice startled Ilia into silence.
Noticing his unnecessary tone quicker than usual he cleared his throat. "You haven't been awful to me, at all, all day. You haven't been cruel, either. You've just been stressed, and I… did partially make that worse for you."
"Hey! This isn't about…!"
"I'm the older one here. I was stressing you out, Ilia." Adam interjected firmly, nodding once. "I can tell that much."
Ilia frowned.
"But something you just said… you said you feel guilty. Guilty enough to want to join the White Fang, throw yourself out there…" he turned his head to the side. "How come?"
"How come what?"
"You feel guilty."
She winced at the words. Ilia's skin and hair began to turn back to their normal colors, though her eyes shifted to a much deeper blue.
"…Everything I said in school, about people like us," she whispered, resting her chin on her arms. "About Faunus. I… I wish I could take everything I said back, somehow, but I know I can't. So I— I just gotta make up for it somehow. Make up for it by helping out everybody," she turned back to him, "somehow."
Adam smiled at her. "Then what's the need for hanging onto that guilt, anyways?"
"Huh?"
"Well, you just said. That's your goal." He added, crossing his arms. "You wanna help people out. So if you're already set on doing that… why feel guilt when you haven't done anything wrong?"
"But I did do wrong! I—" suddenly, Ilia paused. She bit her lip and looked down at her knees. "…I don't know. I… don't think I'll stop feeling guilty anytime soon. B-but it was nice getting that all off my chest to somebody, even if that somebody was… well, you of all people."
"Hey! I'm an awesome listener," Adam mused, standing up from the bench.
"I know! I didn't mean it in a bad way… I just meant…"
The moment Ilia stood up, she dove into Adam and wrapped her arms around his middle. "Thank you."
He was startled by the sudden contact, his arms going out at his sides, before he slowly relaxed into it. "…Any time. Want me to take you back to your room?"
"No thanks. I know the path, probably," Ilia replied, stepping away and grinning up at him. "Though… I'm guessing we're both gonna have to go the same way, anyways."
"Mhm."
They both chuckled at that, turning to head off down the path.
Adam couldn't help but ask one last thing, though. "You broke a girl's teeth ?"
"Yeah? Wasn't that hard…"
"Well, it definitely sounds like you don't need that much training after all."
" Well , not everybody can throw a punch, or… whatever the other punches are called! Anyone can break someone's teeth…"
"I bet I couldn't."
"You're probably too tall!"
"Yeah, probably…"
Adam stood at the door to his room in the dark, quiet corridor. He'd already left Ilia and as he carefully unlocked the door, he let out a small sigh.
Solitude.
Sweet, lonesome soli
"What took you so long?"
The startling voice caused Adam to cry out and back into the shut door. It was…
Sienna was there. With dinner prepared, sitting on the floor in front of his bed. Her legs were crossed, her hands on either knee. She looked up at the expression on Adam's face and burst into laughter.
"Oh! Forgive me for startling you half to death, I figured you knew I'd be in here!" Sienna boasted, pointing to the spot in front of her. "C'mon, sit! And pray your food hasn't gone cold."
Adam did know. He… thought he did. The two of them often had their dinners together. Though he felt bad for not being there to help her cook the meal this time… that was also how they usually did it.
"…R-Right," he rasped, almost bashfully. Adam sat across from Sienna and took one of the bowls, a bowl of some sort of noodle soup with slabs of ham and sprinkled greens, and set it in his lap.
"So, how'd it go?" Sienna inquired, picking up the tea that sat at her side.
He'd already began digging into his food. "Hm? Oh, it went…"
"Eat your food."
Adam swallowed.
"It was interesting," he muttered sheepishly, scratching his chin. "Mainly my fault on that. I-I didn't really have her actually train."
"Hm?"
"We… went out in the markets and helped a couple places with stuff. Carrying things, picking plants, I helped set up two shops, and…"
"Oh? Well, sounds like training to me." Sienna shrugged, closing her eyes as she took a sip from her tea. "As long as you—"
"I—I didn't know how I could train her, anyways. I mean… you're not even done teaching me ." Adam continued, sounding rather anxious himself. He wiped his lips with the edge of his wrist. "I didn't want to just fail her off the get go! Especially since—"
"I doubt you would've failed her. But…" one look at his minimal expression told her the truth. "I'm not mad at you, if that's what you're thinking. It sounds like the two of you had a nice time."
Adam nodded silently, his head low. The less he stared the less he
"Take off that mask, Adam. I can't tell if you're even listening or not."
His head shot back up, startled. He was frozen a few moments, before his gloved hand shakily went to the mask concealing his eyes, a small apology leaving his lips as he took it off.
And so many years later, still no light was found in his good, pale navy eye.
"There we go. You know," Sienna went on, taking a bite from her soup, "I don't get why you have to wear that mask all the time in public?
"Oh? It's…" Adam hesitated.
Do you know what that brand means, boy?
"…a personal preference." He returned to his soup as well.
Sienna looked up at Adam and smiled broadly. "And that's enough of an answer for me. Whatever serves you make you comfortable among your peers, and plus… it looks nice on you."
His head shot up again at that. "It does?"
"Yes, you goof! It does. Of course, it usually looks good on anyone, though I feel one like yours would look worse on me. It'd take away from my… alluring eyeballs~" Sienna mused, before chuckling to herself. The simple talk finally made Adam laugh a bit as well.
"By the way, if I can ask…" he spoke softly, looking to his side. "What had you so busy today?"
"Ghira." Sienna rolled her eyes with a smile. "No, things actually went much better than I… usually expect. And receive. Ghira claimed he saw repeated sightings in the jungle near here of human activity, possibly smugglers, and wanted my input on how we should deal with them."
"Track them down?" Adam proposed, tilting his head to the side.
"That's exactly what I told him! Thank you. I told him we should send off a group or some… other resource, to find these humans and not only prevent further activity if what they are doing is harming Menagerie, which it very likely is, but also just, you know, arrest them— but his rebuttal was that such an action would possibly endanger the Faunus of whatever group we'd send out. His plan was to set up an entire… err, I don't remember the word quite well, something like one of those big kiosks? To get the names and certificates yadda yadda of every human to came onto Menagerie and I told him that would simply be too costly."
"Sounds like it," he mumbled, wiping his mouth with a cloth.
"Exactly. But guess what?" Sienna held her arms out triumphantly. "For the first time in years, Sienna Khan and Ghira Belladonna came to a… compromise . We'll send a group down in a couple of weeks while we begin planning out a… smaller sort of kiosk to just generally balance out who comes and goes on our island. Free of cost, and besides, it'll make good use of all the excess materials and items clogging up the island's space."
"Uh-huh…" Adam nodded, looking down at his lap. "…Thank you for this dinner, Sienna. Y-you really didn't have to, especially this late, but—"
"Oh, we always do this together! My pleasure." Sienna laughed, winking at him. "And thank you for taking care of things for me today. Even if you did it in your own kind of way…"
She stood up, brushing her knees off and taking the empty dishes from the floor.
"…I'm certain Ilia enjoyed it."
Adam swallowed.
He hoped so.
"…Oh! Would you like me to get those for you?" He asked anxiously, standing up and coming to Sienna as she approached the door.
"I drop these off on the way to my room, silly! I'm good." She cried, nodding at him. "But thank you. And get a good night's sleep, because tomorrow I'm gonna train both of you! Be ready! "
"Alright," Adam quickly held the door open for her, waving her out, "You… sleep well, too."
And with that, Sienna was gone. And Adam was alone.
He stood there a couple moments, just silently staring off into space. And then, he ran a hand along the side of his face. The hand trembled, as it always seemed to do.
Trembled along the side of his face still marred by that horrific, horrible brand.
What an interesting day.
The moment Sienna stepped out of the room, that happy smile instantly faded, as though some switch had, again, been flipped.
Her body ached, and her mind reeled. As were her eyes filled with unshed tears.
With an uneasy arm Sienna rubbed them out, slowly making her way down the corridor. She'd have to see if she could find somewhere else to sleep.
She reckoned that boy needed somewhere to himself for once.
But…
Just as she'd started walking, she froze halfway down.
Would that boy die in the night?
The thought hit Sienna like a meteor. No, her thoughts argued, in a battle between reason and pure fear. He is safe. That boy is free here.
That boy could not even move without you. He needs you.
That boy will live. He…
Adam. That boy has a name. It's… Adam.
Sienna turned around, her eyes wide and her skin cold.
Only the pale, interior breeze of night greeted her behind.
How achingly familiar.