Here we go.

Cover Art: Kirire

Chapter 75

Blake had changed.

That was the only thing Adam could think as she hung up on him. His Blake wouldn't have talked to him like that. His Blake wouldn't have been so arrogant. His Blake would have listened and would have done as he told her to.

His Blake had changed, and Adam had a feeling this human was to blame for it.

It was painfully tempting to draw his sword and cut the man's head from his shoulders. The only reason he didn't was because Blake would run away the moment she saw he was dead. That didn't mean all harm was off the table, however.

The back of Adam's hand struck the human's face with a satisfying crack.

He didn't have aura – that much Cinder had told them – and it showed. The human's head snapped to the right, his cheek smarting bright red and his eyes clenching shut. While it was more satisfying to defeat a huntsman or soldier, there was still a pleasure to be had in being so overwhelmingly stronger than a human like this.

The humans had lorded that superiority over the faunus.

It was only right they experience the same.

"Was that strictly necessary?"

But this human seemed determined to get on Adam's nerves. As if it wasn't enough that this was who Blake had chosen to replace him, but the fool was determined to put on a strong façade and give them nothing. It was ridiculous. They weren't here for screams or begging, so this act didn't disadvantage them any, nor did it benefit the human. Adam hit him again on the other cheek with enough force to throw him and the chair he was tied to onto the ground.

"I'm sensing a little hostility," the human mumbled. "And trust me, I know all about hostility."

Adam snarled and grasped the chair, wrenching it back up. He pushed his masked face into the man's and bared his teeth. The human's blue eyes stared dully back at him. It pissed Adam off to no end.

"You won't be leaving here alive, human. Oh, I may need you in one piece to draw Blake here, but that's only so I can make her watch as I slit your throat and bleed you out. I'll show her the consequences of her actions."

The human blinked owlishly at him. "Who are you again?"

One of Adam's hands grasped the man's neck and squeezed, cutting off his oxygen. "I am Adam Taurus. Perhaps you've heard of me."

"N—No," the human croaked. "I haven't."

What…?

That couldn't be right.

No. Adam's eyes narrowed behind his mask. This human was playing games. Riling him up. Adam forced out a sigh and took his fingers from the human's throat. This might be some ploy to make him angry enough to kill, then give Blake a chance to escape without facing him. How pathetically self-sacrificing. And worse of all, to give Blake a chance to do what she did best and run, run away. Adam reached up and removed his mask, letting the man see his horrifically scarred face.

"I am Adam Taurus," he repeated. "Blake's first love, before she fled and abandoned the White Fang to be with you!"

The human groaned.

He audibly, and exasperatedly groaned.

The moron even had the gall to roll his eyes and look toi the side, eyes upward, mouth open, scowling as if he'd heard this all before.

"How many times do both of us have to explain that we're not together? Good lord, it's like a man and a woman can't share a job without being in a relationship. It was funny the first few times but it's really getting old now." He huffed, sounding bored. "Hell, you're as bad as my little sister."

Adam's rage spiked. His hand flew to his sword and he had it half out the scabbard before he caught himself. No aura. A killing strike. It would not be worth it to let Blake escape. Seething, he pushed Wilt back down. He would have his satisfaction soon enough. There was no need to rush it.

"And you're her ex, huh?" The human looked back to him. "Can't say I'm entirely surprised she dumped your ass."

"Because I'm marred by the SDC?"

"I was going to say because you're obviously a possessive freak, but I guess I can add victimised narcissist to the list as well." The human's voice grew thick with sarcasm. "Yes, Adam. The reason she left you is definitely because of the scar on your face. Blake is definitely that shallow. It definitely can't be because of how much of a controlling bastard you were, or how you're so unable to let her go that you have to come and try to ruin her life."

Adam saw red.

It took three members of the White Fang to pull him off the human's body, and through the haze of blood he could see the human was sporting a black eye, a split lip and a broken nose. There wasn't enough blood, however. He wanted to strangle the life out of him. Adam kicked and thrashed as he was hauled away, spitting with rage.

"Sir! Sir! ADAM!" One of his trusted slapped him across the face. The shock of it made Adam go still. "You're back. Hell, sir, you were going to kill him."

"I'm going to kill him anyway," snarled Adam.

"In time, yes, but you'd only be angry with us if we let you do it now." The faunus picked up Adam's mask and set it back on his face, and though he wouldn't admit to it, he was grateful for them stepping in. "Don't let him get to you, sir. It's what he wants."

"What I want is a cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin," drawled the human. "I don't think anyone wants whatever Adam is capable of offering. Regrets, I assume. Or maybe a `worst boyfriend ever` story. Hah. You really have no idea who you're dealing with."

Adam's fist clenched but he didn't allow himself to be baited this time. "Keep the human alive," he ordered the others, and they saluted. "I will prepare for the arrival of our little runaway. It's past time Blake learned the consequences of her actions."

/-/

Blake almost considered pulling the trigger.

The sniper round would have punched through Adam's stupid face and out the back and he'd be dead before he hit the ground, but then there would be chaos in the camp and Jaune would suffer for it. Reluctantly, she set the rifle aside and knelt on the low rise overlooking the camp. Her suit was a little dusty but still mostly clean.

The White Fang's grey and white was about as camouflaged as her two-piece suit, but she almost certainly looked the most out of place here. With her clean white shirt tucked into long black trousers with shiny leather shoes, she looked like she belonged in the boardroom or at a fancy dinner party.

Oddly enough, it made her feel more confident. Looking good and all that.

"It's a shame I couldn't have brought a few more anomalies along to help but The Blank Slate and I am Dog aren't going to help here." Plus, she already had an anomaly capable of helping tied to her waist and, perhaps, her soul. "Do you remember our deal?"

Blake felt a chilling cold spread out from the book and into her hand in confirmation, and though she couldn't hear anything, she could well imagine the cold satisfaction and amusement in the anomaly's voice when it had spoken to her before. Their deal had been struck, and though the anomaly doubtless believed it had made her cross a terrible line, Blake felt they'd both come out of this satisfied.

Not that it hadn't made her cross a line.

The deal struck had been a terrible one indeed, but they'd been able to come to an agreement on it, as disgusting as that was. Blake closed her eyes and let out an irritated sigh. It was more distressing that she and the anomaly had agreed at all, and Blake could only assume this would come back to bite her in the future.

But what was done was done.

Before she went down however, she made a quick call back to the office to check up on them. It was Amber who answered, sadly, as Ruby was probably too busy fussing over and looking after Timothy.

"Amber here."

"It's Blake. How is the office?"

"We had those two unwanted visitors from before."

"Green and silver?"

"Yes. They appeared to be under the impression the office would be unguarded now that Jaune has been taken, and then when they saw it was only me, they were under the impression I could be intimidated into opening up the safes and handing over the anomalies."

Blake snorted. "How did that go for them?"

"It turns out the silver-haired one has prosthetic legs. It ruined the moment somewhat, as I rather thought tearing his legs off would have made for good intimidation. Either way, while Jaune may have been willing to let them go, I am not. They're unconscious right now."

It didn't surprise her.

Jaune wasn't much of a combatant but that was only because the anomaly had pushed Light of the Soul out his body in order to inhabit it. Before that, Jaune would have been trained to the level of any huntsman, and it did show sometimes. His sword wasn't an ornament, and he even had some solid hand-to-hand skills. If he still had aura, he'd probably have been significantly stronger than her. It was more accurate to equate him to a huntsman who'd been forced to retire due to a crippling injury than it was to a weakling.

But Amber and his other sisters didn't have those issues, and they'd been trained to fight against monsters like Blood That Feeds, and whatever other terrible creatures they might come across in their travels.

"Is Ruby looking after Timothy?"

"Ugh. Yes. Where did you find such an obnoxiously happy person? I swear I've developed a cavity after five minutes of talking with her. Your spider is recovering as well," she grumbled. "It turns out he can regenerate lost limbs by tearing off the stumps. Gave the girl a scare when it happened, but the thing is already scuttling about like the horrible monstrosity it is."

Blake smiled. "Good."

"No. Not good. Awful, but I've given up on making you and Jaune realise that. Is my brother alive?"

"He's alive. Just a little beaten up."

"A shame." Blake couldn't tell which of the two statements that was for. "Deal with those terrorists quickly, then. And I know you're both bleeding hearts but it would really be for the best if you didn't leave any survivors this time. If a bloody terrorist organisation of all things gets it in their heads to move against ARC Corp, then we'll have to root them out cell by cell. It'd be just like those kinds of fools to imagine they could use anomalies to even the scales. They'd doom the world."

"ARC Corp would really kill every White Fang member?"

"We'd have to. We normally try and deflect attention away from us and suppress information but if they make it a habit of getting in our way then our only option will be to remove them before it gets worst. Even a poor thief can succeed at stealing an anomaly from us if we give them enough chances. If it were my father here, he'd have killed those people who broke into the office the very first time."

"That doesn't surprise me. Anyway, I have to go deal with these lot. And don't worry, I'm not sure they'll be in any state to share information after this."

"Good."

Amber hung up.

"Brat," grunted Blake, stashing the scroll away and rightening her jacket. She adjusted her collar, popped open the top button for ease of movement, then took her first step down the hill, making sure to stand tall and proud.

Adam expected a wreck.

But she'd changed.

/-/

The White Fang saw her coming but they didn't impede her path. They stayed back, about twenty in total, and watched her with eyes shining out from under their masks. Their muscles were tense, their weapons sheathed but grasped in hand, and all chatter died as she approached, her black shoes crunching across yellow leaves and dried mud.

Adam had seen her the moment she stepped out from the trees and continued to watch her as she walked past the sentries and into the camp. His nostrils flared beneath his mask, but she could see his head tilt as he looked her up and down. Blake's frown deepened, all too sure he was undressing her with his eyes.

Even Sun had the good grace to only do that when he thought she wasn't looking.

She walked up to about fifteen feet away from Adam, who was stood between her and Jaune. Her boss looked bored, but also bruised and bleeding. He could have escaped his bonds at any time by burning through the ropes with his anomalous arm, but he knew he'd be filled with bullets when he tried. He might survive that if he fully gave in to the anomaly and embraced it, but then he'd run the risk of losing his mind like so many other transformed humans.

And he was an Arc before anything, so he'd do the "right thing" and let himself be killed rather than unleash an unknown and dangerous anomaly upon the world. Adam stepped in front of Jaune with a scowl, reacting to her idle thoughts with predictable jealousy. He'd never liked it when she looked at other men.

"Blake…" he said, his voice cracking a little.

Hers was much more stable. "Adam."

"You've changed…"

"I wish I could say the same," she drawled. "But here you are lashing out at any man I speak to."

Jaune cracked a bloody smile. "He thinks we're sleeping together."

Blake groaned. "Oh for the love of—"

Though she couldn't have known it, her sideways look, the rolling of her eyes and the bored tone of her voice was a perfect mirror for Jaune's earlier, and that only drove Adam to greater heights of fury.

"You're worse than his sister," she finished, rant over, and Jaune was shaking with laughter where he was tied to his seat. "And the worst thing is that you were always like this, Adam. I kept giving you the benefit of the doubt because I was in love with you—"

"You say you loved me, but you turned on me, Blake. How is that love?"

It was her turn to scowl and glare at him.

Had Adam always been this pathetic? She had the feeling that he had, and that she'd never realised it. Love was blind after all.

"I did love you, Adam. I was madly in love with you. How else do you think I could put up with all the shit you pulled? But love isn't infinite. You took my love and gave me scraps in return. You took me for granted."

"I loved you!" he roared. "You were everything to me!"

"The White Fang was everything to you." Blake cut through his anger with cold words. "And I was fine with that. I wasn't going to demand you set aside your life's work for me, but it went beyond that. I wasn't even second place. If I so much as questioned you or the cause, you would get aggressive. You'd run roughshod over me to the point that I felt it was easier to stay silent than raise my concerns." Blake shook her head. "That's not how a relationship works, Adam. You were in love with the cause." Blake crossed her arms. "I was just your piece of ass on the side."

Adam stared at her.

Jaune snickered.

She really wished he hadn't because it gave Adam a perfect outlet, spinning and backhanding Jaune so hard his head snapped back, and his chair toppled over. Blake took a step forward, but Adam drew his sword and pointed it to Jaune's neck.

"Enough!" he hissed, shaking with rage. "You're a traitor, Blake. You're a traitor to the cause and you're a traitor to me!"

"I'll admit to the cause. I joined the White Fang and left in the middle of a mission. That makes me a traitor." Whether or not she was in the right to leave didn't matter. "But I won't accept being a traitor to you, Adam. You're not something I ever swore loyalty to, and you can't accuse anyone who leaves you of treason. We were in a relationship. Either of us had the right to end it at any time. I exercised that right."

Adam's hand shook. "All so you could go running to get on your knees for a human."

"How many times do I have to say we're not like that? I am dating," she admitted, and watched his whole body tremble. "But I'm dating a faunus – not that it's any of your damn business." And she wouldn't give Sun's name up to these maniacs. "I'm sorry, Adam, but we're over. We're through. You need to accept that fact."

"Perhaps I do," Adam admitted. Blake's brows rose. "I knew we were done the moment you betrayed me and the cause, but I always wanted to give you another chance."

"How generous of you…"

"I see that I was wrong to." He looked her up and down. "You've done well for yourself, clearly. Good money, good clothes, a good job. How fortunate you are. A shame that not all faunus can have such good fortunes."

"Is this going somewhere?"

"You have things we would like to borrow."

"Damn it." Blake cursed under her breath. "You're working with Cinder, aren't you? That's why they came to ransack our office while Jaune and I were here. How much did she tell you, Adam? For your own sake, I hope it wasn't much."

Adam snorted, unaffected by the threat.

Even if she didn't mean it as one.

"She told me enough. Items of incredible power, locked away by paranoid humans afraid to share it with the world. How predictable. It wouldn't do for such power to fall into the hands of the oppressed, now. Would it? We have to keep such power away from the faunus, otherwise they might get ideas of rebelling against the unfair working practices."

"Adam, stop. You don't have any idea how this works."

"I have a good enough idea," he said, touching the tip of his sword to Jaune's throat once more. "You're going to go and collect those items for me, Blake. You're going to bring them back here. Then you are going to hand them over and apologise to us for all the harm you've done our organisation after we took you in. If you do a good enough job, I might just be willing to forgive you and welcome you back in."

"This is a mistake, Adam." Blake felt the White Fang close in behind her, encircling her. "You're all making a terrible mistake here. I am part of a far greater organisation now. One that is even worse than the White Fang when it comes to making sure its members can't leave. One that enforces strict secrecy to the point of killing anyone who knows the truth about us." Blake let out a long sigh. "I know this is pointless. I know I'm wasting my breath. Still…" She stared at him. "Back away, release Jaune, and forget about me and anything you were told about what I do now. Forget all of it and go back to fighting the good fight."

Adam stared at her.

"To threaten me so cruelly," he said. "You really have changed. But that doesn't matter. We won't bow down to a traitor like you."

Blake sighed. "To ignore everything I say and do what you want because you think you're always in the right. You really haven't changed at all, Adam." Blake reached down and everyone tensed, but they failed to react when she drew the thick tome on her waist and opened its pages. "For what it's worth – which I know is very little – I am sorry about this."

The pages fluttered without her input, reeling left through right. Mist pooled out.

Adam's eyes widened. "It's one of the objects!" he roared in warning. "Stop her! Capture her! Alive! Take her alive!"

Even now he wanted to lord it over her and force her to be at his side as a prisoner. She really did owe her parents an apology for ignoring their many warnings about him. The mist from the lake spread out and pooled across the ground as the faunus sprinted toward her. Shots were fired and pinged off her aura. A large man wielding a chainsaw roared and raised it above his head, determined to chew through her aura in one go.

But something in the mist grasped at his legs.

There was nothing that could be seen but the man's eyes widened, and he cried out in shock, before he was ripped down and into the mist, dragged under like a swimmer disappearing in a shark movie. The mist wasn't even deep enough to really hide him, and yet he was gone.

And he wasn't the only one.

Faunus shrieked as they were yanked down and under the mist without warning, given barely enough time to cry out before they were gone. Where they went, the mist parted, revealing unmarked earth and, in some cases, a discarded weapon or mask. Blake stood in the centre of it all, feeling the mist wrap around her knees. It was cold and damp, as if it had just come off the surface of a huge lake.

Sensing the turning tides, Adam roared and brought his sword up and down on Jaune, stabbing down. Rather than the body he expected it plunge into however, his sword splashed down into shallow water. He drew it back, staring at the wet blade. There was no blood. He turned, looked about, only to realise he was stood in the shallows of a vast pool of water.

"Adam," whispered a familiar voice. He twisted to see Blake stood knee-deep in the water. "Oh, Adam," she crooned. "How wild thou art. How filled with passion."

"Blake," he hissed. "What have you done? What did you do!?"

"I have gifted us a moment alone, mine dearest." Blake reached up with one hand and unbuttoned her white shirt one button at a time, then reached down and rolled her shoulders. The expensive black jacket slid off her, followed by the white shirt. She stood before him topless, naked, and as beautiful as he remembered her. "Does my form please thee?"

His sword arm wavered. "Blake…?"

"Come, Adam." Her arms rose to him. "Come and dance with me. I hath awaited this moment with merriment. My body hungers, Adam, and thou art the only one who can satisfy me at this time." Laughing pleasantly, Blake twisted in the water, her wet hair sending sparkling droplets across her skin. She turned away from him, exposing her smooth back. Coyly, she looked back over her shoulder. "Won't you embrace me, Adam?"

His legs moved without his command. Adam waded into the water, forgetting everything. His anger, his rage, his betrayal. All that mattered was that nostalgic smile so filled with adoration and desire. He waded to her until he was waist deep, and spared only a moment's thought for how he could be so deep when she was submerged only unto her knees.

Adam pulled his top off and cast it aside, and then his mask, revealing his scarred form. The water was strangely warm. He kept going until he was submerged up to his bellybutton, and then he reached her.

He hesitated, and then moved to embrace her.

And, to his relief, Blake opened her arms and embraced him as well.

"You hath made me so happy, Adam. Such unbridled lust and possessive selfishness. Tis masquerading as love, but is as sumptuous all the same."

Adam buried his mouth in her neck, tasted her skin, felt himself harden. "You're talking funny," he mumbled. "Have you been reading those books of yours again?"

"Tis so. Come, Adam. Come swim with me, embrace me beneath the waters and allow me to taste you fully."

There was no resistance left in him as Blake gently toppled back, pulling him under the water's surface with her. The water closed up around them with a soft sound, and not a tremor or wave rose from where they had gone under.

But the water slowly clouded with red mist.

/-/

Blake snapped the book shut, trembling and with her eyes closed. It couldn't entirely block out the knowledge of what she'd done of course, nor could it hide the crunch she heard deep within her soul. Should she apologise to Adam here and now? It felt too late for that. It felt pointless. He had made his choice, and she had made hers.

And both were evil.

"Blake," said Jaune, his voice even, steady, but filled with steely anger. "What… What did you do? What have you done?"

"Something awful, I'm sure," she replied. "Something cruel and evil and deserving of your scorn." She opened her eyes, and it was as she expected. Not a faunus remained. Not even a body. The camp was empty. "Would it matter if I said I didn't want it to be like this?"

Jaune snapped the ropes around his wrist with a tiny burst of flame and stood up. He rubbed his cheek and looked around. "It would help," he said. "People always say regrets never help, but expressing it still means you're human."

Another way he was different to Adam.

"Then I regret this!" she said, and tears ran down her cheeks. "I regret that it had to be done and that I couldn't find a better way, but I'd have had to fight and kill them anyway. This was always going to end one of two ways – them dead or us." She took a shaky breath. "I chose the result I'd regret the least."

"Damn it, Blake." Jaune sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I…" He looked about. "I suppose he did plot to expose ARC Corp and steal all the anomalies. He wanted the White Fang to use them." It was exaggeration. He was lying.

Lying for her.

"—it was, given the circumstances, a moment where extreme measures had to be made."

Blake's smile was fragile. "And he hurt Timothy."

"And he hurt Timothy," agreed Jaune, "Which is obviously deserve of a fate doubtless worse than death. But I need you to hand over that book, Blake. It needs to be locked away. Forever. It may even need to be destroyed."

"I don't think it can be."

"Blake…"

"No. You can take it. I'll gladly give it up – or I'll try." Blake held it out, and Jaune looked more disturbed by her willingness. "The problem is every time I try to get rid of it, it comes back. Coral had it with her before she died, and I'm beginning to think she may not have had much choice about that either."

Jaune stared at it, then at her. Eventually, he nodded. "Okay. We'll get through this. Together." He reached out for the book but hesitated to touch it. "Keep it on you for now. Let's get back to the office. I think it's time I had some firmer words with Salem's little helper. I was content to play it loose and easy with her before, but I think it's time she realises she doesn't get to call the shots in our territory."

Next Chapter: 30th October

Like my work? Please consider supporting me, even if it's only a little a month or even for a whole year, so I can keep writing so many stories as often as I do. Even a little means a lot and helps me dedicate more time and resources to my work.

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur