Yo!

Not a ton to say tbh. Let's just get into it!

Start Chapter 9

Not much had changed in the five or so minutes following Adam and the White Fang's sudden turn from evil.

The word 'sudden' was really pulling a lot of weight there. Instantaneous would've perhaps been more accurate. Jaune had utilized his magic, and quite literally sapped the 'evil' from out of these members of the White Fang.

Exactly what that meant, Weiss had no idea. Because the truth of the matter was that Jaune's powers were… weird.

Weird and kind of stupid, in Weiss' opinion, but then, what did she know?

Currently, she and her new retinue of White Fang – former White Fang? Weiss had no idea –were making their way to Mistral, which was now hanging in the distance, silhouetted against the horizon.

Their destination was in sight. Not just that, but it was within a day's journey. Barring anything crazy, they would be able to make it there by the night of the following day.

Of course, saying 'barring something crazy' these days was akin to saying 'as long as the day doesn't end in 'y''.

First, however, before she could fret over such annoyances any further…

"As much as I'd rather not," Weiss sighed. "We should probably stop for now. It's late, and I was pushing myself already even getting this far."

"Likely a good plan." Jaune commented. "As much as I myself am immune to the darkness' effects, I confess that I was not always."

"We could power through as well," Adam suddenly spoke up, apparently not caring that much about the fact that Jaune was a person stuck in a mirror. "But if you think it wise to stop, we will. I'll trust your judgement, miss."

She heard what Adam said, but unfortunately, she'd been far too busy jumping up in a panic at hearing his voice to really pay too much attention.

"Er…" Weiss floundered for… anything. "Thank you."

Adam nodded his head with an honest-to-goodness smile, a gentle thing.

It was at odds with… well, everything that Weiss had ever known about him, the brutal terrorist that had decimated Beacon Academy, and done so much more. And yet…

The expression did not seem entirely alien on his face.

It helped somewhat for Weiss to see the SDC scar along his left eye. It served to remind her that even a monster like Adam had reasons to be like he was. And, from what she could tell, quite good reasons at that.

It didn't make her forgive him, of course, but she could at least understand him.

She didn't really want to, but that was another issue entirely.

They made their way into the woods, not journeying too terribly far. Weiss wasn't quite sure where to set up, and was in fact just going to choose a random spot.

Except Adam intervened.

"Excuse me, Ms. Weiss?"

That was still weird. It would never stop being weird.

"What is it?"

"I think we'd be better off setting up our camp slightly farther out." Adam explained pointing further in. "Simply put, we don't want to set up here, where there are fallen leaves and brush. We would much rather look for a spot where we can build a fire on dirt or rocks, where we won't be risking burning ourselves, or setting the forest ablaze."

It was… surprisingly good advice, and information that Weiss, having been raised in a mansion, had never once known about.

Beacon had an outdoor survival course, but then, that was supposed to be something they took for four years over the course of their time at Beacon, steadily growing more and more in-depth.

And she'd gotten less than a full year.

But the White Fang walked her through it. Adam led her further into the forest, until he seemingly saw something that he knew made for a good spot. Weiss didn't know what that was, exactly, until Adam brought out his sword, and used its blade to carve a small ridge in the soil.

"Do you see this?" He showed her the color of the soil. "It's still got some moisture to it. That moisture will act as a natural retardant to fire, and prevent the flames of our fire from spreading. It's also not too wet that it will prevent us from getting a fire going at all. Look around for dead trees, they'll be plentiful this time of year. We snap off dry bark, and burn that. Much less effort than trying the same on wet bark."

They did just that, with Weiss being shown by a few of the other White Fang how to identify dead trees over live ones. It was a somewhat simple affair when it came down to it, and then encouraged Weiss to give it her best go of it, to moderate success.

"Well done." Adam complimented her – weird, too weird – as he began assembling the sticks in a pile. "We'll save some to throw on the fire later. It's always best to gather more than you need; no one wants to have to wake up in the middle of the night and get enough wood to restart the fire."

Weiss nodded her head, and set herself up at the edge of the camp.

As much as Jaune claimed that Adam and the White Fang were permanently changed, and rid of evil, she wasn't going to be putting her faith in that. She'd had her aura up the entire time they'd been walking along behind her, and she wouldn't be going to sleep until each and every one of them had done the same.

It was funny, though, the way that Adam gazed at her with concern evident in his expression. Had he already figured out her intent? The reason behind her retreat to the edges of their little camp?

He was perceptive. Almost oddly so.

Still, she had to admit, there was something she was curious about.

"Was this your entire number?" She asked, and she watched as the White Fang turned towards her, curious. "Are those present here all those White Fang that were in the area?"

"Ah," Adam shook his head, seemingly upset to have forgotten something. "You're right to question; we are not all of them. The others should be around two or three kilometers back."

"I see…" Weiss pursed her lips. "And they likely… think as you used to?"

Adam's eyes widened. "Yes, I believe they would."

That was a problem, then. That group would likely see the smoke from their fire, and come running. Weiss couldn't sleep at all if she was just going to be assassinated in the middle of the night.

The problem was that she was struggling to think up many other options.

"I will go and retrieve them," Adam spoke as he stood, and before Weiss could interrupt him, he held out a hand towards her, smiling gently. "Do not worry. I will let no harm come to you, or any of the others. You are all under my protection. But that protection extends to them as well. It was I who led them astray. Now it must be my responsibility to get them back on the right path."

They were gallant words; the kind that a formerly dark knight might utter in a period piece. Weiss was annoyed that she almost found herself moved by them.

"Fine." She breathed out. "But if they attack me–"

"They will not." Adam said. "And if they try, it is I who will stand before their blades."

And with that, he walked off.

Adam did not return in the next twenty minutes, nor in the twenty after that. After a while, Weiss began to grow almost restless, and was half-tempted to stand up and go find the man himself.

She was talked down by Jaune, in the end.

"Do not panic." He spoke. "I would know if he were dead."

"What?"

"Once one's magic has touched someone, a small bit of that magic is present within them, always. You would not know this, of course, but it is the reason that I was able to recognize Ozma's magic on that Raven woman." Jaune explained. "Because of that, I would also know if that tiny vestige of my magic were to return to me that he had been killed. But such has not happened. He is alive."

"It's less that I'm worried about," Weiss grunted out, "And more that the people he's bringing aren't going to take too well to my… existence."

"He said he would calm them."

"And you believe him!?"

"Do you not?"

"I have very good reason not to."

"He is not the person you mistake him to be." Jaune said, before humming. "Or, I should say, the version of Adam Taurus you see before you is a pure version. One untouched by darkness. He still has his memories, his experiences… but he does not carry that evil that had festered within him."

"Isn't that sort of like erasing who he is as a person?"

"Is such not better for him than my spell having killed him instead?"

She couldn't technically argue against that.

"This way, he will at least be able to right some of the wrongs he has committed." Jaune commented, and absently, his voice seemed to take a low tone. "Were that we were all so lucky."

Weiss was going to respond to that, but of course, in that next moment, Adam and the remainder of the White Fang trailed their way into their impromptu camp.

Studying their faces before they inevitably warped into shock, anger, and murderous rage, Weiss found herself somewhat amused by how perplexed they all looked. Evidently, they were either surprised by Adam's attitude, or his sudden lack of mask.

And then they saw Weiss Schnee.

Weiss expected all hell to break loose. She also felt that expectation was totally fair.

And yet, before the band could move to attack, Adam held a hand up, and stood before them.

"Boss?"

"Stay your hands, soldiers." Adam spoke without doubt or fear. "This girl is not our enemy."

One of them barked out a laugh. "Surely, you're joking, boss? That's a Schnee!"

"She is indeed." Adam answered them, not denying their words. "And yet, I implore you; look at her."

They did, each of them quite confused on the reason… why.

"What are we supposed to be seeing, exactly?"

"For how long have the people of the SDC been taking advantage of the faunus?" Adam asked. "Each of you should know this. When did the White Fang come into being?"

"Er… a decade and a half ago, sir?" One of the women at the back of the formation raised her hand a touch awkwardly.

"Correct." Adam spoke. "It was sixteen years ago, to be precise. Weiss Schnee. How old are you?"

Weiss could see where the man was going, even if she didn't think this argument, which she herself had tried against Adam before he'd had the evil taken from him, would be working.

"I'm eighteen years old."

Adam nodded his head. "Tell me, my soldiers. What power do you believe a two-year-old-girl held over the SDC?"

"But sir, why the hell does that matter!?" One of them, a younger man with sharp teeth, yelled out. "She's still a symbol of the SDC! She's that bastard's daughter! We kill her, we make them fear us!"

"If we kill her, all we do is make them hate us." Adam spoke. His voice was steady and even. There was no doubt there. "I understand your anger. Tell me, boy, where does your hate originate from?"

"What?"

"What caused you to join the White Fang?"

The man seemed confused, and more than a little flustered. The entire camp had turned to him, were looking to him.

"…My parents were killed in an accident at one of the minin' camps." The man spoke. "Happened recently, too. Just four years back. Not a unique story or nothin', but… it's mine."

Adam nodded his head. "And you were angry about that?"

"Well… course I was, sir."

"I understand." Adam spoke, and then, he let out a pained sigh. He stabbed his blade into the dirt below him, and he sat himself down in front of the White Fang he'd brought with him. "Sit down, all of you. Let's talk."

It was clear they were confused, and yet… they followed his orders. They sat in a vaguely circular shape, and Weiss just sort of… watched.

"I was young when my mother went to work in one of the SDC's mining camps. I couldn't have been any older than seven or eight. She took me along to protect me from my father, who had abused her for many years. It was all she could do, for she did not want to give me up into a foster service."

"Our camp was small, consisting of no more than a hundred faunus. I doubt I have to tell you what such a small environment did to the confidence of those who ran the place. They felt like demigods, untouchable. They didn't hesitate to use that to their advantage, even if that meant taking advantage of the people working there."

"Whether or not that was beating them, berating them, or, as they tried with my mother, sexually abusing them." Adam spoke. "That's the reason I got this brand over my eye. My mother was being touched without her consent by some of the guardsman. I stuck a mining chisel in the man's leg."

"And for protecting my mother, they held a branding iron to my face for five seconds."

There was an uncomfortable air around the men and women sitting around Weiss. She herself was feeling it, too, so it wasn't like she could judge them.

It was just… Adam's story didn't seem all that uncommon.

And that hurt Weiss in some indescribable way.

"My mother became a shell of herself; barely there at all. She blamed herself for not being able to protect me. I healed for nearly four months; not given the proper treatment I needed to be to guarantee my survival from so grievous a wound. One day, the faunus keeping me alive informed me in a quiet voice that my mother had passed away in the mines. A stray rockfall. That was all."

Adam sighed. Clearly, even so many years later, such still weighed heavily on him.

"For so very long, I blamed the SDC. Like all of you, I'm sure. And I don't want you to think that I've forgiven them. I've simply realized that what happened in that camp was no fault of Weiss Schnee, the woman you see behind us," Adam gestured to her. "It was not the fault of Jacques Schnee, no matter how much he laid the groundwork for such. No. It was the fault of the men who committed such heinous acts."

"They are long dead. One of the very first missions I myself carried out." Adam spoke, and Weiss wasn't sure what to feel about the fact that she was almost glad about that fact. "I feel regret for many that I have slain over the years, but they are not among them."

"Weiss Schnee," Adam turned around, so that he was looking her in the eyes. "Tell me, do you hold the same opinions towards the faunus as those people?"

"What!?" She was almost offended by the suggestion. "Of course not! They deserved what they got."

"What are your opinions on the faunus?"

"I believe they are deserving of every right that human beings possess." Weiss spoke, and she believed that wholeheartedly. "I believe that they have been treated unfairly for the longest time, and that such treatment has been unjust."

"Did you always believe as such?"

"That…" She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to that. The ugly truth of the matter was that no, she hadn't. It had taken until she'd arrived at Beacon to truly begin to see things differently. "Not always, no. I subscribed to my family's ideology – that the faunus were at fault for what happened to them – for many years."

Several of the White Fang members growled out at that, but Adam again raised his hand.

"And yet, you came to think differently. Why is that?"

Oh. Weiss could see the man's angle, now.

"Because I met many faunus during my time at Beacon Academy. And they taught me the errors of my ways not by doing anything special, but by… well, by being people. Not the caricatures that they were often made out to be in Atlas."

Adam nodded his head. "And do you think you would have so easily changed your mind had the attack on Beacon happened sooner than it did?"

"That…" Weiss wasn't quite sure. And that was probably the exact point Adam was trying to make.

He turned back towards the others without waiting for her to finish.

"My soldiers, I have come to an epiphany. Our actions were not doing anything for the faunus. This is through no fault of your own. The blame is entirely on me. I acted as I did not out of want to make the world a better place for the faunus, but out of anger, and rage, and a lust for revenge. To make the world suffer as I had suffered. I'm sure many of you have experienced similar emotions. But I ask you this; what would be the point in murdering a girl who's trying to make the world a better place; just as we are supposed to be? It would make us look like the animals that the SDC, and so many other racists around the world claim us to be. We are more than that. We are better than that."

"Please," Adam spoke as he bowed before his soldiers, imploring them. "I ask that you heed my words!"

It was so… so…

Well, so not Adam Taurus.

It was like the man had been kidnapped and replaced by someone entirely different. Like this was some imposter just wearing Adam's skin. That was… kind of what had happened, but also kind of not.

Because this Adam was the previous Adam.

Weiss just doubted that the faunus in front of them were going to believe that.

And then, of course, one of the faunus stood up, his lower lip wobbling, and shouted, "He's right!"

"Huh?" Weiss mumbled.

"Yeah!" Another yelled out. "He's right!"

"We're better than that!"

"We're not monsters!"

One by one, the faunus threw away their masks. All the while, they chanted their leader's name.

"Adam! Adam! Adam!"

Weiss just sort of… blankly stared.

"What is happening right now?"

Jaune laughed boisterously.

"I do believe we've ended racism!"

Weiss knew she couldn't, but she really wanted to reach inside the mirror and smack Jaune in the face.

/

It was an hour or so later, after the initial hubbub had died down, and everyone had settled, that Weiss had her back to a nearby tree, and was trying to keep herself awake.

This was harder than she'd thought it would be, given her body was entirely exhausted.

"You can sleep, you know."

"I cannot!" She hissed at him as quietly as she could. "In the presence of thirty White Fang members!?"

"They all swore off such violent behavior."

"Well forgive me for not expressly believing them!"

"You are forgiven."

Weiss turned Jaune's mirror around, so that she didn't have to look at his stupid face.

"You do realize I can still speak to you."

"I know." Weiss bit out.

She really thought that was going to be the end to the evening. Uneventful – well, in comparison to the amount of bullshit that had occurred over the last three or four hours – and largely boring, up until she inevitably fell asleep against her will.

And then, of course, something went wrong, because obviously it had to.

Except that thing that went wrong was really dumb.

Like super dumb.

But then, what else was new?

"Uh, sir," One of the White Fang who'd been watching their perimeter walked back into camp, with a fluffy creature in his left hand. "Would you take a look at this?"

Adam looked up curiously, but nodded his head. He stood, and made his way over to the creature that flailed in the man's grip.

Weiss recognized it a second later as a wild bunny.

It was very cute.

It was, also, making horrible hissing noises, flailing about, and seemingly doing its absolute damndest to murder anyone and anything in its immediate vicinity. Adam walked up to it and went to scratch behind its ears, but it bit at his finger hard enough that the man had to manually extract the digit, and shake his hand out afterwards.

"Quite the feisty creature." Adam noted with a quiet chuckle. "I must say, I've never seen a wild rabbit exhibit these behaviors."

"Neither have I, sir. It's why I brought it over here."

Immediately, from their western flank, another member of their perimeter team came running back, and she was much less pleased.

"A deer is trying to kill me!"

"What?" Adam raised an eyebrow.

And then a full-grown buck charged into their little space, with its antlers pointed down and primed to annihilate someone.

Weiss wasn't the only one to stand up, and get the hell out of the way.

Such behavior wasn't entirely crazy. Deer were, after all, very stupid animals. They moved about erratically because erratic movement was difficult to predict, and being difficult to predict was a good thing when running from predators.

And yet, the deer that passed by Weiss very quickly turned itself around, aimed right at her, and charged again.

Weiss was more than a little surprised.

Adam, luckily, was just a bit faster. He tackled Weiss out of the way, and the deer soared by them.

"Help!" From the other direction, a faunus with antlers themselves came running into the clearing, their skull being pecked at by small sparrows. "Birds are attacking me!"

"What the hell is going on!?" Weiss cried.

From the other end of the area, she heard Jaune's mirror let out a coughing noise.

It was a very forced thing.

Weiss' eyes narrowed.

She made her way over towards the mirror, flipped it around, and glared at Jaune as the chaos raged around her, knowing that he was somehow at fault for this.

"What did you do."

"Well, I…"

"What did you do, Jaune?"

Jaune coughed. "Now I do not know entirely why these animals are reacting as they are, to be clear, but I… may have a theory?"

"Jaune…"

"So, thou wilt remember when I took the evil from the members of the White Fang, and threw it into the forest beyond?"

Weiss mimed the motion he'd made at the time, "In that general direction?"

"Indeed." Jaune coughed. "So… I fear that evil may have struck the ground out in the forest, and proliferated about the area."

"…And?"

"And it may have, ahem… affected a few of the fauna in the area?"

"…Jaune."

"Yes, Weiss?"

"I think I hate you."

"I cannot overly blame you for such."

"Guys!" A new guard came into the camp. "There's an evil rat trying to–"

"WE KNOW!" The entire camp shouted at once.

/

The situation with the evil animals ended up being rather difficult to resolve. That was mostly because none of them wanted to just slaughter said animals for something that wasn't really their fault.

So, Weiss had made Jaune sap the evil back out of the animals, and then dispose of it slightly more intelligently this time.

That spell had taken roughly fifteen minutes to charge. Over those fifteen minutes, their band of idiots had gotten the absolute tar kicked out of them.

No one had been seriously injured, but then, injuries weren't always physical.

The bird poop coating Weiss' hair, for instance, didn't technically harm her in any way.

But it felt like it. It really felt like it.

Still, they managed to sap the evil from the animals in their small enclosure, and this time, Weiss got a good look at said evil as it was gathered into a small, purple ball.

"Originally," Jaune explained to her, "Evil had no form at all. Which makes sense, given it is a concept. But concepts are difficult to gauge the… well, existence of, so our mages decided to make evil a more physical and present thing that could be seen."

"Which is why it's purple?"

"Which is why it's purple."

They buried the tiny purple ball of pure evil in a random hole in the middle of a forest in Mistral. Their hope was that no one would ever uncover it.

Little did they know, of course, that trees were, technically, living things. Their roots would absorb that very evil, and become dark beings filled with naught but hate.

This wasn't as big of a deal as it sounded, of course, given that trees were trees, and thusly couldn't talk, think, move, or in really any way interact with the world around them. These particular trees were just evil.

This meant that the squirrels who lived within them always felt a small chill down the backs of their spines whenever they went to sleep at night.

But that was about it, really.

Kind of lame.

/

A day later, Weiss Schnee, with the Dread King of D'Arc slung along her back, and fifteen White Fang members at her back, stepped up to the gates of Mistral.

It had been a long time since she'd left Atlas, and set off for this very place. She had gone on quite the journey to make it here, but here, finally, she was. The city of the east stood before her, and after oh so very long, she could actually sleep in a real bed again.

She hadn't since Woodcreek, not wanting to stop and rest in another village for any extended period of time, but even Woodcreek's beds had been nothing more than a sheet over some hay. It wasn't exactly optimal. Just passable.

Funnily enough, it seemed she was not the only one among their number to be looking forward to making it into Mistral. Several of the White Fang were sighing in relief at seeing the city, and Adam himself had a small smile on his face.

"We'll need to purchase new clothes so that we can go somewhat unnoticed." Adam spoke. "Luckily, the sun set a few hours ago; we should have no trouble making our way into the city."

"Won't they stop you at the gate?" Weiss asked.

"My face is not known to the outside world. I have used a mask all my life."

Weiss' brow drew together. "…But your mask only covers your eyes. Your horns and hair are still entirely exposed."

"There are many with such features."

"Are there, though?"

"Ah, the gatekeepers."

Weiss turned and saw, sure enough, a pair of people guarding the gate into Mistral. They were big and burly men, wielding spears and looking intimidating. Well, not to Weiss, given she was a fairly competent Huntress in training, but to the average person they were likely quite so.

"Halt there, strangers," One of them spoke as he stepped up towards them. "We're of course not accusing you of anything, but we have word that suspicious individuals have been sighted in and around the area. We're screening everyone who comes in just in case."

"That's perfectly understandable." Adam spoke for her, stepping right up to them and giving them a perfect view of his very recognizable visage, "Whatever you need."

"Just a quick check."

Weiss' face went pale as one of the guards pulled from out of his pocket a card with the faces of several criminals on it. She saw Cinder Fall, Emerald, Mercury, and a few others.

But she also saw one Adam Taurus, looking almost identical to the man standing in front of her.

Oh.

They were boned.

The guard went over the sheet as he studied their groups faces. He hemmed and hawed, before eventually coming to a stop in front of Adam. He held the entire card up to Adam's face, and hummed below his breath as he looked back and forth between Adam, and masked Adam.

Weiss knew they were totally screwed.

"…Nope. No one suspicious here." The man announced. "You can go on in!"

Weiss just about screamed.

They were allowed in to Mistral some five minutes later, after Weiss had calmed down. She happened to know that the lower rungs of Mistral were for the less-well-off people, and that the dwellings tended to grow wealthier the higher one went in Mistral.

She was at the moment still… annoyed? Aggravated? Upset?

She was feeling an awful lot of things about the fact that apparently no one in the entire world could recognize Adam Taurus without his mask on.

Weiss was growing more and more convinced by the day that she'd somehow gone insane shortly after she'd arrived back in Atlas.

"Alright," Adam looked to her. "Where is our destination?"

"Right," She sighed out, trying to get her head on straight. "Well, I have reason to believe that Ruby and the others will have come here."

"Do you believe Blake will be with them?"

"Hm?" Weiss was initially concerned, thinking that Adam might not have gotten over all of the evil within him. "No, I don't think so. Why?"

"I wish to apologize to her, of course." Adam spoke, and his voice held no lie within it. "I owe her at least that much, after all. To Yang as well, the woman she has come to love in my stead."

"Uh… what?"

"You did not notice?"

"No!? What was I–" Weiss sucked in a breath. "Y'know what? Never mind. I'm not doing this with you right now."

"That is fine. I only asked because I figured that if we were going to be near the upper areas of Mistral anyways, I and the other members of the White Fang might be able to help put a stop to Cinder and her colleagues plans to attack Haven Academy."

"Their WHAT!?"

/

Up on the upper levels of Mistral, one Jasmine Arc winced as a piercing sound hit her eardrums.

"Did you guys hear something?" She asked.

"It sounded high-pitched." Ren spoke, humming. "The call of some kind of bird, perhaps?"

"Eh." Nora shrugged. "Probably nothing."

"C'mon, kids," Qrow spoke out in his gravelly voice. "We've got to go meet with Lionheart."

Jasmine raised her hand. "Does anyone else think it's weird that he's summoning all of us at like… the middle of the night? When there's going to be no one actually in Haven at all."

The others stopped to think about that for a second.

"Nah."

"Not really."

"Nope."

"You're overthinking things."

"Huh." Jasmine shrugged. "Guess you're right.

"I'm probably just being paranoid."

End Chapter 9

Alright, that was Chapter 9!

Not a ton to say tbh. Just keepin' on keepin' on! See you guys next week!

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