Patch: June 81 AGW, 8 months after the Fall of Beacon
Battered and beaten, Adam stumbled to his door. He was light headed and woozy, although he couldn't tell if it was from the blows to the head he'd taken, or if he was just sick from what he'd been forced to do… Looking back, the remains of Forest, his lieutenant, a man he'd once been proud to call his brother, now lay in two halves, bisected via a slash that traveled from his left shoulder down to his right hip. His chainsaw was left on the ground just a few inches from his hand, the motor still idling, still awaiting commands from its now dead master. This wasn't how he'd wanted it to go, he knew Sienna would send someone after him after he left, but he didn't think she'd have been so underhanded as to send one of his friends. She likely knew he'd hold back against his best soldier, it was a surgical and cruel tactic, one he would have been impressed by if he wasn't coming to terms with how it made him feel. He'd done his best to talk Forest down, but his feelings of betrayal and hurt stopped Adam's words from reaching him. In the end, his hand had been forced when the bat Faunus made a very direct threat to his newborn child. There was no hesitation after that, and the fight was over in an instant. In the past, spilling blood for his people had always filled the bull with pride, and he'd assumed it would be similar when defending his progeny. But that wasn't the case, as he just felt empty, he didn't want to do that, it was a complete waste of life. Had Forrest just listened to him, if he had just tried to hear him out, he might have walked away alive. But he didn't, Adam's sin of conceiving a child with a human was just too much for him to forgive after all her kind had taken from them, and now he was gone. Adam paused as he reached the door. Since when did he care about this? Friend or not, he hadn't been given a choice, by all perspectives, he was justified in what he'd done, but it still felt wrong, he felt… regret over taking a life. Taking one last glance at his former ally, he decided he would bury the body later when he was less drained.
Reaching out, he opened the door, leaving a bloody handprint on the doorknob. He didn't know if the blood had belonged to him or Forest, but he supposed it didn't really matter either way. Stepping inside, he was greeted by Doctor Teal standing by the door with a simple revolver shakily held in his grasp. It wasn't unusual, Patch had a small but non-negligible Grimm population, so most residents were armed for their own protection. He relaxed upon seeing Adam, but only for a moment as he registered that the Faunus was covered in blood.
"Well?"
"It's done." Adam sighed, dropping Wilt and Blush by the door, too tired to even care when they fell over. Like with Forest's body, he'd tend to it after he'd had a moment to rest.
"Figured as much." The Doctor took his finger off the trigger before holstering the weapon. "They're both doing fine, Ember's going to need to rest up for a few days, so diaper duty's on you for the time being."
He nodded, he knew next to nothing about child rearing, save that it was messy and delicate, but he'd made his bed and now he had to lay in it. It suddenly occurred to him, he was a father now. He'd obviously known that this day was coming, but now that it was here… Gods above, they of all people were going to be raising a child. He was no parent, he was a warrior, a leader, he inspired his brothers and sisters to fight and bring down the systems that shackled them, he didn't know how to be nurturing.
"Thank you. As soon as steady work comes in, I'll pay you back." It came as little surprise that there wasn't much work to be done, Adam had already used up the majority of his personal funds that he'd "borrowed" during his time in the Fang to buy the house, thankfully he was able to negotiate the price down by pointing out the distance and seclusion from town as if they were negatives instead of it being exactly what they were looking for.
"Don't worry about it. Honestly, you getting me out of the cabin is good enough." The easy going response wasn't one Adam had expected, nor was it one that sat right with him.
"I'm going to repay you." His voice was firm, leaving no room for debate on the topic. The man had done his family a service, he was going to get compensated.
"Tell you what, bring over a few bottles of beer, and we'll call it even." The old man knew better than to argue, he'd been young and stubborn once as well. Adam paused at the request, there was no way it was an even exchange, but he wasn't really in a position to negotiate.
"If that's what you want." Adam said, reluctantly agreeing to the terms and walking over to the door where Cinder and their child waited behind, only to have his hand slapped by the Doctor as he reached for the door. Adam pulled his hand back in surprise, it didn't really hurt, but he hadn't been expecting it.
"Hey! Wash up first, you can't go ahead and get blood on a newborn baby." Being scolded like that wasn't something he'd experienced in a while, but he didn't have a counter as the man was objectively right… Silently, he sulked over to the kitchen sink, discarding his coat and gloves before washing up. After thoroughly washing off the blood and viscera, he turned and showed off his now spotless skin, silently asking if his efforts were acceptable to the man's standards. The old man gave a cursory glance before nodding in approval and collecting his things. Adam didn't bother to watch as he left, instead walking over to the door where his family waited. Stepping in, his eye focused on Cinder. She looked drained, bags under her eye and practically dripping with sweat, yet she had a content smile on her face as she held their child. Adam wobbled over, his head still throbbing from earlier as he pulled up a chair and sat down next to them. The baby looked weird, though maybe it was just because he'd never seen a newborn before, all chubby and wrinkly, almost like a little meatball.
"How are you feeling?" Adam asked, putting on a calm face, he knew the last thing Cinder needed right now was for him to pour his heart out.
"Like I just had a baby." Cinder stroked the child's chubby little face, particularly two little nubs on either side of her forehead. "Are these normal?"
Ah, right, she didn't know a thing about raising Faunus kids, but, come to think of it, she was probably just as clueless about the subject of raising kids in general as he was. Maybe there was a book or something that would spell it out for them, if not, then they had one bumpy road ahead of them.
"The horns will grow out within the next few years. Don't worry, it's painless." he explained. She'd probably still freak out about the blood when they started coming in though, especially since she hardly seemed to be listening, just nodding along with a glassy look in her eyes. Though, he couldn't be too mad, it wasn't like he would ever know how hard it was to have a baby come out of him.
"Here, take her, I need to rest." Her… he had a daughter. Reaching out, he carefully took the infant into his arms, supporting her head with his arm, mostly because it was just what he'd heard he was supposed to do. The baby squirmed around in his grasp, she was restless like her parents. Adam smiled to himself as he held the precious little thing close to his chest, she had his red highlights in her otherwise black hair and her mother's amber eyes. It made him… happy. Happy huh? He'd almost forgotten what that felt like. "I decided on Scarlet."
Scarlet… He liked that name.
Patch: December 99 AGW
Adam stood on the porch, taking a moment before going back inside to face Scarlet. He looked out to the remnants of the old stump, now reduced to pieces. To think that things were actually simpler back then, with him and Cinder laying low, avoiding the White Fang and Salem all while figuring out how to raise their little girl. He'd honestly hoped he could avoid this conversation forever, as naive as that was. Looking back inside, he saw Scarlet staring back at him, her once bright eyes filled with pain as she looked back to him before turning away and going further inside. Adam waited for a bit longer, taking a deep breath as he prepared himself.
Lumi stared up at the wall, noticing that there weren't a lot of pictures throughout the Taurus-Fall household. There were even fewer if you counted the pictures without Scarlet, she'd counted maybe three throughout the short tour Scarlet had given them. One photo was of her mother with two other people she didn't recognise, but considering how much Jet took after the woman she could assume it was his parents. Based on the general ages of the people in the photo itself, she estimated that it couldn't have taken very long after her leader was born, it could've even been before. Another photo in the hallway was of Adam and who she presumed was Jet's father, it looked to be taken around the same timeframe as the previous one as they stood with their weapons out, Adam with Wilt drawn and an augmented sheath on his hip, and Jet's father with his pant legs rolled up, revealing a pair of mechanical legs with what appeared to be some form of integrated Dust mechanism in each. Immediately next to it was a framed picture of a Huntsman certificate for one Terracotta Taurus, dated early 81 AGW. The third photograph was taken far more recently, within the last year at most, featuring Scarlet's mother and father fast asleep on the couch, unconsciously holding one another. They looked so… normal, all of the photos did, and if she didn't know any better, she'd have seen just any other happy family. She didn't know how to feel, on one hand, they certainly didn't deserve this life after everything they'd done, after they'd deprived so many others of the chance to live this way. But, as she saw the pictures of Scarlet as a child that stood in stark contrast, she questioned herself. The little girl looked so happy next to her parents, they'd clearly been good to her, but was that enough to make up for what they did? As Lumi stood and mulled over her thoughts, Jin noticed her lost expression, walking over and taking her hand in his own. Despite the massive size difference between them that would have let him completely envelop her hand in his own had he wished, Lumi was the one squeezing his hand, and soon found her head resting on his bicep. A cough from behind caused them to turn to the hallway's end, where Adam was now waiting. He'd thankfully put his eyepatch back on, hiding the unsightly scar that marred his left eye, yet it didn't help her feel any less nervous to face the man.
"You're welcome to take a seat, this is going to be a long talk." Lumi went frigid, as despite him seeming calm and welcoming, she was still petrified by his mere presence. Videos and stories were one thing, but to see the man in the flesh was something else all together. Then, a simple squeeze of the hand from Jin pulled her out from the maelstrom of her own thoughts, bringing her back into the moment. Still not trusting herself to speak to the man, she nodded in silence for her response and took Jin into the living room where she'd seen Scarlet and Jet. The other half of SJJL were already seated, Scarlet was clearly uneasy about what was about to happen, looking more closed off than Lumi had even seen, while Jet awkwardly looked at the floor, head resting upon his interlocked fingers. She and Jin each took their seats next to their partners as Cinder and Adam followed behind them closely, both choosing to stand across the room from the teens rather than sit. The air was heavy with apprehension as no one wanted to be the one to start the conversation, and it certainly didn't help that half of the room didn't really feel like it was their place to begin with.
"You all have questions, and well, now's the time to ask." In the end, it was Adam who broke the silence. Lumi had expected the same stoic voice he'd addressed her and Jin with, but instead he just sounded tired, like a man who couldn't run even if he wanted to.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Scarlet sounded just as tired as her dad, she was long past the point where she could hide the emotional turmoil. Cinder winced, seeing her baby in such a state of distress caused her heart to ache with guilt, especially knowing that she'd played a part in it.
"I- We didn't want you to grow up like we did, we wanted to give you as normal of a life as we could." Cinder tried to explain. The feeling of failure was a familiar one, yet it was something she'd never wanted to associate with Scarlet. But, as it stood now, she couldn't deny she'd failed her daughter. It was her job to prepare Scarlet for this, and yet she'd sent her blindly to Beacon knowing something like this was bound to happen, all so that she and Adam could delay the inevitable.
"We… we should have told you when you were old enough to handle it." Adam added.
"Just how much of what you told me is a lie?" She didn't seem satisfied with their explanation so far, not that either of them had expected it. The fact of the matter was that there wasn't a good reason for their decision, they just couldn't bring themselves to tell Scarlet what they'd done until the choice had been made for them.
"Do you remember how we told you that me and your father met through work?" Scarlet nodded cautiously at her mother's words, remembering how they'd described it as a job that wasn't right for them, and how getting pregnant with her made them realize they wanted more from life. Something she guessed was about to be revealed as a cover story. "That was the truth, but we weren't office workers like we told you."
"So, you were a terrorist like Dad then?" It made sense, her mother was heavily burnt on her upper left side, missing both her left arm and a good portion of her face. Additionally, she was also a highly skilled archer, even though she regularly battled with her various prosthetic limbs over the years, a series of injuries and a skillset that, in hindsight, didn't really track for an office worker turned housewife. Cinder didn't deny the accusation, closing her eye and taking a deep breath, she was never good at… this, she was a woman of action, she didn't really talk things through. After a moment of contemplating the best way to answer, she decided to just rip the bandaid off and get it out of the way.
"I'm the reason your father was at the Fall of Beacon." The response was about what she'd expected, which was absolute silence from the entire room. Scarlet was too stunned to speak, knowing her own mother was behind the worst terrorist attack in recent history would probably take a while to recover from. Jet was the only one of them to not look surprised, he was just as uneasy as the rest, but not nearly as shocked. She supposed it made sense, he was a smart boy after all, and leagues more attentive than either of his parents. Jin's more easy going expression was whipped clean off his face as he subconsciously sank back into the couch, away from them, and Lumi, oh that girl was livid, her face turned red with rage. Adam pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, he probably shouldn't have been surprised by Cinder's lack of tact, delicate topics were never her strong suit, not that they came any easier to him, but there had to have been a more gentle way to say it.
"You? It was you!?" Lumi immediately stood up and pointed her finger at the woman before her with a look of pure disdain, but she remained unfazed by her righteous fury. "Do you have any idea what you put my Father through?"
"I don't remember your father." Lumi went slack-jawed at the statement, looking as though she'd been slapped, to have her beloved Dad's pain and suffering completely dismissed like that was unthinkable. Cinder wasn't trying to insult Lumi or Jaune, but the list of people who'd suffered because of her was, to be frank, long, for all she knew it could have been anyone. "I've hurt a lot of people, most of them didn't deserve it."
"For fuck's sake Mom, is that really all you can say?" Scarlet asked with disgust in her voice as she took a stand besides her partner, mistaking her mother's calm answer for apathy and getting even angrier because of it. Jet joined them a moment later, grabbing Scarlet's wrist to get her attention.
"Scar, please, try to calm down." It was like she couldn't even hear him, she was just… done.
"No!" She ripped her hand free from Jet and took another step towards her Mom and Dad. "Who are you two? Who did I get raised by? Is anything about the two of you real? Is our family even real!?"
"Of course it is, why else would we throw everything away for you?!" Adam had heard enough, while he understood her frustration with them, he could only stand so much disrespect from her before he got agitated. The idea that he was merely pretending with his family, the only thing he truly had in this world, set him off like nothing else. Scarlet flinched, while Lumi physically backed up. He regretted his outburst almost immediately, opening his mouth to try and explain, but nothing came out. Cinder then stepped in between him and SJJL, placing her hand on his chest in an attempt to comfort the man.
"Adam. Let me handle this." Her voice was soft and calming, and her eye was filled with understanding. Adam sighed and stepped back, glancing over to the door that was left hanging open from the impact his body had left earlier. Upon further inspection, it was dangling off of one hinge. It was probably as good of a distraction as he was going to get.
"Jet, do you remember where the toolbox is? I need to get started on the door." The boy nodded, unbothered by the fact that he'd seemingly been conscripted into helping fix the damage and heading down the hall. Jin, deciding to take some responsibility, wandered over to Adam and got to work, asking to help in any way he could. Lumi hesitated for a moment, looking between Jin and Scarlet, but after a calm nod from her leader, Lumi hesitantly joined the boys, watching Jin try to balance the door in place while Adam aligned the loose hinge with its previous position. Scarlet and Cinder stood in silence, while the tension had been alleviated somewhat, it was far from forgotten. Because of this, Cinder motioned for Scarlet to follow her, heading out the back door and into the woods behind their home. The dense foliage of the trees was a familiar comfort to them both, Scarlet and Lupin having dragged Jet out to play all the time. Cinder meanwhile, trained out here regularly, finding a sense of comfort in the additional seclusion the trees offered over her backyard. They came to a clearing not too far in, Cinder coming to a stop and taking a seat on a fallen log, joined shortly by Scarlet, who sat on the opposite end.
"You wanted to know who we were. Are you sure about this?" As Scarlet looked back into her Mom's eye, she could see that she was just as enthused to have this talk as her, but at the same time she was resolved. Scarlet swallowed the lump in her throat and decided to start with something smaller.
"Before that, I know Dad's real name now, but I'm guessing Ember's a fake name too?" Cinder nodded in response. In truth it was more complicated than that, she didn't really have a true name, in her eyes, ''Ember'' was as real as the name she'd first been given, as real as the surname she'd chosen for herself and passed down to her child. But she knew what Scarlet meant by her question, so she kept it simple.
"My name is Cinder."
"Cinder…" Scarlet said slowly, testing the name out to see how it felt, coming to the conclusion that it was fitting for her Mom. The woman in question decided to get down to business once more, the sooner they started talking, the better.
"Your father and I weren't always… decent people." That was probably the understatement of the century, and unsurprisingly, Scarlet wasn't happy with this explanation on its own. But, Cinder knew she'd have more angst to get off of her chest, and so she didn't interrupt when Scarlet shot back.
"So you're saying that's not who you are anymore? That you fell in love and changed for each other?" Scarlet mocked the story she was expecting to hear, and Cinder had to hand it to her, if that was what had actually happened, it would have stung, but instead Cinder just laughed.
"Scarlet, your father and I didn't love each other when we made you." That clearly wasn't what Scarlet had been expecting, being yet another shock to the girl, although, based on how she didn't immediately burst into another series of accusations, it was far less severe a shock than before. Either way, now she had her attention and she wasn't going to waste it. "I strong-armed him into helping me, but that wasn't enough, I needed to ensure his loyalty."
"You… d-did you baby trap Dad with me?" Scarlet asked, her tone filled with dread. The fact that she was apparently conceived as a result of some sort of screwed up deal between terrorists was bad enough, but the idea that she only existed as leverage for her Mom to hold over her Dad just made her want to puke.
"No, and even if I had tried, I doubt it would have worked." Cinder said, trying and failing to be reassuring. It was clear that Scarlet wasn't taking this how she had intended, and hurting her baby even further was the last thing she wanted right now. Reaching out, she gently took Scarlet's hand and asked her a question. "Does our family feel fake to you?"
"No, I guess not." Scarlet mumbled after a moment of contemplation. She knew she was loved, she couldn't deny that, she wouldn't have felt so betrayed if her parents had acted like terrorists bent on causing pain and misery wherever they went. No, it hurt because they'd always felt like a normal family to her. But there were parts that still stood out to her, especially Adam's earlier words. "What did Dad mean exactly when he said the two of you threw everything away for me?"
Cinder hummed to herself, staring off into space as she remembered that day, the day she left everything, and by extension, the day that changed everything.
Mistral: March 81 AGW, 5 months after the Fall of Beacon
Cinder stared at herself in the mirror, still not used to the changes her body had recently undergone. Unsightly burn scars permanently etched into her skin around her left eye, the absence of said organ, a Grimm parasite in place of her left arm, and… a bump in her belly where a new life was growing. She grimaced before locking eyes with herself once more, trying to ask herself a simple question: what the hell was she doing?
Her decision to leave everything behind wasn't one she'd put much thought into before committing to it, Salem had made it easy after all. The Grimm queen had attempted to soothe her as the initial panic set in over the unexpected, and frankly, unwanted pregnancy. At first, she fell for the witchs comforting words, she'd known exactly how motherly reassurance was something Cinder had longed for and she used it against her with ease. Cinder had expected harshness from her master, to be chided for risking everything or at the very least to be called a harlot. But instead, Salem was gentle, stroking her back as she processed the news that she was having a child. In fact, Salem praised her for securing the power of the Fall Maiden and killing Ozpin all while experiencing the early symptoms of pregnancy. She eventually asked Cinder what she planned to do with the child, but when she firmly declared she had no intentions of carrying Adam's bastard to term, Salem overplayed her hand.
"Well, the decision is yours, but you should put more thought into it, this child… great things could come from her." Her, the way Salem had said that made it clear that it was no guess. That one slip of the tongue told Cinder that Salem had plans for the child; she wanted another girl to groom into a maiden vessel. At the time, there wasn't even enough to see with an ultrasound, but she was already planning on how she could use the child for her own gain. It disturbed Cinder, and she didn't know why. Maybe it was just selfishness, the fact that it was her child- no, no that couldn't be it, she didn't care for the brat herself, it was just a wake up call. She'd known Salem was using her, and she'd been fine with that so long as it gave her the power she'd sought, but if she was really ready to use something as innocent as a fetus to her advantage, what would she be willing to do with someone like her?
Well, that was that, over half of the last decade of her life was all for naught because of one stupid decision… one she and Adam repeated more times than she'd ever admit. It was ironic that her spur of the moment decision to give him a little incentive to be more agreeable had such consequences. She had no intentions of letting him know, he'd been using her just as much as she'd been using him. The moment she first saw Blake Belladonna in Beacon's halls, him giving into her advances made so much sense. Long black hair, amber eyes, fair skin, her aloof attitude, they even both had deeper voices than most of the women around them… Adam certainly had a type. She wondered if Belladonna had ever smelled Adam's scent on her, the thought made her chuckle, and she was certain Mercury had said something about the girl checking them out. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but Cinder chose to believe that the girl was second guessing the presence of a very familiar scent. The brief amusement soon faded as she hardened her heart once more in preparation for what she was about to do. In truth, the fact that Adam was a fanatic who'd probably react with violence at the thought of a human baring his child played a small part in her decision not to tell him, however, it was mainly because soon it would be nothing but a memory.
Leveling her stomach over the sink she concentrated her power, manifesting a mixture of her Semblance and the magma she could create with her newfound powers. The molten rock took shape into a pointed double sided dagger, and she tested the weapon by running the tip of her index finger along the sharpened edge, feeling it easily cut into her soft skin, coming to the conclusion that it would do. She braced herself, it would hurt like hell but she'd suffered worse, from the Grimm being implanted into her flesh and bonding with her nerves to Ruby blasting her with a light that burned worse than fire. In comparison, this would be easy, and her aura would heal it in seconds. She was doing this child a favor, the idea of her as a loving mother was laughable, so the options were to raise it out of obligation and have it grow up angsty and resentful for its lot in life, leave it on the steps of some orphanage where it would likely be unloved and unwanted, or even worse, sold into slavery like she was. So while some would think it unthinkable and cruel, the decision was an obvious one for her. Gritting her teeth in preparation for the pain, she raised the dagger to her stomach, but for some reason her hand shook, and she had to force herself to use her shadow hand to steady the weapon. She stared down at the dagger, her reflection visible in the blade and… she couldn't do it.
She couldn't? What the hell was the matter with her? Venting her frustrations with a snarl, she turned around and exited the bathroom, taking a seat on the bed of her hotel room she sighed. The room was run down, as expected for a cheap hotel in the lower levels of Mistral, they didn't even ask for a name when she checked in, probably assuming she was just another "working girl". Setting her dagger to the side for now, she rested her human hand on the small bump protruding from her abdomen. Why couldn't she do it? She wasn't attached to it, that didn't make any sense, it wasn't even sentient yet, but she couldn't really think of another explanation. She thought about it, the idea of raising this child, she imagined herself having the baby, it would have her eyes, eyes filled with love for her. By the Brothers, was she really so desperate for affection that she was actually considering this? She didn't need anyone else, that's why she pushed Emerald away, why she rejected any attempts from Mercury to "hang out". But if that was true, why did it hurt whenever the street thief looked close to tears or when her assassin would bitterly mumble something under his breath whenever shot down? Even with her so-called lover she hadn't been able to completely disconnect herself. She certainly didn't stay overnight in those dingy little hotels because the beds were comfortable, but from his arms, to his warmth, to his smell, it was like she'd been given something she'd never known she needed. Even Salem had used her motherly act to ensure her loyalty early on, taking advantage of her desires for love when she needed it most.
However, it still made no sense to her, how would these attachments help her gain power? Yes, that was still her goal, and it hadn't changed. She'd track down the remaining maidens and take what was rightfully hers, then no one could oppose her, not Ozpin once he reincarnated, not Salem, and not Ruby, she'd be unstoppable.
But what about after that?
She did her best to snuff out the intrusive thought, but yet it lingered in her mind still. Even with all that power, she'd be all alone, she'd be exactly where she started after she killed Rhodes, but if she kept the baby… there was a chance someone might actually love her, someone she could love back. It was selfish, undeniably so, but it was too tempting to deny. Of course she'd need to do something about the Grimm growths within her. She didn't know exactly how they worked, but it was safe to assume that it gave Salem some level of control over her… As painful as the idea was, she knew the solution. She'd need to find a silver eyed warrior.
THUMP THUMP
The loud thumps from someone knocking on the door interrupted her thoughts. Who was bothering her now? She was sure she'd put the do not disturb sign on the handle.
"Leave." She growled, intending to scare off whoever had the audacity to try and intrude on her privacy.
THUMP THUMP THUMP
Apparently they didn't get the message, only getting more insistent upon hearing her voice. She stood up reluctantly, picking her dagger back up and concealing it in her sleeve as she made her way towards the door. She opened it and was greeted by a familiar face, or more accurately, the lower half of one, the rest concealed by a white Grimm mask adorned with red highlights. Her heart rate quickened, but she managed to keep the panic out of her voice as she addressed him.
"Adam." How had he found her? Furthermore, why had he tracked her down at all? Hazel was now in charge of the dealings with the White Fang as far as she knew. He let himself in, closing the door behind him and stepping right into her personal space. She didn't let him intimidate her, even with the differences in their height made more obvious now that she was no longer wearing her heels.
"I know." He spoke with obvious contempt in his voice, looking down at her stomach the same way she looked at her black skeletal arm. So the cat was out of the bag, how? It had to be a part of Salem's circle, Hazel was busy, and Tyrian would have just hunted her himself. Was it Watts? Sending Adam to do his dirty work sounded like something that coward would do, but she had to be sure.
"Who told yo-"
"I can smell the hormones on you, I knew about the pregnancy long before you did. I just assumed you'd have been smart enough to take care of it. So, why are you still pregnant?" Cinder considered her words for a moment, she didn't really have a good reason, and furthermore, why did he feel he was owed an explanation at all? It was clear he didn't want the child, so rather than give him the time of day to explain her thought process, she just brushed him off.
"Well, technically we're pregnant." Cinder watched as his jaw clenched, he was clearly agitated, probably not thinking straight if he'd abandoned his duties to come argue with her. A familiar reflex made itself known and caused her to take evasive action, backflipping just in time to avoid a waist level slash that was shot out at blinding speeds thanks to Blush's trigger. Her Aura protected her as she went right through the glass door that led outside onto the walkway. It seemed like Adam had already made his mind up about how this confrontation was going to go, so Cinder raised her dagger, adding more magma to the blade using her magic and Semblance in conjunction, forcing it to grow, warp, and harden in the shape of Midnight, her old bow/scimitars. There was no time for this, so she decided to play on the hothead's anger. He was already lashing out, now she just needed to get him worked up.
"So, can it be anything, or will it be a goat like you?" She knew damn well he was a bull Faunus, but even if she wasn't trying to get him to act up, the pure rage spreading across his lower face was amusing enough to justify the comment. "I ask because of the horns, they don't exactly sound fun coming out."
That did the trick, he swung at her once again, a rage filled scream escaping his mouth as he swung his sword, this time at her neck, but she blocked the heavily telegraphed blow with one arm, twisting herself into locking blades. Adam attempted to push her back, driving forwards with both of his hands on Wilt,only to be completely stonewalled, having forgotten that between the two of them, and even while pregnant, she was the stronger one. Her Grimm hand was still free, hidden within her sleeve, she could have hit him with a fireball, hell, she could have ended him right there, but instead she decided to remind him of his place, beneath her. She shifted her blade and deflected the pressure into the door of a nearby car, the heated metal of his Dustforged sword carving through it like a hot knife through butter. Flexing the strength of her abilities, she brought her blade down as he recovered, landing a blow on his arm that caused his Aura to flicker as it stressed to dampen the blow, however, it wasn't fully successful as she'd clearly cut into his arm. She followed the blow with another, only for him to sheath his blade, use the firing function to match her strength, deflect the strike with one of his own. With her blade now thoroughly incapable of playing defense, he quickly followed his strike up with an encore, knocking the obsidian blade from her hand with a carefully placed upwards strike to her wrist. Okay, so he was more skilled than she'd given him credit for, she wouldn't make the same mistake again. Now disarmed, Cinder was easily pushed back, evading cuts and slashes from Wilt.
"You're nothing but another mistake I'm going to correct." It was hard to hear his declarations over the sounds of rending metal as his wild swings cut into nearby cars as she led him around the parking lot. She decided to let the man child wear himself out, mostly just watching him and deflecting the occasional strike when she had no other choice. As much as she hated to admit it, he was rather attractive when he tried to act all tough, but she shoved the intrusive thought away and focused on her goal, pushing him further with her taunts.
"Oh Adam, what's the matter? Don't want it to get out that you had a little fling with a human?" He didn't respond, gritting his teeth as he charged after her, still holding Wilt and being ready to strike. Just a bit more and she'd have him where she wanted him. "I guess Blake would probably be pretty upset that, even while you were hunting her down, you were sleeping with another woman."
Adam brought Wilt down for an overhead strike that would have cut a normal person in two, and while far from normal, Cinder had no intentions of getting hit by it, quickly spinning out of the way and raising her leg as she turned, using the momentum to land a direct kick to his mask, shattering it. The Faunus stumbled back, but quickly shook off the strike, with his mask gone, there was nothing to hide the disdain he had for her in his eyes, or, she supposed, eye was more accurate. She'd belittled him over having let that brand define him before, a low blow she threw as she walked out from their meeting just to get the last word in. But now that she had her own mark, and over the same eye no less, she understood that anger, that desire to get even. She could have sympathy for him later though, for now she needed him angry and stupid.
"Tell you what, Blake's a universal name, right? Would it make you feel better if we named it after her? If it has my hair and eyes, it'll look pretty similar right? You certainly have a type." The moment her words registered, Adam started to glow red with rage.
"You would, wouldn't you!?" There it was, just what she'd needed. He swung again and again, his once refined blows now sloppy and aimless, desperate to cut her down for her mockery. "That's why you ran, you're just like her! And now you're pretending you care about it!"
On any other day he'd have had a point, but now things were different. Not that she could blame him though, after how she'd cruelly use Emerald, acting like her friend just to use her and then tossing her to the side once she wasn't needed. Her guilt caused her to hesitate, something Adam capitalized on immediately, stabbing his blade into the ground before swinging up and throwing dirt and bits of concrete into her face, obscuring her vision. She couldn't see him, but she clearly heard him jump off of a car hood to get above her. She instinctively dove to the side, and the moment she did, she heard the sound of a blade piercing concrete. Knowing that this was her best chance for the time being, she raised her hand and blindly shot a fireball at where she'd just been standing, hitting Adam square in the chest and breaking his Aura as he hit the ground, the man gasping for air as the ball of flame knocked all the air from his lungs. Before he could recover, Cinder straddled him, forming another dagger from the dust that coated her face with her powers and holdinging the superheated blade less than an inch away from his neck.
"Now, this is a far more familiar position, right darling?" Cinder's mocking tone obviously infuriated him, but with no way to retaliate that wouldn't end with him bleeding out on the floor or burning to slag as she watched, he decided to go with the option that would sting the most.
"Do you really think you could be a good mother?" Adam asked while he sneered up at her. He fully expected the woman to make up an excuse or lie through her teeth, but Cinder couldn't deny it even if she'd wanted to. She didn't know what a good mother was like, Salem and the Madame had both corrupted the idea of motherhood into being a controlling manipulator, something to fear, something to overcome. She didn't know what being a genuine mother was like, but she knew it wasn't that.
"No." Her honesty shocked both of them, Adam's mask of smug indifference quickly giving way to confusion as he stared up at her.
"Then… why? Why ruin both of our lives over this?" Cinder laughed, she actually laughed in his face for that. It was rich, like either of them still had a life left to ruin. They were killers, terrorists, monsters. A child would change nothing about them in the eyes of their enemies, nor the people who genuinely bought the causes they'd served.
"Don't act like you care about this child, or the Faunus." Cinder's words elicited a different response than she expected. Adam looked away, pain filling his eyes as he trembled under her. Oh Brothers, was he about to cry? Did he think that would gain her sympathy? "You're just another heartless monster clawing at power. Just. Like. Me."
"I did! I-I did!" It wasn't the answer she'd expected, this wasn't the rage filled radical she'd recruited, no, it was just a man who couldn't take any more, broken down by everything life had inflicted on him. Blake leaving must have been the last straw, the last bit of his heart that he could take, now he was just scared and alone. He really was just like her, wasn't he? Damn it, she couldn't leave him like this, and at this point, he was too pitiful to kill. Reaching down, she cupped his cheek, forcing him to look up at her as they locked eyes.
"So, is killing your Faunus child showing how much you care then?" He looked away, wiping the tears from his eyes with his sleeve as he tried to rationalize his actions.
"It would be better off without us as parents." Maybe he was right, but they both knew that wasn't how the game of life worked, you didn't always get the perfect pieces, most of the time you just had to make things work, and after everything she'd been through, she'd be damned if parenthood was what beat her in the end.
"I never took you for a quitter." she said, getting off of him and standing up straight. She might have let him get it all out of his system if they didn't just publicly trash a parking lot together, but even on the squalid level of the city they were in, the cops would show up eventually, they needed to move, and move fast. She walked over and pulled Wilt from the ground before throwing it at his feet, the bull looking down at the blade and then up at her in confusion. "Get your head on straight, and maybe, just maybe, I won't tell the baby what happened here."
There were no words after that, both of them coming to a silent agreement that, whether they liked it or not, they were in this together. Slowly getting to his feet, Adam sheathed Wilt into Blush before turning and taking one last look at the shattered fragments of his mask left on the ground. He considered collecting the pieces, but decided against it. He decided to leave with Cinder, ready to find a new place to lay low and plan out their next move.
Cinder hadn't thought about that day in a long time, she was ashamed of the woman she once was, but she was proud of Adam and herself for becoming so much more than that. If anything, they hadn't 'given up' anything for Scarlet, she'd set them free, free from the shackles of their masters who'd used them like attack dogs, and most of all, free from themselves, from the unending path of hatred they once walked. Looking at her daughter now, she didn't have a simple answer to her question. She probably wouldn't understand if she just said the White Fang or Salem, however, that was a reality she didn't want to expose her little girl to just yet, one worldview altering event was more than enough for her first year at Beacon.
"Do you know what your father was like before you were born?" Cinder asked, mostly rhetorically. Scarlet wouldn't have shown up if she didn't at least have an idea of Adam's past, but she also wanted to gauge just how much she knew before going forward with the conversation.
"I saw… I saw videos." Scarlet said reluctantly, flashes of her father dismembering Jin's mother as she tried to defend his other mom mixed with countless other atrocities in her head. Her stomach churned once more before she shook off the feeling of disgust that followed. It was about what Cinder expected, and more than explained why Scarlet had lashed out the way she did. Really, what had they expected? Adam was the White Fang's poster boy for years, of course there would be disturbing footage of him floating around.
"Do you know why he was ever like that to begin with?" The brand, it had to be right? She knew the Schnee Dust Company didn't have a good track record with Faunus, and her Dad had always refused to buy Dust from Schnee supplied stores, even if it was more expensive to do so, something she'd always felt was out of character for the man who'd fight a horde of Grimm by his lonesome before he bought name brand cereal, but being branded like cattle? She didn't think it was a good reason to kill innocents, and she certainly didn't forgive him, but she could understand why he did it.
"The brand?" Cinder nodded, she was close enough, and it wasn't like she expected someone as young as Scarlet to understand so easily.
"That's part of it, but plenty of people suffer like he did and don't lash out like that. The difference is that Adam let his hate control him. Hatred for the humans that enslaved him and branded him, hatred for the kingdoms that allowed the abuse of his people. The reason he came to hate your friend's mother is because of the simple fact that she didn't let herself be consumed by that same hatred."
"But then… what happened?" That was the question, wasn't it? Thankfully, unlike the last one, it had a far simpler answer.
"You happened." Cinder saw the conflicted look in her eyes and reached out, gently taking Scarlet's hand in her own as they sat alone in the woods. "The doctor who delivered you, the only doctor that could reach us when you came, was a human. He had to trust someone from a species he'd been waging war against for most of his life with the only thing he cared about in this world. You."
Scarlet paused, disbelief clear on her face. There was no way that was it… right? She had a hard time buying that the man Adam had been would trust a human to run a bath, let alone help deliver her, but then again, her Mom was human, maybe he just saw them as the 'good ones' or something.
"What about you? Didn't he care about you?" Cinder couldn't hold back the snort of amusement but thankfully managed to stop herself from outright laughing, the disappointment and confusion on Scarlet's face curbing any enjoyment she could have gotten from the question.
"He tolerated me at best for those first few years. We grew to love each other eventually, but for years we stayed together for you." Cinder watched as the amber eyes Scarlet had inherited from her were cast downward at her own feet. She tried to pull her hand out of her grasp, but she held on, not letting her pull away. She understood that it hurt to hear that she wasn't born from love, but the important part was that she was loved now.
"You fixed two very broken people, dear. Just by being born, you turned two people who had nothing but hatred and selfishness in their hearts and turned them into… us." Scarlet looked up, tears in her eyes. Cinder reached out and gently stroked Scarlet's cheek with her human right hand, wiping away the tears as they fell. Her voice cracked as she softly spoke. "You wouldn't recognize either of us back then, and I wouldn't want you to."
"Why you? I… I get why Dad would be like that, I still wanna knock his teeth out for it, but I get it. Why would you attack Beacon though?" To Scarlet's shock, her Mother pulled away, unable to face her as she spoke plainly, not sugar coating a thing.
"I wanted power." The shame was clear in Cinder's tone. Reluctantly, she looked back up and was met with Scarlet's face contorting with several different emotions, anger, confusion, disgust and disbelief all flowing across her features at once.
"That's it?" No, no, she refused to believe that was true, it made no sense. Her Dad at least had a goal, a cause he could use to lampshade his actions as in service to, but becoming a terrorist? Burning her school to the ground? All of that just for pure selfishness? That was unthinkable.
"I wasn't the same person either, I was angry at the world for taking what I felt I deserved, nothing more than a selfish child throwing a tantrum. I wasn't above using anyone back then, It didn't matter who was in my way, who I had to use, just ask Emerald. You changed that dear, you changed me." Scarlet nodded, biting her tongue as she tried to process everything she was being told. Coming to terms with who her parents were was taking a lot out of her, there was no reason for her Mom to lie about this stuff, but she just didn't understand.
"But how did attacking Beacon or killing people help you get power?" Cinder sighed, there didn't seem to be any way around it. She stood up and walked a few steps away, facing away from her daughter. Scarlet went to follow, but she silently held out her hand, stopping her. She hadn't used this power in over a decade, she'd had no use for it after all, but, since she'd already told her everything else, there was no reason to hide this part. Scarlet noticed that the air suddenly felt colder, a breeze picking up suddenly. She looked up, seeing it was still sunny out, no clouds or anything, so why did it suddenly get all cold and windy?
"There was a pair of girls with a power, and the first one was named Amber. I didn't just kill her, Scarlet, I stole a part of her very being. Then when the other girl, Pyrrha, was chosen to try and keep the power where it rightfully belonged, I did the same to her, all for this." Cinder turned and faced her daughter, and Scarlet froze. It looked like her mother's eye was on fire, or was it producing fire? Either way, she could feel… something coming off of her Mom, and whatever it was, it felt wrong, so much so that it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Suddenly, the sound of thunder caught her attention, looking up to see gray storm clouds forming overhead, emerging from nothing. Was… was her Mom doing this? Was that the power she was talking about? Taking a step back, she forced herself to look into her mother's eye, the flames still burning brightly around it.
"What is that? What are you?" Cinder sighed and relaxed her power, and just as soon as the clouds appeared, they were gone, along with the wind and the chill in the air, returning to the warm, calm day it was just a minute ago.
"I'm your mother Scarlet, and this? This is a power I hope you never inherit." Cinder said, her voice filled with remorse as the fire faded from her eye.