Chapter Text
In the midst of a red forest, a masked girl wearing a white and black outfit sat on a barren rock. She looked into the twilit distance, a cool breeze tickling the two sleek cat ears poking out from beneath her onyx-black hair. One ear twitched at the sound of someone approaching.
"Blake," a voice called to the girl, who turned to see a man in a black coat. He had two reddish-brown horns protruding from similarly colored hair, and wore a thin white and red mask to cover his eyes.
"Adam," Blake said, the apprehension in her shoulders fading. "Is it time?"
Adam nodded, offering her a hand. She took it, hopping off the rock, and the pair began running through the forest. Blake felt Adam's confidence radiate around her, their pace quickening just before they came to a stop at a cliff. Below them lay a train track that twisted through the crimson landscape.
Letting go of Blake's hand, Adam crouched down to study the tracks right below them. Blake turned her head back the way they came, her posture becoming more rigid. Adam glanced at her. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" he asked. "You can head back if you want."
"No," Blake said. She shook her head and steeled herself. "We're only disrupting a cargo train from Atlas. Distancing them from Vale so they'll reconsider how they're treating faunus." Nodding to herself, she turned back and joined Adam.
"I'm ready," Blake said, their masked faces meeting, readable only to each other.
Adam nodded to her. The corner of his mouth tilted into a smirk as he said, "And we're going to liberate a whole train load of Atlesian weaponry; put it to use for the right cause."
Blake gave him a small smile of her own. They turned back to look over the cliff, finding a train hurtling down the tracks. The black vehicle rumbled beneath them, its blocky frame hauling flatbed cars laden with cargo secured by massive cables.
Wordlessly, Adam jumped off the cliff, skidding down the near vertical incline. Blake followed suit, the pair of them making a final jump to land on the train. They each pierced the roof with a weapon—Adam with Wilt, a bright red sword, and Blake with Gambol Shroud, a dark gray cleaver—to brace themselves against the train's momentum.
Once safely on board, they stowed their blades and darted toward an access hatch. Adam knelt beside it, flourishing Wilt with blurring speed. The lock split after the slice, allowing him to lift the hatch. He dropped in first, with Blake following after.
In the dark train car, a human would have been completely blinded, but the faunus were not so handicapped. Remaining crouched, hands on their weapons, the couple spotted numerous humanoid shapes surrounding them. Red light shone out of where their faces would be-if they were people.
Lasers flashed through the room, passing over the faunus and alerting the guards to their presence. The heads of the robots transformed into crude helmets as they craned to look at Adam and Blake.
"Looks like we're doing this the hard way," Adam said as the metal men sprang to life.
"Don't be so dramatic," Blake said, wrapping the ribbon of Gambol Shroud around her sword hand.
"Intruders," a metallic voice emanated from the machines that surrounded them. "Identify yourselves."
Adam smiled coldly as he hit a trigger on Blush, his sword's scabbard. The sheathe fired his weapon out hilt first, impacting a robot in its chin. Darting forward, Adam snatched Wilt by its hilt and spun, cleaving through the metal figure's chestplate.
As their compatriot fell, bright red blades extended from the other guard's arms as they charged Adam and Blake.
Two formed up behind Blake, ready to corner her. With a grunt, she leapt over her opponents backwards, leaving behind a blurry image of herself. The illusion distracted the robots, allowing Blake to slash both through the waist with her cleaver. The robots fell into a pile of scrap as she landed.
Blake ran back toward Adam, ducking under his wide blade swing as he took on another two opponents. She skewered a robot that would have flanked Adam as he shot down more with fiery blasts from his scabbard. The cat faunus cartwheeled away from a trio of enemies as the bull faunus spun, cutting down the machines that were closing in on them.
Blake cut through a charging guard as Adam reset his stance, sheathing Wilt. Blake intercepted a robot trying to get behind Adam, severing one of its bladed arms. Adam flourished his sword, removing the head of the robot in front of him.
Striking her opponent again, Blake cleaved through its torso as Adam shot another opponent down with a point-blank round from Blush. The two steadied themselves, back to back, taking stock of their remaining opponents and readying their weapons. A different bot stepped up from the front of the car, leveling two gatling gun arms at the couple.
Gunfire filled the train car as Adam stepped in front of Blake, deflecting most of the bullets with his sword. The blade began to glow with the blood-red power of his semblance, absorbing the force of the machine guns for later use.
As he was holding its attention, Blake ran past the shower of bullets, dodging a few stray rounds. She met the gunner bot first, slashing its arms off at the elbows and then smacking it to the ground. A robot with bladed arms rushed her, getting bisected as Blake whirled into their ranks.
She spun low, slashing through another bot's legs before lifting the blade of her cleaver by a side handle. The hilt separated, revealing a sleek black sword underneath. She brought her new weapon across the chestplate of the next bot, then jumped up and slammed its face into the floor with a flip kick.
Blake landed, barely winded, as more bots rushed her. She backhanded the first with her cleaver before cutting it down with her sword. Leaving behind a motionless copy of herself, Blake slashed the next robot with her sword before swiftly following up with her cleaver. The metal man faltered through the air, its arms falling from its body.
An identical bot engaged her, only to get impaled beneath the chestplate by Blake's blade. Using her semblance, she left another shadow behind while pushing forward, rapidly slashing two more guards with her weapons. They fell to the ground, the lights of their helms flickering briefly before going out.
The last robot on her side of the car held a defensive stance, its arm blades ready as Blake spun to meet it. She slashed with her swords, trying to whirl under its guard, but the bot proved more capable than its fellows. Her blades met the bot's hard-light weapons with a spark.
The guard struck out with its other arm, forcing Blake on the defensive. Her aura crackled around her shoulder, halting the blade that stabbed at her. She hopped backwards, readying her swords for the robots' advance, but the metal man reset its stance and waited.
As Blake considered her options, Adam dashed past her, shooting his sword at the robot. Its hilt struck the guard's chestplate, and Adam's boot swiftly followed. He kicked the bot backwards, causing it to break open the door it guarded. The faunus caught Wilt, then shot his opponent with Blush before it could get up. He stowed his weapons as the guard's lights died out.
The couple stepped outside, meeting the rushing air just past the broken door. Approaching from the other side of the train, a platoon of guards joined them on the flatbed, their bladed arms primed.
"Let's do this!" Adam shouted over the wind. He smiled, face forward, as Blake spared a glance at the red trees passing them. They both dashed into the fray, ready to dispatch their enemies.
Adam sped ahead of Blake and drew Wilt, launching two robots into the air with a single strike. Blake jumped forward, slashing at the hapless bots as they tumbled back to Adam, who flourished his sword with blinding speed, leaving the guards nothing more than ribbons of metal.
As she landed, Blake noticed a contingent of metal figures gathering around them. Gritting her teeth, she flipped her grip on Gambol, her sword, stowing Shroud on a magnetic strap that ran across her back and shoulder. Pressing a hidden button under the guard, she flicked her sword hard, causing it to collapse into a sickle.
With a howl, she threw her weapon out, tugging on the larger trigger. A gunshot rang out from the hilt's built-in pistol, letting Gambol fly forward. As it zipped past several bots, the attached ribbon went taut and fired the gun again.
The force of the recoil spun it, which helped Blake swing the pistol freely. She jumped and twirled, letting her blade meet the charging bots as it swirled around her. Seeing this, Adam had run forward, jumping out of the flying gun's range as Blake continued to spin it about her. Each shot let Gambol cut through another guard, dicing up more as they tried to close in on Blake.
Pulling the sickle in a full circle, Blake landed and planted her weapon into the final robot. Adam sliced the machine in half as Blake pulled on the ribbon, firing the gun again. It dislodged, falling into her hand as the pair moved onward.
Ahead, the final group of robots guarded the door to the next train car. Adam dashed past the six closest to him, slashing through them with his sword and leaving all but one to explode from exposed circuitry. Blake decapitated that last one, then started destroying another robot with her cleaver and pistol. Adam pushed forward to engage three bots, slashing the one on his left with a fatal blow.
Blake crossed Adam's right flank to fire her gun into that guard's chin, following up with a slash of her cleaver that knocked the machine into the air. As Adam finished the middle opponent with a shot from his rifle-scabbard, he sheathed Wilt and spun. He began flourishing his sword in an arc to keep Blake's falling robot suspended.
Blake tossed the final two opponents towards Adam—the first with a twin-sword flourish and the second with a backflip kick. Adam caught them, juggling all three guards with quick, timely slashes.
After several of Adam's strikes, Blake pushed off another shadow, spinning with both her weapons. She caught the three bots in her twirl, tearing them to pieces. As she landed, Blake turned to Adam, her impatience hidden by her mask. The man nodded to her, and the two of them made for the next train car.
Blake and Adam entered a space filled with stacked crates and suitcases. Stepping forward, Adam knelt by a rectangular box marked with a snowflake design. Inside lay a collection of crystals the couple recognized as the volatile substance dust.
"Perfect," Adam said, grinning as he examined the gems. He instructed Blake, "Move up to the next car. I'll set the charges."
Blake hesitated. "What about the crew members?"
Adam's smile faded as he tilted his head to her. "What about them?"
Blake looked away from him, conflict rising in her mind.
Adam shut the case and turned to her fully. "You said you were ready."
"Those people didn't do anything to us!" Blake said. "This is about how the kingdoms are treating faunus!"
"They're humans, Blake," Adam said, his voice growing cold. "Pawns of a greater evil. They're kind run the world, and—"
A loud crash interrupted him. Behind the couple, a massive tetrapodal robot had dropped from the ceiling, blocking their way out. It pointed four large cannons at them.
Blake clenched her jaw. "Adam," she said as her partner started moving, preparing to engage the hostile device.
The robot unleashed a barrage of white plasma shots, forcing Adam to roll to the side. Blake managed to clear the distance to the machine, clambering onto it with expert dexterity. She attempted to slash it with her cleaver, but its head thrust forward, throwing her to the ground.
As Blake was recovering, the robot marched over, its crab-like legs clanking across the train. Before it could attack, Adam appeared, suspending himself midair with a fury of rapid slashes. The thing's leg met his chest as he tried landing, kicking him into a pile of boxes. Adam stood quickly, but had to go on the defensive as another volley of energy rained down, disrupting more cargo.
The robot lifted a leg and crushed Blake's form, finding nothing but an image left. The real Blake appeared next to Adam at the far door of the train car. The machine started to reconfigure its canons, turning four large guns into a massive turret.
"We need to get out of here!" Blake said as the cannon glowed with white light.
Just as the laser fired, Adam stepped forward and unsheathed Wilt. The blast hit the sword, deflecting upward and crashing into the car's wall, sending the couple rolling out onto another flatbed. The crab robot crawled out to meet them, its legs leaving dents in the train.
"Buy me some time!" Adam shouted, flashing his blade against the metal they stood on.
"Are you sure?" Blake shouted back.
"Trust me!" he said, his voice strained against the wind.
Blake hesitated only a moment before charging to meet the robot.
The thing shot its plasma bursts at Blake as she approached, forcing her to change her momentum with her shadow copies. As she drew closer, she lifted her sword out of her cleaver, folded it into its sickle form, and readied the ribbon that tied Gambol to her arm. Leaving behind a duplicate of herself once more, she pounced past the robot, dodging yet another blast.
Blake leapt above the metal beast, pushing off its arms and becoming wreathed in light from the emerging moon. Looking downward, she unleashed a flurry of slashes from her sickle. Using gunfire to propel the blade, Blake wove Gambol in and out of chinks in the machine's armor. With each tear, the creature became noticeably slower; its joints straining to remain intact.
When she landed, she pulled the sickle back to her, returning it to its sword form. Dashing in, she danced around the crab's legs, slashing with her sword and cleaver while using her shadows to redirect her movements. Electricity flashed around her blades as they cut through exposed wires. She dodged a plasma shot from the machine's right arm, jumping past the attack and finding its head beside her.
The robot's face thrust forward, hitting a shadow Blake as the real Blake flipped and landed. She pounced again, jamming her sword through the robot's exposed chin and releasing a volley of gunshots from Gambol Shroud's hilt straight into the mechanism beneath its head. Whatever delicate machinery existed before was left warped beyond repair.
As her weapon's magazine went dry, Blake withdrew, flipping away to stand by Adam. The robot shifted into its turret form, crushing the front of its head to ready a shot at the couple.
"Move!" Adam roared, now straining to hold his sword in its scabbard. Blake jumped backward, getting as far from Adam as she could.
As the machine fired, Adam unsheathed Wilt part way, catching the blast in it's crimson blade. The energy dissipating into it, he quickly sheathed the weapon again while laughing. His hair and the designs on his mask and jacket began to glow a menacing red.
Badly damaged and nearly out of power, the machine charged, leaning forward to crush the intruder with its bulk. As it fell at him, Adam struck with Wilt, unleashing a wave of energy in a wide arc around himself. A few crates collapsed, loose boxes were thrown to the wind, and the massive robot turned to dust from the force of his Moonslice.
Adam quickly stowed his weapon and turned away, running off to find Blake.
He found her on the next train car, cleaving the coupler apart with a defiant slash.
Blake stowed her weapon, and, throwing her mask to the wind, met Adam with pained, amber eyes.
"Goodbye," she said, turning away.
Adam stood on the slowing train, watching the girl he loved leave his life forever.
As the train came to a stop, Adam stood in the same spot, looking down the tracks. More masked faunus caught up to the cars and began stripping the train for all it was worth. Some spared him a glance, but most minded their business.
"Adam," a gruff voice called to him. A large man wearing a white and red helmet stepped up to his right side. "Is everything ok? You've been standing here for hours."
"I'm fine," Adam said, snapping back to reality. "Was there any more resistance?"
"No sir," the man said. "You cleared the whole place out. Seems like they only used robots as guards."
Adam hummed, turning to view the operation as the helmed man asked, "Wasn't Blake supposed to be here?"
The bull man tensed, considering his words. After a long pause, he said, "She left."
"What?" the helmed man asked, turning sharply to Adam. "She left?"
"She was weak, lieutenant," Adam said, walking away from the severed train car. "We don't need to worry about her."