Roses

Chapter 2

11. Rival

Adam hated his opponent, or his opponents.

They were week, pathetically so.

Especially their so-called leader. The Blonde buffoon could barely hold his sword correctly.

The black haired male was already gasping for breath, signifying his lack of stamina.

He had already broken the arms of the orange haired girl that was dumb enough to think that she could touch him with pure strength alone.

The red haired girl was good, but good was never good enough for him. The red head was keeping up with him but only barely.

According to the information that he received, team JNPR is one of the best team that Beacon can field.

If that was true, then Beacon Academy's standard was worth shit..

Parrying the attack of the blonde idiot and the persistent red head, Adam surveyed the surrounding and he was torn from either growling or smiling proudly.

For one thing, his subordinates were getting beat, were getting their asses handed to them quite severely.

On the other hand, it was Ruby, his rival, who was destroying them.

Adam, though he was disappointed with his subordinates, and he intends to put all of them through a hellish training program after this was over, he was happy with the improvement that she was showing.

Ruby has improvement drastically compare to the girl that he had first exchange blows with several months ago.

Adam refocused his efforts on putting down the four clowns that thought that they could fight him. The sooner he dealt with them, the sooner that he can clash blades with Ruby.

At least she was capable of making his blood boil.

12. Relief

Ruby Rose is a student enrolled in Beacon Academy. Leader of Team RWBY and though she was young, she is one of the most competent leaders in Beacon. She is also, arguably, one of the best fighter in her year and she is clearly the one with the most potential.

Adam Taurus is an operative of the White Fang. He is not just a normal operative, he is the best operative that the White Fang can field and/or offer. A complete monster in the battlefield, and a complete demon to those who battles him. His skills and power is second to none.

These two individuals have different lives but they face one common problem.

The stress levels that they experience in a weekly basis in head splitting.

Ruby has several classes that she needed to take and do well on, a grade point average that she needed to maintain, and a team to lead in every exercise and other miscellaneous activities. This, together with her horrendous social life, never fails to make her week hectic.

Adam had to lead a branch of White Fang in the city of Vale. His responsibilities include recruitment, promotion of White Fang propaganda, training of new recruits, and supervising missions for the top brass. The amount of paperwork that he has to handle in a daily basis constantly bore him to death and the incompetence that he has to deal with in an hourly basis makes his temper run thin.

Ruby and Adam lives differently but they have the same problem. The responsibility bestowed upon them made them suffer indescribable amount of stress.

Strangely, even though they are in the opposite sides of the spectrum, they have dealt with their stress together.

In took them eight months but they were finally in speaking terms with each other.

Every Sunday, where Ruby's Team and friends leave her alone for some 'grown up' activities and where Adam can escape leading a bunch of idiots to competency, the two meet in the middle of the Emerald Forest, in front of the tree where they first spoke together.

They did not see each other.

Ruby just sat on one side of the tree.

Adam sat on another side.

"So, how was your week?" Ruby always starts the conversation between them.

"You first. I have to collect my thoughts." There was both pain and amusement in Adan's voice. "The amount idiocy that I have to deal with this week was staggering."

"That bad, huh?" Ruby giggled lightly.

"You have no idea." There was a small smile on Adam's lips, a smile that only Ruby could inspire.

For the next hour or so, the two complained about their lives, making each other laugh and smile.

It was a good ending for a stressful week.

13. Gift

Ruby had a random thought, a random idea of you will.

It was a harmless idea, but it was an idea that might earned her the sting of Wilt's blade, again.

But Ruby was determine to go through with her idea.

It was nearing Christmas and she had already purchase gifts for his teammates and friends.

Except for one of her new friends.

Adam Taurus.

Now, Ruby was well aware that Adam did not consider her a friend. Ruby even knows that Adam does not consider anyone his friend. Still, the bottom line, she considers him her friend and that is that

With that thought, she started to think what Adam would like as a gift.

For starters, it needs to be flashy but not over the top.

It should be practical or at the very least, would not get in the way of him fighting. Stylish but not eye catching, and most importantly, it should be red.

With those in mind, Ruby got to work.

Visiting the local scrap yard, she took several but varying metals before visiting the school's metal furnishing and engineering department.

It is going to take her three days but it was all going to be worth it in the end.

The next time Adam and Ruby met, the Bull Faunus was baffled by the wrapped gift that Ruby had shoved in his hands.

Although Adam admitted that the pair of trench knives that he got from her was nice and he knows that he could hack some lives with them.

Also, Ruby was delighted though a bit taken a back with the simple, rose shape locket that she got from Adam.

Overall, it was a good Christmas for the two.

14. Time

Time was a commodity.

Adam knows this better than anyone.

And he also knows that the time when Cinder would unveil her grand plan was nearing.

The number of raids and assassinations that he had to take part in has increased as of late and he was not so blind not to notice the different atmosphere that was enveloping the air around the City of Vale.

Whatever Cinder was scheming would be unveil sooner or later, and a bloody revolution would erupt soon after.

Adam was ready for this. He might not fight for Cinder, but for his ideals and for his people, he will fight with her and he would probably slay tens of thousands of people in the process.

He was too good not to be involve in the slaughter.

Still…

"Hey Adam. You know Blake, she's dating Sun now. They look so cute together but Sun is such a chatter box that Yang and Weiss has been betting on how long they'll last"

It was strange for Adam to want peace to last for a little while more.

He never expected himself to be so enamored with such peculiar human.

It was strange, but it was also pleasant.

Adam didn't know whether to like it or to dislike it.

15. Death

Adam did not know what came over him but he was currently infiltrating Beacon Academy, something that was akin to suicide.

Everyone that can be consider as Elites in Beacon knows his face. Every Team that Beacon has deployed to hinder Cinder's plans knows his face. Everyone familiar with the White Fang knows his face.

Adam dislikes this fact but he is the poster boy of the White Fang.

Adam was confident that he can take down hundreds of people with little problem, but alone, cut off, and against the entire student body of Beacon Academy as well as the instructors, specifically Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch…Adam knows that he was not that strong.

Adam knows the risk and the consequences.

But to be honest, he doesn't give a damn.

He needed to see his rival. He needed to see Ruby.

The last skirmish of his faction and hers was still fresh in his mind.

It was a simple raid. Get the ammunition, get the dust, get the classified-level information, burn the base, then get out.

A simple raid that he has done several dozen times that he can probably do it in his sleep.

The difference from the dozens of raids that he has done, together with his platoon of White Fang Soldiers, he was accompanied with Cinder's brats, as well as Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan, as well as another platoon of Cinder's personal thugs.

In terms of strength, power, and ability, Adam has no complains. Cinder's brats and the two thieves were good in a fight, dependable even.

In terms of everything else though, from intentions to ideals to methods, Adam was a breath away from rotting them to none existence.

But, if nothing else, he was professional, and he can deal with them until the mission is over and done with.

When they arrived in the base, they were met with Team CVFY (excellent sweepers but horrible in terms of precession hunting), Team JNPR (an ambush and extraction team but they focus too much on teamwork) Team CRDL (Adam wonders why and how those four are still breathing), and Team RWBY (First reaction team but Adam doesn't care about them, he just wants to clash with Ruby to see her improvements).

Words and taunts were exchange, things that Adam did not particularly care, before the battle began.

It has been established, it has been longed established for months now, that Ruby Rose was the only one capable of exchanging blows with Adam Taurus and occupying him for more than a minute.

Any Beacon student thrown at Adam, 10 times out of 10, the bull Faunus can and will destroy them swiftly, efficiently, and brutally in less than a minute. They can send a team at him, and Adam will get rid of them with the same efficiency and brutality that made him an infamous operative of the White Fang.

Ruby Rose might not be the best fighter that Beacon can offer, but she was the only one with the fighting style that meshes so well with Adam that she can take him on for a considerable amount of time. This and the fact that Ruby had improved herself with the sole purpose of combatting the bull Faunus and winning all but assured her being the one who has to guard and occupy Adam.

The two preferred things this was.

So, like most skirmishes that has taken place in the past year, Adam and Ruby clash blades. Scattering roses met wilting roses, and the two were happy regardless of death hovering over them as they dance with each other with their weapons, as sword clash with scythe.

Both Adam and Ruby was satisfied with fighting each other, and if they died in the hand of the other, they would perish happy.

Although, this little dance of them did not last long.

The sound of several screams caught Ruby's attention; this slight distraction earned her a gash on the chest from Adam, but Ruby was able to overcome the pain due to the dread that she feltg.

Adam followed the gazed of his rival and saw that her allies were incapacitated due to some contraptions that Cinder's thugs deployed.

A contraption with the ability to repress the Aura of whoever was caught by the contraption. The contraption was also able to use the repress Aura of the captors to torture them via a small yet excruciating electric shot.

The sight of Ruby's eyes was unnerving as she moved passed him in favor of assisting her friends, allies, and team.

Adam gave chase, but for once since they met, Ruby move in a speed that even Adam could not keep up with or follow.

Ruby shook him off and went after the large forces that had surround her allies.

What happened next was a battle that Ruby was not yet ready to emotionally and mentally take part in.

When the battle was settled, Ruby was able to save and retreat with everyone accounted for, but not without any casualties.

Ruby was bleeding badly and Adam would bet that some of her bones were fractures and that she was suffering from internal bleeding.

But that can be healed and Adam was confident that his rival can get back on her feet after a week of healing.

What she can't bounce back on was the fact that throughout that battle, Ruby had to take a couple of lives, and the way her friends and allies, her own team as well, looked at her was rather worrying.

After the battle, Adam went to their private spot with the intent of speaking with Ruby. He knows that she was not capable of killing and was likely torturing herself and his concern only increased when Ruby was nowhere to be seen.

She did not go to their spot for a whole two weeks.

Normally, Ruby visited their tree thrice or four times a week.

Now, the Adam of the past would not care about this development. The Adam of the past does not care about humans or the feelings of his enemies.

But the Adam of present was different from the Adam of the past. Therefore, without knowing why, he sneaked into Beacon with the sole intention of speaking with the only person that Adam could ever consider his rival.

And after wondering around Beacon Academy for an hour, he stumbled in a room where he could hear some stifled crying.

The voice was familiar so Adam entered the room.

The sight of his rival crying on her bed, alone, in a dark room cause something within Adam to ache.

He did not understand this ache, but he knew one thing, he cannot bare to see the woman that he had grown to respect, the only human that he can respect, to be like this.

With a sigh, Adam entered the room with the intention of doing something that he had never done in his life.

He was going to comfort his enemy.

And for reasons beyond him, he knows how.

"My first kill was when I was seven years old." Adam stated loudly and Ruby immediately stopped crying though she did not sat up to look at Adam.

Adam saw this as something positive so he continued. This was the first time he initiated a conversation between them.

"I am an orphan. I don't remember much about my parents. I know that my mother smells like roses, but that's about it." Adam sat next Ruby on her bed as he went on with this tale.

"I was raised by the White Fang, by the current leader himself. I don't see him as a father, and he only sees me, like everyone else, as a weapon for the creation of his new world."

"I was three when I started learning to fight." Adam chuckled at that memory. "For four years, I was taught to wield a knife, to wield a sword, to fire a gun, and to fight with my bare hands, and to off anyone that gets between the promise world that our leader has been preaching for as long as I remember."

"You see, the leader has taken an interest in me when I was young. Even when I was young, I was good in fighting, better than anyone in my age group and the age group above me. Because of that, the leader took me under his wing. He taught me most of the things I know."

"I was seven when I first took a life. The leader went on a mission. He took me with him. I watched as the leader tore through men after men. I don't know how long the slaughter lasted but when it ended, he dragged a woman to me. She was terrified, which is not strange considering she witness a slaughter."

"The leader made the woman kneel in front me before giving me a knife. He instructed me to kill the woman or use the knife to take my own life. He said that I must show him my determination to make the new world, our world, come to pass or I should kill myself for he does not need anyone without the proper will to go forward."

"That moment, that single moment of my life, that's the only time I felt fear. I did not want to kill the woman, but I don't want to die either, especially at the hands of a Wolf Faunus. Therefore, I killed the woman. I slit her throat and I watch her choke on her own blood."

"I was disgusted with myself but the leader was proud of me, he even called me his right hand."

Adam could tell that Ruby had now sat up and was now sitting beside him. Looking at her, her eyes were red from crying and she appears to not have slept for days now.

Adam's voice became softer as he continues. "For years after my first, every life I took, I felt disgusted with myself, and the way my victims look at me before and after, never fails to give me nightmares." Adam closed his eyes behind his mask, as he remembers the eyes of anger and horror that appeared on his victims' eyes.

Adam shook his head. "And then after one day, after taking one to many lives, I stop feeling disgusted with myself and started enjoying bathing with the blood of my victims. That's the day I became a monster."

Adam then removed his mask before saying his final piece. "Someone once told me that life is precious and taking a life should not be taken lightly. I cannot take that advised, but you can, and you should." The look in his eyes took a gentle shade that he himself never thought he was capable of. "I know that you are disgusted with yourself, but that is okay. That means that you are human. Don't lose that feeling, don't ever lose that feeling."

"I also know that your friends may look at you like a monster for killing, but you are not. I am a monster for I have killed many times for no reason or for vague reasons. You killed to save your friends. That makes you a hero, at least in my eyes."

With his piece said, Adam rose to his feet and was at the process of leaving, only for Ruby to cling at her from his coat.

"Could you stay?" Ruby begged desperately. "Stay beside me for a little bit longer."

Adam looked at the state of his rival before conceding.

He sat next to her and did not make a single move as she rested her head on his shoulders. "Don't... Look at my face…I'll cheer up soon…I'll smile in a minute…" Ruby started crying again but unlike last time, she was crying silently, so silently that he was the only one who could hear her.

At that moment, a petal of Adam's humanity started blooming.

16. Change

Ruby looked at her Crescent Rose in her hands.

She could still remember the day she visualized and imagined her sweetheart and the day she started actually building her.

It took her a month to build Crescent Rose. A month of sweat and tears, and she was worth every second that she had allotted to her.

Ruby thought that Crescent Rose would be her one and only weapon.

But things change, and people change.

Putting Crescent Rose to her case, Ruby started designing a blueprint for a new weapon.

"I wonder if I can win against, or at least equal Adam with you, Aurora."

17. Friends

Adam and Ruby had already lost count of the number of times that they have cross blades.

But one thing is for certain, they never get tired at fighting each other.

Therefore, when they met in hte battlefield once again, they smiled at each other as if they were reunited with a long lost friend.

"You seemed to be doing fine." Adam commented with a bit of relief in his voice as he prepared Wilt and Blush.

Ruby could only smile at him. "Thanks to you." Ruby, as well, prepared her weapon.

Adam raised a brow at the sight of a red bo-staff, instead of the familiar scythe, in her hands.

"What is that?" Adam asked in confusion. The weapon in Ruby's hand was not Crescent Rose, but something else entirely.

Ruby's smile took a shade of mischievous as she waved the weapon in front of Adam. "This is Aurora Rose. My new weapon." Ruby spun Aurora, similar to the way she spun Crescent Rose, to show Adam her prowess in wielding her new weapon. "I figured that you might be getting bored in fighting me so I figured that I should do something different to spice up our battles."

The confidence in Ruby's voice was music to Adam's ears but he still warned her. "I won't hold back."

"Good." Ruby answered as she went into a stance. "Neither would I."

The two smiled at each other, their promise to each other for a good fight before they clash for nth time.

Throughout the fight, Adam discovered one thing as Ruby bombarded him with cyclones, thunderbolts, hail, and rain, and as she blocked all of his attacks with clouds of all things.

The little reaper had become a witch.

For the first time since they met, Ruby had finally win against Adam.

Using Dustcraft of all things.

18. Lost

As Adam sat in his prison cell, a small smile was etched on his lips.

The taste of defeat was bitter, especially considering that his lost to Ruby was his first lost in live combat.

Still, Adam was happy. At the very least, his first lost came at the hands of his rival.

That knowledge alone was enough to satisfy him in his incarceration.

The sound of the shifting doors caught his attention.

Looking up, he was actually relieve to see his rival looking at him with her signature childish smile.

"Here to gloat?" Adam just had to ask.

Ruby shook her head. She knelt down and slipped a key into his cage before setting Wilt and Blush, as well as a scroll, in front of his cell.

"I am always open for a rematch." Ruby told him gently before turning his back at him. "You have an hour before the platoon task to take you to Atlas gets here. I suggest you go."

"Why?" Adam asked while looking at the key that Ruby slipped to him.

"I would rather see you across the battlefield as an enemy than the possibility of not seeing you at all."

19. Night

"This will probably the last time the two of us see each other in neutral terms."

"Yeah." Ruby replied sadly as she and Adam sat together in a bar. "The next time we meet, our respective factions are probably going to demand us to kill each other."

"That is true." Adam downed another one of his drink before asking the bartender for one more shot. "What now?"

Ruby had a thoughtful expression across her face before emptying her glass of liquor with one gulp. "Our war doesn't start until next sunrise, right?"

"That sounds about it."

Ruby gave Adam a look, a serious and solemn look. "In this night, would you stay beside me?"

Adam spared Ruby a senseless gaze before nodding. "Okay."

20. Sin

This was wrong.

Both Ruby and Adam knew this.

Ruby Rose and Adam Taurus were enemies, bitter rivals.

They had fought each other to the death so many times in the year and the half that they knew each other; Adam had inflicted most of the scars in Ruby's body while Ruby was the one who had tarnish Adam's undefeated streak.

Ruby Rose and Adam Taurus should be enemies. They should hate each other and curse each other's existence.

Yet, they don't.

Ruby was incapable of hating anyone, regardless of their sins.

Adam, though he was raised in an environment that promotes hate, could never bring himself to hate the one person who had accepted the fact that he was a monster yet did not shy away from him.

Even if they try, Adam and Ruby could never truly hate each other.

In fact, instead of hating each other, they understood each other to a primal level that even their closest peers could not fathom.

And do to this understanding, it was easy for them to sin with each other.

On a bed in a random motel, they laid together; they bare their bodies to each other.

In a slow, unhurried rhythm, they move in concert with each other.

In this night, they breath one air, they shared each other's joy and pleasure, they shared each other's warmth, and they bath in each other's in the essence of the one that they admired the most

As they screamed in each other's name, they knew that they had sin.

They did not regret a single second.

Because tomorrow, they will fight a war and they will stand across each other as enemies.

But for now, they will enjoy each other to their hearts content.

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