v.1

Rated M for Ultraviolence, Horror Themes, Drug Use, Adam's Crippling Insanity and Raging PTSD.

(Safe House, Vale City)
(Kingdom of Vale)

Adam's teeth chattered as he shivered underneath a thin blanket in his private quarters. The painkillers always played havoc with his dreams whenever he spared the time to actually lay his head down. He had always suffered from nightmares, but these days it was more like Hell itself had snuck into his head, took up residence and had to wait for him to close his eyes before it could drag him down into it's depraved, gore-soaked depths to drown him in an ocean of blood, corpses and spent ammo casings.

In his case, 'Hell' was a roided-up unholy abomination of a human in power armor responsible for blowing out his kneecaps. And as much as Adam wanted to deny it: That day, it was the second time in his life that he had felt fear.

The first time? It was the basis of his most horrific night terror yet...

(Hell)

...and it only went bad after he had stabbed his fifteenth human to death with the scalpel, those fucking lab jockeys believing they could restrain an angry ten-year-old bull Faunus after forcing him to watch the worst kind of atrocities done to a least a hundred other Faunus before him and thinking they could do the same to him. Faunus scattered for their lives, humans were screaming and running for the exit, security were barreling down at him, it was all a blur. Yet, Adam was loving every second of it.

Right up until he turned a corner and saw that familiar white snowflake emblem belonging to none other than the Schnee Dust Company plastered on the wall. His breath hitched in his throat and his eyes widened when he saw the pentagram over it, painted with the blood of the hawk Faunus that had been repeatedly smashed against the wall, his wings torn from his body and sunk through where his eyes used to be.

Which the corpse proceeded to yank out of its empty sockets and snarl rabidly up at the young boy, causing Adam to drop his scalpel in fright and trip over his own feet as he tried to get away, landing right in front of the armored boots of 'Hell' himself.

'Hell' was staring down at him with reddened eyes through the glass of his visor, his muscled biceps clearly visible, as were the flesh-coated studs on his bloodied gauntlets and suddenly all that previous bloodlust that had been bubbling within Adam fizzled out, to be replaced by the fear of death as Hell's shoulder-mounted cannon aimed down at him.

The next thing he knew, he was running through a void; inhumane screaming echoing all around him followed by the smell of burning flesh assaulting his senses. He only looked behind for a split second, all the time needed for him to run into someone and knock himself back onto the ground. Dazed, he looked up to see the knight in his gothic plate-like powered armor stare down back down at him.

Adam could see the flames of the pyres reflected off his great helm as he was lifted into the air by his neck and thrown in a small crowd of terrified Faunus as they were herded behind the barbed wire and forced to watch as several of their kin burned at the stake, overseen by a crowd of those great-helmed techno-knights and each sobbing pyre screaming in an alien language prayed over by a maiden each wearing what looked like ceremonial white armored dresses and blindfolds with a black iris drawn on them. Some twisted gothic shit.

The Faunus surrounding were all screaming and pushing against the wire, the barb digging into their flesh and spilling blood, much of which spilt on Adam as he was pushed down by his panicking brethren, his screams muffled underneath all the feet that trod all over him.

Once again, he was lifted up by his neck, his body all bruised and bloodied, and thrown to the ground outside the barbwire. He moaned in pain before screaming in agony as someone grabbed the back of his head, lifted him back up and forced down on his knees to see the branding iron burning in a brazier. And a grey-haired man stepping forward to grab it hot off the fire. He looked up to see that it was 'Hell' that had gotten hold of him, only he wasn't the monster of a man in power armor, but a smirking ten-year old brown-haired, silver-eyed boy whose face-splitting, evil smile suggested revelry towards the Faunus' suffering.

"...wha...wh-?"

The man with the iron turned around and 'Hell' forced his face to look forward, and Adam nearly puked when he saw the steel bolts welded into the man's face, and paled when he felt the grip on his head move to his hair, threatening to tear his scalp off as the steel-faced man inched the branding iron closer toward his face, and his left eye.

He could make out the letters 'SDC' and the smell of his own burnt flesh before the pain caused him to black out...

(Awake)

...and Adam woke up in a cold sweat, feeling like his knees were killing him. Letting out a hoarse cry he sent the contents on top of his bedside table flying as he reached over for the medicine bottle containing his painkillers. Knocking them onto the floor as well in his struggle he fell out of the bed, wrapped up in his sheets. Gritting his teeth, he bared the pain as he crawled across the floor, reached for the pill bottle and popped it open.

He was about to put the first pill in his mouth when the door burst open and he froze.

"What happened, brother?!" Adam didn't both to look at the White Fang outside his door, not willing to reveal the left side of his face. "Are you...alright?"

Adam frowned, "Close the door."

"But, Adam..."

"Close. The. Door," he seethed.

Adam thought he heard one of them cry out in panic before shutting his door. He swallowed the pill, plus two more. Then another two more. Realizing that he was behaving like a junkie caused him to bellow out angrily and toss the pill bottle against the wall, spilling its contents all over the floor.

'Hell' had put him in his miserable state. The next time he saw him, it would be fair that he returned the favor. To him, and to everyone he loved...

A/N: This was just something to keep me busy until I resume working on my main fic a couple of months from now. Ever had one of those nightmares where you relive your worst memories but it's interspersed with your twisted imagination? That was Adam Taurus' case right there. His childhood memories twisted with his fears – one of them being the Doom Slayer himself.

That part with the Night Sentinels re-enacting the Spanish Inquisition was just a small taste of what it's come in my main story's future. And no, William won't be revealed to have been a Faunus-hating enfant terrible, that was a just a part of Adam's imagination.

And DOOM Eternal has been delayed until March 20 next year. :( Guess id Software didn't want it to turn out like Fallout 76 and twisted Bethesda's arm hard enough for them to say uncle.

Thank you to everyone for their favs/follows, including those that I haven't had the chance to private message and personally thank. ^_^ Until next month and beyond, GamerJay out.