Horns of Beacon

Chapter 8: Demons

Adam stood with his sword practising fighting against a bunch of targets, in reality he was trying to get the memories of last night's dream out of his head. He spun his sword round and stabbed the target, he then sliced another one before kicking the last one and decapitating it "Impressive," said a voice. Adam turned around and saw Pyrrha standing behind him "Thanks, it's nothing too impressive," said Adam, Pyrrha then took out her weapons and said "You know, you may be one of the few students in this year that could defeat me," Adam looked surprised but then remembered he was one of the most skilled White Fang members. "Thanks, maybe we could put that to the test," Pyrrha thought for a bit and then said "How about now," Adam grinned and grabbed his weapon "If you wish," he said as he moved his hand to wilt.

Pyrrha got into her fighting stance and so did Adam as they both looked at each other, Adam then went for Wilt and charged forward as Pyrrha got into a defence position and placed her shield in front of her but, Adam took out Blush and fired at her causing her to react fast and block the shots. Adam then dashed forward Wilt out and slashed at Pyrrha who blocked some and retaliated with her own sword, Adam jumped back then went back into his attack using his slicing and sheathing methods while Pyrrha blocked and pushed forward, Adam then kciked her sheild which casued her to sumble back and turn her weapon into a gun and fire shots which Adam blocked.

Meanwhile, Ruby, Yang, Nora, Jaune, Ren, Weiss, and even Fox, Velvet and Ozpin were watching the fight "Wow, Adam is actually standing a chance," said Nora "Go Adam!" shouted Ruby and Yang "Go Pyrrha!" shouted Nora and Jaune, Weiss just rolled her eyes while Ozpin watched with intent.

Adam moved forward and nearly knocked Pyrrha back but, she back flipped and shot at Adam before turning back to her sword and clashing against Adam. Adam was impressed by Pyrrha, she was living up to his expectations and Pyrrha thought the same while Jauen watched with a bit of envy. Finally Pyrrha blocked a hit and kicked Adam back, which surpisingly made him smile "I haven't had a challenge like this in a while," he said as he fired Blush at Pyrrha and then jumped in the air, Wilt in hand. He landed and hit Pyrrha sending her back before slashing several times at her, then as Adam was about to land the last hit, Pyrrha also hit him hard as well, this sent both back skidding and causing Adam to fall over. "Damn, you really do live up to your expectations," said Adam and smiling "You actually nearly beat me there," said Pyrrha impressed "Yes, I think it's safe to say we are just as powerful as each other," replied Adam, that's when he noticed the others he looked surprised. "Uh, hello there," he said, Ozpin was smiling "You both are very powerful warriors and you will grow in the upcoming years," said Ozpin as he left.

The two teams walked to the two "THAT WAS AMAZING!" shouted Nora "You were as powerful as each other," said Yang "Your fighting style is quite unique Adam, who taught you that," said Ren, Adam stood there, it's been awhile since someone asked how he learnt his combat skill "Well, I'm mostly self taught but one time when I was in Mistral some women gave me some tips and is the reason Iearnt this fighting style," he replied "Who was she?" asked Ruby "I...I can't really remember, It's been years since I've seen her," "Oh,"

After a bit of talking, Velvet and Fox came and talked with Adam "For a 1st year, you're honestly pretty powerful," said Fox "Well, I have been practising fighting for years," replied Adam "Honestly, I think you were holding yourself back," said Velvet "I might've, I don't know, I only show my true strength during actual combat, not a friendly spar," replied Adam "Why's that?" asked Fox "Well, I fear hurting my friends and in the past, I haven't had as many friends as most people would, also, many humans haven't treated me well in the past," Fox sighed and Velvet seemed to understand what he was talking about "Well it's good to learn more about you, Adam," said Fox as he walked off, Adam then looked off somewhere where it looked like he saw himself wearing his white fang mask with his sword out staring at him, this caused Adam to take a step back and looked scared "Adam, are you okay?" asked Velvet in concern, Adam turned to her "Y...Yes, sorry, I thought I saw something from my past," he replied "Are you sure that's all?" asked Velvet, Adam nodded his head "Yes, that's all, I'm fine," Velvet sighed "Alright, but if you have something to talk about, you can talk to me or any other friend of yours," she said as she walked off. Adam smiled, but then he looked back and saw himself again with the mask, Adam just left and walked off.

Adam was in the bathroom and was cleaning his face, he looked at himself in the mirror and just saw his reflection, he then went back to washing his face. When he finished he looked at himself in the mirror, and saw him in his old white Fang Mask grinning with genocidal intent this caused Adam to step back in fear "NO!" he shouted as he glared at himself as his reflection stared back mockingly, Adam then rushed forward and punched the mirror causing a small crack "No, I won't be a monster again," he said quietly as he walked out.

He walked back into his dorm where his teammates were Yang waved to him and he nodded back before sitting down on his bed, he then put a hand to his head "Adam," said Ruby, Adam looked to her "Yes?" "Are you alright?" asked Ruby "Yeah, just had some bad nights," "Are you sure? You look, worried," This time Yang looked at him and even Weiss looked at him "Look, Ruby, I'm fine, seriously, you don't need to worry. I just need a good nights rest," replied Adam trying to calm her nerves, Ruby sighed but said "If you say so," Adam then looked to one of the windows where it looked like his mask was staring back at him, he looked away and layed down on his bed and attempted to drift to sleep.

While Adam slept, Ruby looked at him concerned she wasn't conviced he was fine, even she noticed that he was having a bad time at night and sometimes seemed distracted duering class, she looked to Yang who seemed to also look concerned and then to Weiss who didn't look too bothered. Ruby then looked back to Adam she remembered that one night he was saying names of different people, the most frequent being Blake and Ilia, Ruby didn't know who they were but they seemed important to Adam, one day she will learn about Adam and hopefully help him.