A Rabbit Among Wolves

Chapter 12

"I was kinda hoping you'd have moved on..."

Adam, or the spirit of Adam, crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side. "Why would I? You haven't accomplished what I asked of you."

That was true, but Adam had been blessedly silent ever since the incident at the docks with the Blake girl, so he'd dared to hope. Apparently, no such luck. "Alright," Jaune said, "But then, why have you been quiet all this time?"

"I have been... thinking."

"Did it hurt?" Jaune quailed under the dead man's glare. "Okay, not in a joking mood. That's cool. What were you thinking about?"

"Blake."

A dead person in his head was thinking sexy thoughts about a living person who hated his guts. He wasn't sure how many -philias that crossed, but the obvious one was creepy enough. Was it also a form of masochism? Probably. Those girls had been pretty cute but if he had to rank them in order of approachability, he'd have put Adam's girlfriend in last which, considering this was Adam, sort of made sense. Like attracted like.

"Blake despised you," he said.

"I noticed. I didn't even do anything, and she went straight for the throat."

"That could be because you're White Fang, but it could also be because you killed me." Adam sounded thrilled at the idea and it took Jaune a second to realise why.

"You want her vengeful..."

"If she is acting in vengeance, that means she mourns my death."

Great. So this was one of those 'If I died, how many people would turn up to my funeral' things. Except that Adam got to both die and see the fallout, so it was the first time it'd ever been applicable.

"Or it means she hates you and everything you stood for."

Adam's smile fell. "Yes. Or it means that. I want to know which. No, I need to know which it is. Does she grieve me, or does she despise me so much that she would tarnish my name even in death? It is selfish, I know-"

"It definitely is!"

"-but I need to know," he finished with a glower. "Don't judge me, Arc. I'm dead. Try that for yourself before offering pithy commentary."

"I will be if Sienna Khan realises I'm not on side."

"Yes. She will kill you. And it will be glorious."

"..."

"Though do make sure to die after sorting my issues with Blake."

"I'll try and make that a priority," Jaune snarked. "Oh God, I'm being sassed by a dead person. Just my luck. So, what do you want me to do with her? Specifically, I mean."

"Insult me in front of her. Mock me. Tell her how you enjoyed killing me." Adam breathed out quickly. "I want to see how she reacts."

Oh sure, and that didn't sound like a quick way to get shanked. Just piss off the potentially unstable huntress by mocking her dead ex-boyfriend who he'd killed. Yeah, sure, nothing stupid about that decision!

"How about no?"

"How about I won't help you in this upcoming attack of yours if you don't."

"We're going to free faunus! Isn't that, like, your thing?"

"It was." Adam shrugged. "But I'm somewhat lacking in responsibility due to the whole being dead thing. Maybe the person who murdered me should have thought twice."

"Maybe you shouldn't be such a prick!"

"Maybe this prick shouldn't tell you how to raid an SDC facility..."