RWBY: Black Cat

Chapter 20

"Life is not an easy matter. You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness."

~ Leon Trotsky

Adam was interrupted by three knocks on his door.

The room was dimly lit - only a very broken pendant light hung above him. A large map, of all of remnant, covered two of the walls, marked all over with thick red, blue and black lines. There were post-it notes stuck on almost everything - most of them were old, though. Papers were stacked everywhere, weapons were propped up by the wall near the door, and a large wooden desk stretched across most of the space. Ancient filing cabinets, filled with profiles of potential enemies, allies, and recruits, lined the back wall. Adam hated the colour of them - he always meant to change it.

He'd been going through these disgusting, khaki cabinets, thinking. He knew who Raven and the rest could go to in order to find help about this, but the group he was thinking of was very elusive. They might've moved - they moved often. The though I doubt she would leave Vacuo...

He strode over to the map, taking a red marker in his hand, and a notepad out of his pocket. He glanced up, then sideways, taking down the co-ordinates of the last spot he'd been certain of the group's location, intending to do a quick search on the area to see if they'd left behind any hints of their location now. Then someone knocked. "Adam? Can I come in?"

He looked up suddenly. Is that Blake? "Alright."

The familiar faunus pushed the door open, her yellow-amber eyes looking determined. Not angry, not scared, just - strong. "I need to talk to you."

Adam inclined his head slightly, gesturing to a stool sitting in the corner.

Blake didn't sit down, simply looking around the room. "Nice...office?"

Adam narrowed his eyes. "I haven't come to this base in a long time. This stuff isn't mine. It's Leif's - it was his old study."

Blake nodded, her eyes sweeping over the relatively dilapidated room. She smiled softly. "Not surprised."

What would she know?

The bull faunus paused, then sighed. A question that had bothered him for at least a year now came to the forefront of his mind: "Why did you leave, Blake?"

Blake smirked. "You really can't guess?"

Adam looked away, tightening his grip on the marker a little. "At least do me the pleasure of confirming my assumptions." That you're weak.

Blake shrugged. "The White Fang...changed. You changed. I no longer wanted to associate myself with your violence."

"So instead you joined a school where people train to kill things," Adam deadpanned.

"You know that's different. Besides, you're one to talk."

Adam narrowed his eyes. "Blake, why are you here?"

The cat faunus looked up, meeting his eye again. "I want to know what Leif still sees in you."

He blinked. "What?"

Blake shrugged. "He, when we talked, it was like...he was trying to convince me there was good in you. Did you tell him to?"