Adam always tried to keep a cool head in most situations, or at least tried to appear like he did.

And it wasn’t like there was much that fazed him, and there wasn’t much he wanted out of his life. He was a child when he realised that the person he looked up to as the big sister he never had would be willing to let him and his best friend of the time die.

And he grew moody and detached, especially after they seemingly lost that person, when they lost Ava, forever. He was constantly bitter and angry as he grew up. He distanced himself from his friends, and always kept himself shut off from any new ones he made.

As he thought of them, of Jacob and Trevon, who never really knew everything about him but stuck to his side anyways, of how he distanced himself from Marly and CB he felt his heart clench.

But then came Marvin. And Adam was willing to swear that the boy was a damn angel sent to fix everything. He connected with him, slowly but surely reconnected with his friends and made him smile again, really smile. Yes, it took him a while, but he finally grew to open up and connect with people again, even if they were all a bit of a mess.

What more, with Marvin’s help, they managed to find Ava and bring her back to them. And Adam finally had the chance to confront Ava, to see her side and listen to her explanations.

Of course, they only served to break his spirit even further. It wasn’t love for her sister that drove her to say those words, to set herself on that path–no it was all for some ridiculous plan by James Mallory.

But that couldn’t be all now, could it? Ava was not a human, or rather she was, but her origins were rather unorthodox. A clone of the Commander’s wife, made specifically for this purpose, raised to bring this plan to fruition.

And all of his anger and desire for more explanations, desire to bring her and her grandfather down eventually changed and morphed into pity. Pity for the woman who thought she didn’t have another choice and hoped that the figure he admired was truly somewhere in there.

It was due to these thoughts that an enemy soldier jumped him, a pure white werewolf with crystal blue eyes dressed in a uniform with the IDA insignia on its shoulders, with an assortment of creatures following behind him.

The being in question charged him, only to be stopped when two bullets shot through him, one in his shoulder, one grazing the left side of his face.

Adam felt a cold metal hand on his own shoulder before he was pushed back, Eobard Kon and two people that formed into bears and two that turned into green lizards next to him.

“Don’t let your guard down, Adam!” he shouted over his shoulder while he brought down the werewolf. “Because I’d hate to have your last year in my school to be a sub-par one.”

Adam felt two bullets clash against his scales, which hurt like hell, but thankfully also were hard enough to prevent any serious damage. The squad of soldiers seemed confused, and Adam used that as a chance to strike at them, taking two out with his tail and another two with his good old fashioned fists.

Two more remained, but before they or Adam could do anything, a large werewolf grabbed them and smacked their heads together, bringing them down. CB’s diamond eyes sparkled back at him, a growl coming out of his dog-like mouth.

“Be more careful, you fool!” said CB, charging past the lizard boy and into another crowd of Association soldiers, who seemed to be overtaking their allies–all dressed in pure black uniforms with a small red circled above the right side of their chests.

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Smirking at his friend, CB leaped on his back, and leaped once more from there, right into a group of enemy soldiers, using his tail and just some regular attacks to take them down before they could do anything.

“Ignis!”

He heard the word come from the Association’s side, and a wave of fire came towards him, so fast that he wouldn’t be able to dodge it.

But before he could be burned alive by it, the flames separated into five smaller pieces that went around him, and he followed them with his eyes to see that there were five people that took them in.

“Adam!” he heard Eobard’s voice chastising him.

“What?” he said confused, looking around for the white haired man, but not spotting him anywhere.

“Magic,” he said, as if he read Adam’s mind. “Something with manipulating the senses, I don’t fully understand it but it doesn’t really matter. Sorcerers are converging there, get as far away as possible, now!”

“What about Ava?” he said, running to CB’s side.

The werewolf in question was alongside a crowd of werebeasts, all hiding behind a line of sorcerers. He had never thought about it, but there weren’t many around. On both sides, but the whole thing had quickly devolved into a fight between the most powerful of them.

“What about her?” growled CB, looking around for the woman.

“I’m talking to Eobard,” said Adam. “Magic or something, I don’t get it either.”

“Then ask him what we’re doing here if we’re just glorified cheerleaders!” said CB, or shouted really, right in Adam’s ear.

“Tell me that you heard CB right now, or else I’ve gone deaf for no reason,” muttered Adam.

“I can only hear you since I contacted you, but I can only assume he’s angry that he doesn’t get to do more fighting,” said Eobard, and Adam could almost hear the smirk that was probably decorating his face.

“What are we doing here then? What about Ava? What about-”

“Have some patience and I’ll explain everything,” said Eobard without elaborating.

“Hello?” said Adam after a few seconds of silence. “Eobard? Mister Principal? Sir?”

For the second time that day, he felt the cool metal of Eobards hand on his scaly shoulder, this time jumping slightly at the touch.

“I see you have some pretty interesting students, Kon,” came a slightly accented female voice. Turning back, Adam saw that Eobard was accompanied by the leader of this group, the woman Yui.

“Please, commander, this is a stressful situation,” responded Eobard, although a small smile adorned his face.

“So, are we just going to stand here?” said CB, not wasting time with any formalities.

“Of course not.” chuckled Ava. “Your principal and I will stay here and lead the battle when it becomes a full out fight again.”

“And what about us?”

“You two will not be a part of this fight,” answered Eobard, putting up a hand to stop the objections of the two boys before they even properly got them out. “We had our sorcerers go on the front line for one reason.

“Hold the line while we opened a pathway to the warehouse that Ava Mallory was reported to be heading in a few moments ago. She has troops with her, so you will join a company made up of three platoons that are being sent to intercept her.”

“Do you think we could convince her to switch sides?” asked Adam quietly, the uncertainty evident in his voice.

The werebeast felt CB’s furry hand on his back and he looked down. He wanted to believe that Ava was still in there somewhere. That she could and that she would see reason.

“Adam…” said CB, but he seemed unable to continue his sentence.

“We have gathered information that says she’s heading to a warehouse. You two will be waiting inside the building,” said Eobard. “If all else fails, it is up to you to convince her and make sure that James Mallory’s and the Association’s influence is lessened as much as possible.”

Adam looked at the man and nodded. Taking a deep breath, he stood to his full height.

The moment everything would be decided was almost there. And they couldn’t fail.