History Fanfic / TheBeastOfBeacon

** Pointedly, over time Ozpin becomes the one human authority figure that Adam trusts, which leads to a [[TearJerker potent]] [[HeartwarmingMoments scene]] for the two of them: [[spoiler:with Adam’s outing creating a PR disaster, Ironwood and Winter (who would rather he be simply arrested for his past crimes) only concede to his being allowed to continue his studies if he’s heavily monitored... which includes the degrading demand he wear a shock collar (but all heavily protested by Qrow). Adam consents on the condition that Ozpin, not Winter, is the one to secure the collar, which the headmaster reluctantly agrees to do.]]

* AlternateUniverseFic: After Blake's abandonment of him and the White Fang during the events of the Black trailer, Adam, instead of staying with the Fang and going insane with rage, follows Blake to Beacon and enrols himself to try and prove her disillusionment with him wrong.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Played with. Adam has since lost any and all respect and affection he once had for Blake when she refused to do anything when he was assaulted by a bunch of racist students in the cafeteria (which she was responsible for starting in the first place) and Blake clearly wants nothing more to do with him. Her opinion has changed some over time, the most poignant events being when she sees him [[spoiler:willingly wear a shock collar, something the old Adam would rather die than allow happen to him]] and when [[spoiler:Cinder hijacks it during his match with Pyrrha]]. In the latter event, [[spoiler:she nearly goes to see him and is only stopped by Jaune saying it would be best to let Adam's team look after him]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:While Adam is ruled innocent in Ozpin's murder, the court still finds him guilty of all his actions as a member of the White Fang and is sentenced to 65 years in a maximum security prison with no chance for parol or early release for good behavior. The reason this doesn't go into DownerEnding territory is that the judge in charge of his case suspends his sentence for fourteen years, having Adam spend four years in Beacon and the remaining ten as a Huntsman in vale under strict watch.]]
* BrokenPedestal: Atlas as a whole, but more personally Winter for Weiss. Every chapter seem to punch a new hole in Weiss' respect for her country and family. Since Ironwood put a literal collar on Adam, she's made her disappointment and anger perfectly clear to Winter.

** Weiss insists that the rumours about the Schnee Dust Company’s abuse of workers are, at best, exaggerated slander and libel (knowing her father’s corruption, but not it’s extent). She says this in refutation to [[MadeASlave Adam]] [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters Taurus]] when he alleges such.

* EtTuBrute: Its glaringly obvious that Adam is extremely hurt by Blake betraying him and abandoning the White Fang. Hell, one of the major reasons Adam is even trying to redeem himself is just to prove her wrong about him being a monster. This became even worse in chapter 17, where Adam gets beaten up by racist students in front of everyone, Blake (who, must be pointed out, has been responsible for this) just lets it happen. After the brawl, he finally lets out his pent-up, ''hurt'' feeling:

* ExplainExplainOhCrap: While playing a game, Team RYST (and [[SixthRanger Pyrrha]]) start griping about how all the Faunus cards and factions in the game are some of the worst, and its impossible to win while playing it with several of the cards having UnfortunateNames. The realization that it was designed like this makes them realize that the FantasticRacism against Faunus are run deeper and in more subtle ways then they were aware of.
* ExtremeDoormat: Adam's opinion of Velvet.
* FantasticRacism: Since the story is about Adam, it shows the racism that Faunus have to deal with everyday, and how Adam himself deals with it too.

* ForWantOfANail: The plot is jump started by Adam going to Beacon, hoping to prove Blake is wrong about him, rather than staying with the White Fang. Things change as such:
** Adam almost immediately pursued Blake instead of returning to his terrorist operations. As such, he didn't stick around long enough to see Cinder return and threaten the White Fang into submission. He doesn't have any idea who she is or why the Fang is behaving so differently of late.

** Due to [[BrokenAce her]] [[FamedInStory fame]], Pyrrha doesn’t mesh well with a team that put her on a pedestal; she and Adam bond over their mutual prowess and shared respect, which sees her bond with Team RYST. Jaune, Nora and Ren don’t encounter them during Initiation (as Adam kills the Giant Nevermore), and because Blake avoids Adam their interactions are limited. Beyond Pyrrha, Team RYST hasn’t developed strong friendships in the student body owing to Adam’s presence, and how different people react to him and his personality.

* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: While Adam isn't exactly evil anymore, you would be hard pressed to find those who actually believe his HeelFaceTurn is genuine. Blake especially doesn't believe it, claiming it's impossible for him to change in spite of the fact that the whole reason Adam came to Beacon was to prove her wrong. There are some who are willing to give him the benefit of a doubt, such as Ozpin and Qrow. [[spoiler:By far the worst offenders are Ironwood and Winter, the latter of which has serious problems with him being on the same team as her sister. When Adam is outed as a former White Fang member to the public, Ironwood demands either Adam be given over to Atlas or be placed under strict observation with a shock collar for good measure. The latter requirement disgusts Qrow and horrifies Weiss.]]

* InnocentlyInsensitive: Adam regards Weiss to be this, considering her naive and ignorant rather than actively malicious towards Faunus.

** He is completely right when he says Glynda's treatment of him could be MistakenForRacist.

** While there are some productive lessons in collecting sap, Adam is completely justified in thinking it's a job not worth Huntsmen trainees. He correctly points out that a human settlement could be in the middle of a Grimm invasion and they, the future protectors of humanity, are out in Forever Fall taking sap from trees.
** Oobleck stating that he won't stand up for racism in his class falls flat on Adam, who thinks actions speak louder than words. He believes that Oobleck won't truely act on his word that he will stop any racism he sees in his class because that's what a lot of people say to feel good about themselves; talking about how anti-racist they are but won't do anything to actually stop it. That said, Oobleck ''is'' as much a man of action as he is a man of words, and will do something if he sees any prejudice.

** In Chapter 31 [[spoiler:Yang, who has just been subjected to pity from Coco over her team being “victims” of Adam, rips into both her for daring to judge Adam ''and'' into Velvet; she nastily, but not wholly-inaccurately, accuses the latter of being every bit the coward that Adam claimed she is, refusing to stand up for herself and taking abuse while having her human friends fight her battles for her, and claiming that Coco sees and treats Velvet as more of a pet than a friend.]]

* KangarooCourt: [[spoiler:Adam]]'s trial is set up like this, with an entire human jury, their lawyer doing a half-assed job of protecting him, and the judge shutting down Pyrrha's attempts to correct the prosecutor when she's asked to answer questions about Adam's character. When the court reconvenes, it happens an hour later, hardly enough time for the jury to come to a decision. [[spoiler:In a surprising turn of events, while Adam ''will'' be be sentenced to jail, the next fourteen years of his life will be spent as a student of Beacon for the first four, and the remaining ten as a Huntsman.]]

** Glynda Goodwitch ''is'' justified in her rough treatment of Adam, a confirmed terrorist who is only trying to reform to prove a point. She at best singles him out when trouble occurs, and at worst treats him as a ticking time bomb ready to kill anyone in range. The problem with this is that Adam's teammates (and pretty much every non-Faunus student) are completely oblivious to his criminal past, and [[EntertaininglyWrong have come to the conclusion that the only reason Glynda might be singling him out is for being a Faunus]]... At one point, when she walks in on a heated argument between him and Coco Adel, she immediately lays the fault on him for it, angering Yang when she won’t hear otherwise (as both Yang and Yatsuhashi bore witness); even Coco, who hates Adam well enough, [[EveryoneHasStandards is taken aback and baffled by Glynda’s active hostility towards him]].
** Ironically [[BoomerangBigot Blake herself]] is a downplayed example. When a few racist bullies prank Adam by knocking his sap over and saying he dropped it, Adam tells Ms. Goodwitch they knocked it out of his hands. She asks Blake what she saw, to which she denies seeing anything, leading to the bullies ''congratulating her'' for playing along with their prank.

** Same as Glynda, [[spoiler:Winter Schnee]] is entirely justified in her suspicion of Adam and her worrying over him being in the same team as Weiss. She fought him personally and is all too aware of his views on the Schnee family. To Weiss and Ruby however, her apparent suspicion comes over as thinly veiled racism.

** Blake’s attempts to remove Adam from Beacon - including turning a blind eye to Team CRMN harassing him and doctoring footage of him and Yang sparring - only cause tension in the student body and encourage the racists (who being unaware that she’s a disguised faunus think she’s one of them). Trying to warn Yang about him only convinces the other girl that she’s a passive-aggressive bitch with an unfounded chip against her own ex-boyfriend.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:While Adam is ruled innocent in Ozpin's murder, the court still finds him guilty of all his actions as a member of the White Fang and is sentenced to 65 years in a maximum security prison with no chance for parol or early release for good behavior. The reason this doesn't go into DownerEnding territory is that the judge in charge of his case suspends his sentence for fourteen years, having Adam spend four years in Beacon and the remaining ten as a Huntsman in vale under strict watch. It's subtly implied that if Adam remains on good behavior, his case might be dropped.]]

* MeetTheParents: At the end of the story, when talking with Blake, [[spoiler:Adam says Taiyang wants to speak with him after his and Yang's BigDamnKiss was caught on camera]].

** His criticism of Velvet's submissive nature is very much valid. Allowing bullies to push her around does absolutely nothing to deter them, and waiting for her teammates to interfere just drags more people into the conflict. Furthermore, Coco attacking the bullies doesn't eliminate the root of the problem; all it does is encourage them to try again when Velvet's alone since ''she'' wont fight back. That is, if they haven't moved on to bullying another Faunus.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:While Adam is ruled innocent in Ozpin's murder, the court still finds him guilty of all his actions as a member of the White Fang and is sentenced to 65 years in a maximum security prison with no chance for parol or early release for good behavior. The reason this doesn't go into DownerEnding territory is because the judge in charge of his case suspends his sentence for fourteen years, having Adam spend four years in Beacon and the remaining ten as a Huntsman in vale under strict watch. However, it may be so bad because if Adam doesn't violate the conditions of this probation the sentence will be lifted.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:While Adam is ruled innocent in Ozpin's murder, the court still finds him guilty of all his actions as a member of the White Fang and is sentenced to 65 years in a maximum security prison with no chance for parol or early release for good behavior. The reason this doesn't go into DownerEnding territory is because the judge in charge of his case suspends his sentence for fourteen years, having Adam spend four years in Beacon and the remaining ten as a Huntsman in vale under strict watch. While Adam will be carted off to prison and almost everyone in the kingdom hating his guts, he has fourteen years to spend with his team and friends and finally has the chance to mend his broken relationship with Blake.]]

Currently ongoing. Can be read [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13504249/1/The-Beast-of-Beacon here.]]

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Ozpin gets a very balanced and (by [[AuthorAppeal Coeur]]'s standards [[AdaptationalJerkass especially]]) positive portrayal. He handles the Adam situation as best he can by containing the former terrorist, gives a fairer judgement than anyone else, and acts to correct what he sees as problems in the system. While some actions he takes are questionable he has the interests of everyone under his care at heart.

* WhamEpisode: Chapter 30. [[spoiler:Adam’s forced to come clean to his team due to the White Fang’s blackmailing him, with Ruby refusing to hear it and Yang socking him; after he violently rejects the Fang, his identity is leaked the next day in the news.]]

** Adam is once again right in his confrontation with Coco Adel in Chapter 16. She's honestly baffled that Adam thinks it's possible for a Faunus to discriminate against other Faunus. The thing is, there's a reason the BoomerangBigot trope exists. It is entirely possible for a member of a race to either consciously or subconsciously discriminate against themselves. By either accepting, normalising and/or rationalising the prejudices of others, or actively putting others down because they don't want to be included in that group.
** In Chapter 31 [[spoiler:Yang, who has just been subjected to pity from Coco over her team being “victims” of Adam, rips into both her for daring to judge Adam AND into Velvet; she nastily, but not wholly-inaccurately, accuses the latter of being every bit the coward that Adam claimed she is, refusing to stand up for herself and taking abuse while having her human friends fight her battles for her, and claiming that Coco sees and treats Velvet as more of a pet than a friend.]]

* BigDamnHeroes: Pyrrha in Chapter 35. [[spoiler:She uses her Semblance to tear Adam's shock collar apart when Cinder hijacks it, causing him to nearly die.]]

* BigDamnHeroes: Pyrrha in Chapter 35. [[spoiler:She uses her Semblance to tear Adam's shock collar apart when it causes him a great deal of pain, if not threaten to kill him.]]

** In Chapter 35, [[spoiler:despite the vast majority of the public being apprehensive about Adam participating in the Vytal Festival, a good majority of the crowd is very quick to blow into a near riot against Atlas and Ironwood when Adam's shock collar activates in the middle of his match with Pyrrha in spite of the two clearly having fun]].

* AdaptationalHeroism: The premise of the story has this as a basis; instead of continuing his life of terrorism, Adam joins Beacon Academy as a Huntsman-in-training. His motive for doing so isn't exactly heroic, but it's still leagues better than what his canon self devolved into.

* AdaptationalJerkass: Downplayed with Glynda. She keeps very strict eyes on Adam and swiftly reacts whenever he so much as hints at using violence, even if it's for self-defense. It gets to the point that Ruby directly accuses Glynda of racism. [[DramaticIrony What Ruby doesn't know]] is that Adam is an ex-terrorist whose violent nature actually has a body count.[[note]] Though even ''that'' doesn't excuse a few of her later actions, some of which can come across as un-professional and others downright petty. Her actions are especially jarring when involving Adam's teammates, which honestly seems like she's projecting her anger onto them.[[/note]]
** Downplayed again with Coco. While Coeur has always characterised her with a bit of an abrasive and nasty attitude, that's usually overshadowed by her genuine bold, caring and almost sisterly nature. This story takes from Adam's perspective though, who leaves the impression of being an imposing and violent underclassman looking to bully Coco's partner. Because of this, she treats him very harshly, and their first meeting is her breaking his nose after thinking he was harassing Velvet. This unfortunately taints her view on his teammates as well.

* RageBreakingPoint:
** Exploited. Adam intentionally pushes Team CRMN's members to their breaking point so that one of them would spout racist drivel and brutally assault him in front of everyone resulting in public humiliation and potential suspension. It works exactly as he intended: Glynda calls the match, Adam throws down his sword, and the last remaining member attacks him anyway.

** Pointedly, over time Ozpin becomes the one human authority figure that Adam truats, which leads to a [[TearJerker potent]] [[HeartwarmingMoments scene]] for the two of them: [[spoiler:with Adam’s outing creating a PR disaster, Ironwood and Winter (who would rather he be simply arrested for his past crimes) only concede to his being allowed to continue his studies if he’s heavily monitored... which includes the degrading demand he wear a shock collar (but all heavily protested by Qrow). Adam consents on the condition that Ozpin, not Winter, is the one to secure the collar, which the headmaster reluctantly agrees to do.]]

* RageBreakingPoint: Exploited. Adam intentionally pushes Team CRMN's members to their breaking point so that one of them would spout racist drivel and brutally assault him in front of everyone resulting in public humiliation and potential suspension. It works exactly as he intended: Glynda calls the match, Adam throws down his sword, and the last remaining member attacks him anyway.