Shayne was in Dundra's subconscious, he followed the pattern of memories back to the incident with his sisters, though there was something before that, something that added fuel to his hatred.
Dundra was about 6 or 7, he and his mother were coming back from the market taking the shortcut through the forest, Dundra was scared, so scared he never let go of her hand. As they were nearing the edge of the forest, a roar echoed from behind them. Dundra's mother turned, a look of pure terror on her face, the Ursa charged and she told Dundra to run, he couldn't move out of fear, he watched his mother be slaughtered by the bear, he watched the life drain from her eyes. As he turned to run, the Ursa looked up and chased after him, he ran as fast as he could, screaming at the top of his lungs. His dad heard him and came running, along with a couple of farm hands, they were all wielding axes. The Ursa killed both the farm hands before Dundra's father finally felled it with a hard chop to the top of its skull. His dad asked where his mother was, quietly at first, but after repeating himself several times he was bellowing it at the top of his lungs. Dundra cried softly and pointed in the direction of the forest.
He was sent back to make sure his younger sisters were okay, they were still sleeping, they were only babies after all. He waited for his father to return before going to do his chores, he didn't know why he was doing them, he just wanted to. Dundra's father buried his mother behind the house; he didn't let Dundra see her. After that time, Dundra's father lost heart in keeping the farm running, over time Dundra took over, his dad also seemed to be aging faster, since she had died. Eight years later, he lost his younger sister, Sara, to another Ursa, in the same forest; it was this that eventually drove her twin to suicide, a year later, and his dad a few months after her.
Dundra was fourteen and had no family, he had the land and everything on it, but he didn't want to keep on working it. He decided then and there, on the anniversary of his mother's death, that he would slay every Grimm he came into contact with and kill it without mercy or surrender when he was tired or injured.
Shayne released the bond between them and waited for Dundra to regain consciousness, when he opened his eyes, Shayne held in his hand a simple steel blade. He offered it to Dundra, who took it gingerly;
"Dundra, I know your hatred for Grimm is buried deep in you, I know why you hate the Grimm. If you choose to kill me, know that I understand and I do not judge you for it. The others won't, it is no longer just about you anymore, think of Eddi and Hanna. Just if you do decide to do it, do it quickly" Shayne knelt there keeping his eyes fixed on Dundra's, he felt the knife being put to his throat, Shayne closed his eyes and waited.
Dundra's hands were shaking, he knew that Shayne was possessed by a Grimm, but he couldn't bring himself to kill his friend over it. He threw the blade away, it stuck in the wall. He bowed his head and Shayne opened his eyes.
"Dundra, I trust you more than ever now, if you ever want someone to talk to about this, I'll make time for you"
Suddenly a dark shape crashed through the window. Shayne and Dundra jumped to their feet, the others woke at the sudden noise, Eddi, Hanna and Lina sat up in bed while Vossler and Ashe, leapt out of bed readying their weapons. Dundra went to the dark shape and pulled its hood down. Before Dundra could do anything else, the shape leapt at Shayne, a blade in hand.
Shayne caught the arm of his attacker and flipped him through the table. The shape was dazed as Shayne rooted through his pockets, but had enough of his senses to give him the note. Shayne took it and stepped away, Dundra turned on the light so Shayne could see it better, forgetting that he was a Faunus.
All the note contained was the symbol of the White Fang and a small amount of text at the bottom that read;
'It begins'
Shayne looked up and saw that the shape had vanished, presumably out the window. He showed the note to his roommates and answered a knock at the door.
"Shayne, we heard a lot of crashing, is everything alright?" Blake asked; the entire of team RWBY were standing at the door in their pyjamas.
"Yeah everything is fine, but Blake I need to show you something" he went and retrieved the note from Hanna, "someone or something came crashing through the window, it attacked me and after I subdued it, it handed me this" he gave her the note.
She looked at it and her face hardened;
"Shayne, this isn't good, but why are they targeting you, you were never part of them"
"They've been trying to recruit me for years, I always lost them among the trees of a forest or killed them" he said, Lina took his hand, "The most notable attempt caused me to lose Lina, it made me determined to never help them, no matter what"
"Shayne, you know you can't ignore this"
"I know, but what else can I do at the moment, until I know exactly what they want, we can't do anything"
"I'll talk to my old contacts and see if they know anything" Yang said
"And I'll get in touch with my old handler, maybe he'll know something" Hanna added
"That's a start at least, but leave it until the morning, we all need some rest now, see you tomorrow girls" Dundra said closing the door.
Shayne wandered over to the bed he shared with Lina and sat down. Hanna and the twins returned to their beds, yawning slightly.
The next morning there was the usual mob of people waiting to use the bathroom, Shayne got around this by going to the old room while no-one was paying attention and showering there before going back. Strangely when he got there the door was unlocked, he opened the door slowly, and there was blood all over the floor and walls. He ran back to his dorm and got the others. Shayne grabbed his Scroll before taking them to the old dorm. He sent a message directly to Ozpin
'SHDE's old dorm…Now, emergency' they arrived moments before Goodwitch and Ozpin
"Who found this first?" Goodwitch asked the group of students;
"I did, Professor, I was coming down to use the bathroom and the door was unlocked, I opened it to find this" Shayne said, stepping forward.
Hanna peeked through the gap between the doorframes, she saw a body of a Faunus, lying in a pool of blood, and she turned her head before she vomited. Shayne pushed past Ozpin and investigated the scene as Ozpin sent Goodwitch to get the police.
The Faunus was one he had helped in the past; she was being bullied by other girls for a reason that escaped him at the time. She had suffered great pain, her chest had been ripped open and her organs were on the floor, by the look of terror and pain on her face it had been done before her throat had been slit. He didn't touch anything afraid that the police would pin it on him. He went and examined the rest of the room, he noticed something about the blood on the ground, and he went back to the door;
"Does anyone know where I can get a step ladder?"
The group looked at him, it was such an odd request considering the circumstances, Dundra went and got the groundskeepers step ladder that they used for tending the hanging baskets, Shayne put its feet in plastic bags before setting it up. As he climbed it his suspicions had been true, the blood did show a pattern, it was the White Fang symbol.
Shayne climbed off the ladder as the police arrived, they entered the room and took a quick look around and started questioning Shayne's team;
"Don't bother asking them, they don't know anything, you want to be talking to me" he said sitting on the bottom step, the police turned to face him;
"And what makes you think that we won't deal with you in a moment"
"Because I'm a Faunus and the police don't trust Faunus as a whole"
"Shayne, that's enough, just tell them what you know" Ozpin said while trying to get the gathering crowd to disperse
"Are you ready with your pens boys?"
They looked at him, wondering if they could arrest him for something;
"The victim, is over by the east wall, her chest and belly have been cut in a single motion, and her organs removed, she also has a severed trachea and main artery, the blood pattern on the floor may seem random, but if you will kindly climb this handy step ladder, you will see that the blood has been painted to be the symbol of the White Fang" the police were trying to keep up as best they could, one officer climbed the ladder and said;
"He's right, by god; it's the White Fang alright…"
"Don't bother doing a background check against any of them, they have no link to the White Fang" he caught Blake's eye as he said this, "I, however, do, I have been approached by them several times over the past couple of years. Dundra hand me that note" Shayne went over to Dundra and took the piece of tattered paper from him, "Last night, my team had an unexpected visitor come crashing through our window, he gave me this" he handed it to the police who put it in an evidence bag and sealed it.
"And no, I don't mind coming down to the station to answer some questions" the police were stunned, they escorted Shayne back to his dorm and waited for him to dress before taking him to the police station.
Shayne spent the next four hours in an interrogation room, he could leave at any point he liked as he had been checked and was declared innocent. Unfortunately they still had no leads, the police, sensing they had found an extremely useful asset in Shayne, told him that if he came across any new evidence or anything relevant to the case, he should call them.
He said his goodbyes and made his way back to beacon, when he arrived the police tape was still intact but the door was open, Ozpin was inside.
"You do realise that this is a crime scene?" Ozpin turned at his voice
"Aah Shayne, how did it go?
"They're going to keep me in the loop about how the investigation is going"
"Good, come in and close the door please"
Shayne nodded and did as he was asked;
"Now, tell me what you really think"
"What I think is that someone really doesn't want Faunus at Beacon, I've noticed that a lot of Faunus have made plans to go home, you need to stop them, if we are ever going to catch who did this."
"Shayne, I respect your judgement but keeping them here would put them at risk…"
"And letting them go where they can't be protected puts them at even greater risk, if this is indeed the White Fang"
"I understand where you're coming from but it's not my decision to make, it's their choice if they leave, I can ask them to reconsider and set up a system to increase campus security but I can't stop them from going all together"
Shayne stared out the window.
Ozpin sighed and walked towards the door;
"For all Faunus' sake, I pray your right Shayne" he said ducking under the police tape;
'So do I professor, so do I', Shayne thought, taking one last look around the room before returning to his dorm.
The day passed, with almost every Faunus at Beacon coming to see Shayne about the incident earlier. He told them all the same;
"The police are investigating, the best thing you can do is not be out late alone, trust your team, and they will have your back and keep you safe"
That evening, Blake, Lina, Shayne and Velvet were sat in the library, keeping an eye on the few Faunus that did decide to go alone to the library.
"Shayne, what's got your focus?" Lina asked quietly
"I'm trying to work out why the White Fang would attack a Faunus, the only thing that I can come up with is that they are trying to frame the racists here at Beacon for it, but making it look like the racists were trying to frame them, it makes no sense"
"Unless, it's a ruse to draw us out, Shayne" Blake said looking up from her book.
"How do you mean?"
"Well, what if they want me and you for something they have planned, and the best way to draw us in is this"
"That still makes no sense, but it's worth a shot, we'll go into the main courtyard at midnight and wait for an hour, and if no-one shows up, then something else is going on"
"Velvet and I will watch from a hiding spot as backup in case something does happen"
"If something happens, you go get the rest of my team and Ozpin, do you understand? No heroics, I won't lose you again" Shayne stood up and whistled loudly getting everyone's attention;
"Alright, the library is shutting for the night, time to go folks"
They took the time to take the lone Faunus' back to their dorms before reconvening at the main courtyard at five to midnight.
"Okay, you two hide, Blake and I will separate to try and draw them in"
They waited almost half an hour before anything happened, the White Fang dropped silently from gliders and surrounded Blake and Shayne, Lina silently sent a message to his team and Ozpin as he had asked.
"So, we meet again shayne…"