Despite his efforts to conceal it, most people could pick up the headmaster's slight favoritism towards Ruby Rose. Those who noticed tended to assume that it was because she was younger than the others – a prodigy, like him.
(This is, in fact, incorrect. Alexander Ozpin was never considered a prodigy until he graduated from Citadel Academy, and that was only because he looked younger than he was.)
On the other hand, hardly anyone realized that Goodwitch also had a favorite – Lie Ren. Had anyone noticed it, they would have assumed it was because he was not only studious, he also excelled in battle – like her.
(This is also incorrect. Though she was an excellent fighter, the blonde struggled in nearly every non-combat or Grimm related class, English being the exception. In fact, all her former teachers were taken aback when they found out about her chosen profession.)
Neither professors bothered to correct those assumptions. There was no need to; their reasons were their own.
But if Glynda sometimes let a bit of childishness reminiscent of the scythe-wielder slip out, no one commented. And if Ozpin's resulting smile was all too similar to that of Lie Ren's, no one noticed.
A/N: This was one of the first chapters I wrote for this fic (which is why it has such a different style than "Strays").
Also, forgot to add this to the last chapter. CREM came from Cinder Fall, Rina Nana (a fake name for Neo), Emerald, and Mercury. Yes, the reason I gave Neo a fake name was to avoid Team CMEN (haha), but I also figured that she, at least, would have had a name attached to her fake appearance. As to what happened to Neo after CREM was captured, well... I'll leave you to decide.