Quick before word. I don't know if my last chapter update went out. Please make sure you've read the previous chapter before reading this one. Thanks a bunch

-Friday

"~~GENERIC CAMP SONG~~" Several people clapped and danced to the tune. The four children of Lír, and god how it annoyed Crue to think that, were extremely good at their apparent talent. Crue nodded with the beat, watching as several logs of wood were placed into the deep hole that the Hunters made.

After being piled into something resembling a pyramid, Crue smiled wildy, and grabbed Alice's flamethrower. "YOU ALL READY FOR THIS?!" He exclaimed, aiming the weapon. He received numerous cheers in response.

Crue's smile grew wider, and became slightly terrifying, as he held down the trigger. There was silence for a moment, before a rush of flame poured out of the device, causing shouts of wonder and joy as the pile of wood caught alight.

Off to the side, the members of CRDL, Sunny and Qrow watched as Crue lit the stack of wood on fire. "That," Qrow said, pointing to the Faunus' face. "is the look of someone who clearly shouldn't have a flamethrower, but has one anyway."

The other's agreed unanimously. The light from the flame casting eerie shadows against Crue's smiling face.

"Should someone get it off him or…?" Russel asked, before realising that no one would want to get between the pyromaniac and a flamethrower. Qrow raised a hand to the younger crowd, stepping forward.

"I got this." He cupped his hands to his mouth, before shouting. "CRUE!" The Faunus turned round, the flames ceasing after he released the trigger. Qrow pointed to a random tent, one hand still next to his mouth. "WHISKEY!"

Crue dropped the weapon instantly, running over to where the Huntsman had pointed. "Go grab it now." He elbowed Sky, who quickly ran forward, stumbling over his own feet as he approached the flamethrower.

He picked it up and turned around, heading back to the group. "LYING BASTARD!" A shout erupted from the tent Crue had entered, causing Sky to turn his head to see if the Faunus was currently heading in his direction to try and reclaim the weapon.

As he wasn't paying attention, he ended up tripping, and heading straight for the ground. Once he hit the ground, a small burst of fire shot from the device. It headed straight for Sunny, whose eyes widened as it approached.

Luckily, the blast was so small that it didn't do any damage to her body. Her clothes on the other hand…

"Shit!" The redhead cursed, instantly covering herself with her arms. The quickest reaction to the scene was Russel, who immediately took off his sleeveless hoodie and held it out to Sunny, looking straight at the ground as he did so.

Sunny took it thankfully, and scowled at the others, who spun away and faced the opposite direction as she quickly put the hoodie on, zipping it up fully. "Thanks Russel." Her words caused the others to turn back to her, assuming that they were given the all clear.

"No problem." He replied, blushing severely. "Talk about bad luck, huh?" At his words, Qrow's eyes widened, and he began to scoot away from the group.

"Qrow!" He heard a voice call out. The grizzled Huntsman turned, seeing who called out to him, before sprinting away. Crue followed, still angered at the lie about whiskey. However, he skid to a halt, and practically floated backwards, stopping in front of CRDL and Sunny.

"Why?" He pointed to Russel's hoodie on Sunny.

"I was cold." Sunny instantly said, as the males opened their mouth to explain. Crue squinted at Russel, before making a 'watching you' gesture, and chasing after Qrow again. After he left, Russel breathed out a sigh of relief.

The night continued on, people dancing around the fire as Ash placed some sausages on her quills and stuck them around the fire, while having several other dishes cooking over the open flame. Apparently the camp was stocked for at least another week.

However, as no one planned to stay here for another week, they used the majority of it for the night. There was singing and dancing, and Crue continuously chasing Qrow. It had become more of a gag than anything else, as Crue had long ago forgiven him, simply chasing out of some odd instinct to catch him.

Unfortunately, his body didn't agree with his want to keep the chase going. "Fucking…" He coughed out, slowing down, placing hands on his knees. "Cardio…"

"Hey!" Crue turned, seeing Cardin staring at him with an annoyed expression. "I thought we were cool now."

Crue tilted his head for a moment, before realising what he meant. "I said 'cardio'. Not Cardin." He explained, standing up fully. He walked over to former bully, who held out a bottle of water to him.

"Thanks." He said, sitting down next to Cardin and opening the bottle. The two sat in silence for a moment, simply watching the festivities. Sunny was dancing with Russel, the boy smiling widely. It gave both students on the ground a small chuckle.

"Your sister." Cardin said suddenly, causing Crue to turn his head rapidly. "You said Sunny reminded you of her. What was she like?" There was a moment of quiet contemplation from Crue.

"I had two." He answered. "They were both pains in my ass." He said, in only the kind of tone that a brother could use while still caring deeply for his siblings. "And they were both gone too soon."

Cardin took in the information silently. "I lost mine too soon as well." He stared at the ground. "She loved watching plays in the town square. She always went with my Dad." His hand tightened into a fist.

"And then the White Fang attacked. They had no reason to. It was the smallest damn village in Vale." His teeth ground together. "There was no resistance. That's why they attacked. That's why I hate them."

Cardin took a deep breath, and steadied himself. If Crue saw any trace of liquid running down Cardin's cheek, he made sure to ignore it. "Baird didn't deserve this." His fist clenched, nails digging into his palm.

"Saoirse. And Bronagh." Crue said shortly. "They won't be forgotten. I won't let them be." He looked at Cardin. "Baird won't be forgotten either." The human nodded, meeting the Faunus' eyes.

"We'll remember them. We'll keep going. We'll get strong enough to make sure none of this happens again." Crue and Cardin stared at each other, coming to a silent agreement.

"We'll keep moving forward." Cardin said, eyes hardened in determination. "For Saoirse, and for Bronagh."

Crue nodded. "And for Baird." He stuck his hand out, palm open. Cardin copied the gesture, and grabbed his outstretched hand.

They gave one firm shake, and released. It was an agreement between men. One of promise, and one of trust. To Cardin, it meant giving up his bigotry and bullying. To Crue, it meant four more people to make sure stay alive.

And it was not a promise either intended to break.

…

In the silence that followed, which became slightly more awkward as time went on, the Faunus had a thought. "By the way…" Crue began, in an attempt to say something. Cardin raised an eyebrow.

"What exactly is your Semblance?" He asked. Cardin blinked in surprise, not expecting that question at all.

"I guess you could call it 'Eruption'." He thought, scratching his chin. "I used to only be able to make explosions in my hand, but now I can channel them into my mace." The Faunus thought about what he said for a moment.

"How did you make it change so much?" He asked, wondering if his own Semblance could somehow become focused in his hands.

"Well, Semblances can evolve…" Cardin continued, before seeing the extremely confused expression on Crue's face. "Wait you didn't know that?"

The Faunus shook his head, with wide eyes. "Uh, well…" Cardin took a moment to think of how to phrase it. "There are two ways a Semblance can evolve." He said, holding up two fingers.

"One of them is through training and personal growth. A Semblance is supposed to be an reflection of your Soul, that's why it's unique to each person." He stretched his hand out, and a small explosion came out of it. "I guess mine is to do with my 'explosive personality'." He joked good naturedly.

The light caused from the explosion momentarily lit up Crue's face. The Faunus feared what he would get up to with that Semblance. "The other way it can evolve," Cardin continued, lowering his hand.

"Is by trauma." Crue shivered slightly. "Trauma or extreme personal events, something that fundamentally changes a person." He frowned. "Which makes sense, seeing as Semblances can activate under extreme distress."

"Hearing you talk intelligently sounds very weird to me." Crue murmured, before shaking his head. "So, my Semblance might evolve one day." He thought aloud.

"I thought it already has?" Cardin turned his head to the Faunus with an inquisitive look. Crue returned said look. "The night we were drinking in the room. You might not remember seeing as you were, well, drinking."

Crue nodded his head in a 'fair enough' fashion. "You stuck to the ceiling. But you weren't touching it. You kinda just, floated up there."

Crue blinked. "Huh." He brought a hand to his chin, thinking intensely. "Maybe it only activates when I'm drunk? No, I've used it before. Maybe it's…" The Faunus' words turned into mad ramblings, causing Cardin to sigh and turn his attention back to the party.

Maybe he'd join in. That woman with the huge Mace seemed like a good person to talk to.

…

A bit further through the night, when the voices had become hoarse and the dancing legs had become tired, Heather took to the stage. Standing in front of the burning pyre, she told stories of Monsters and Men. Of Kings and Queens. Of Wolves and Warriors.

Many of the people around the campfire listened eagerly, presumably having brought up on such stories. Crue listened with rapt attention, every story he learned he considered more lore to this world. It was a shame he realised most of them were probably true, as many of them did not end happily.

At some point during the night, someone began making flower crowns. Several of them were passed around with mild amusement, the crowd wearing them happily. Crue noticed Sunny and Russel sat side by side, watching Heather tell her stories, a crown of white flowers on Russel's head.

Crue listened to Heather, her voice soft as a feather, and almost drifted off with how calming it was. It seemed that many others were equally as exhausted. Crue let out a yawn, but still continued to listen.

However, once Heather began to tell the story of the Four Maidens, Crue glanced over at Qrow, who seemed a little on edge due to the story. The Faunus thought for a moment, before deciding it would not be a good idea to tell Qrow what he knew.

Instead, he stood up from his place around the campfire, and made his way into the thick woods, intending to answer natures call. As he was relieving himself, he thought back to the Scroll he had stolen.

"Forgot I nicked this." He muttered, taking it out and inputting the passcode. "Arthur Watts." He recalled. He finished up, wiping his hand on his jeans, and leaned against a tree, scrolling through the man's data.

"Eh, nothing interesting in his Gallery. And no music. Man, disappointing." He shook his head. Crue couldn't recognise and names in his Contacts, all of them strange, but following the 'naming rule' as Crue called it.

"Tyrian, Hazel, Solaris, Vera." He listed off dully. Not a single name stood out. With a shrug, he exited from the contacts, and entered the File's application. He instantly righted himself. "Hold the fuck." He muttered, reading some of the names.

"Queen Virus. Queen Virus Controller." Crue realised what this meant. "THAT FUCKER!" He exclaimed, eyes narrowed in anger. "He's working for fucking gRAGH!" His head suddenly erupted in pain, as he fell to the ground, clutching his head.

There was no one else around him to have caused him this pain, so he realised it must have come from inside. "Whoever is in my head…" He growled out, managing to stand. "BETTER GET THE FUCK OUT OF IT!" The pain dissipated, but Crue still clutched it.

"Was that Alice? No, she's still out of it." He shook his head, then winced as the pain came back. "Got to… work… quickly." He grabbed his own Scroll, and Watts', and transferred the Queen Virus Controller over to his own scroll.

"If he's already implanted it… the least I can do is fuck with it from here." Crue's could faintly see the bars on both Scrolls, showing how long it would take to load. He couldn't quite make it out, but it was progressing.

He managed to place both Scrolls in his pocket, before falling to his knees, forehead resting against the ground and continuing to hammer away at his mind. As he was losing consciousness, he heard the flapping of wings.

He relaxed slightly, figuring it was Qrow coming to check up on him. As his consciousness left him completely, the last thing he felt was two hands grabbing his shoulders. Curiously, the owner's fingers seemed to be a lot sharper than they should have been…

…

"Who the fuck is blowing on my face?" Crue thought, slowly regaining consciousness. "And could the fucker grabbing me let up? Christ it's like a vice." The Faunus' eyes fluttered open, and he felt his heart stop.

He was thousands of meters in the air. His eyes widened and his scream caught in his throat. He was left in silence, with the wind rushing past his ears. He looked up. A cloud of black feathers obscured his vision.

"Oh shit." He managed to breathe out, but the curse was lost to the wind. He looked to his shoulders, seeing a pair of talons digging into them. He was surprised that he didn't need to activate his Aura in order to keep himself from being injured. The Nevermore didn't notice that its captor had awoken, still flying forward.

Crue willed himself to look down, and saw a landscape that was twisted and broken. He had only scene such sight once before. "Salem." He realised. He was flying over Salem's domain. And he could not think of a way to escape.

He looked to his hands, seeing the bump of his claws against the fabric. He was just glad he found a spare shirt. He brought his hands to just before the Nevermore's talons, and took a breath. He was going to kill this Goddamn bird, and get back to Mentis.

"One. Two. Thr-" He fell. The Grimm had dropped him. Crue's eyes widened, and a scream escaped his mouth. It wasn't the manliest of screams, but Crue had no time for gender norms when he was falling to his death.

"FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK! FIX FIX FIX!" He looked around for something, anything that could help him. He looked straight down, seeing what looked like a building made of purple and black crystal. That would be no help.

As he approached, the saw the building appear to open up, causing Crue to believe it was somehow a Grimm disguised as a building. In his defence, he wasn't thinking very clearly at the moment.

"FOCUS FUCKING FOCUS!" Crue shook his head while falling. "IF IT WASN'T FOR THAT DAMN BIRD-" He stopped, and flipped around mid-air. In that moment, he recalled what Cardin had said, barely an hour earlier, about his Semblance evolving. He hoped to anything that he was right. His eyes landed on the Grimm.

The Nevermore was still circling. Crue stared at it, concentrating all of his anger, his rage, his Wrath on it.

And then, he activated his Semblance.

It was like he had already hit the ground. Crue's body jerked in mid-air, and he heard the Grimm give out a surprised squawk. The Faunus stopped falling, and he managed to look at his surroundings. He wasn't alone.

"Well, that was quite an entrance." A man with a long brown ponytail and golden eyes said, looking at Crue with immense surprise. The Faunus found himself floating above a large crystal table.

"You're telling me." He gasped out. "I went faster than the speed of sound." A short moment later, his own scream hit Crue in his chest, causing him to fall onto the table with a curse, and roll off it. "That's gonna hurt in the morning."

His hand gripped the edge of the table, and he managed to pull himself up. "Where the Hell am I?" He questioned, looking up and actually taking in where he was. There were several arched windows, with what appeared to be purple metal woven in between them.

High above him, near a now closing hole, was a chandelier with small, glowing purple crystals hanging off it. Spires of crystal stood near the walls, candles dripping off of their tips. "An evil layer if I've ever seen one."

"Wait. Evil layer. That means…" It was only now that he realised the other people in the room were probably not the kindest of people, nor would they be on his side. It was then that Crue decided to actually absorb his surroundings, as well as the likeliness of him getting out alive.

Sometimes Crue wondered what he'd do when faced with seemingly impossible odds. Generally he imagined himself ignoring the odds and somehow pulling through due to either sheer endurance or sheer dumb luck.

This situation seemed a tad more dire though. He was at the table made of a deep purple and black crystal. Seated around the table were three men, one of which the Faunus had met before, and subsequently stolen his Scroll from.

The large silent one seemed to be the least threatening, although that was probably because the only action he took was opening an eye and raising a brow when Crue was dropped into the room thanks to the damn Nevermore.

And then, there was the other one...

"Ooh, new bait for the Grimm!? Or perhaps a new sparring partner?!" The man with the ponytail gave a maniacal laugh, which would give the impression to many that he was at least partially insane.

To Crue it just seemed like he was trying too hard.

"You're the damned Huntsman that stole my Scroll!" The moustached man exclaimed, finally recognising the Faunus. Crue decided to play innocent.

"Watt-ever do you mean?" He asked. The elder man fumed, whereas the ponytailed man simply cackled.

"I demand you return it at once!" Watts cried, throwing out a hand dramatically at Crue. The Faunus reached into his pocket, taking out the Scroll and examining it. It was still transferring the data. "On one hand, it means I'm probably not that far off Mentis. Or I was just brought here really quickly."

Crue looked up to Watts, who still had his hand outstretched, and a scowl on his features. The Faunus smirked, turning to the other two males. "Hey. You guys wanna see what Watts has in his search history?"

The Faunus put on his best 'shit-eating grin' as he waved the Scroll at the man with questionable sanity. Said man responded by clapping his hands together and nodding. "Ooh yes!" He interlocked his hands, resting his chin on them.

Crue opened up Watts' browser application, and went into his history. "Eh hem." Crue coughed. "Best Moustache Wax. Why is my moustache not as spectacular as the other guys."

Through it all, Watts face grew redder and redder with anger, as the ponytail guy kept laughing louder and louder. "Ooh here's a good one." Crue placed a hand against his lips in mock shock. "Why doesn't my carpet match the drapes?"

A snigger from the larger man caught the three others attention. The man appeared to realise he was caught, and turned it into a cough, raising his fist to his mouth. The man directly across from him broke into a fit of maniacal laughter once more.

Crue still thought he was just trying too hard. "RETURN ME MY SCROLL NOW!" Watts demanded, face red and moustache bristling as he slammed a fist down on the crystal table.

"No." Crue replied. "I'm not giving a Scroll back to someone who's evil."

"Whatever makes you think we're not on the side of all the goodie goodies?" The try-hard asked.

"Well for one, good guys don't call themselves 'goodie goodies'." Crue sensed something odd about the man, some kind of strange kinship. "Kimblee looking motherfucker." He muttered.

"And for two," The Faunus raised his arms to show off the room he was currently in. "Get an interior decorator or something cause, Jesus Christ, this place screams 'Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here'."

"And you would know about decoration? Uncultured swine." Watts stuck up his nose at him.

"Well I know that my place is a lot better than this gaff." Crue looked at the slowly melting candles dripping off of what appeared to be a Crystal throne. "And you really can't talk about decoration. Shave that bush off your lips and then maybe I'll consider what you have to say."

The 'Kimblee Wannabe' burst into laughter, as Watts, and his moustache, bristled with anger. "Why you..." Something blue crackled around his hands, and a short burst of electricity struck Crue in his chest.

The Faunus spasmed, Watts' Scroll falling from his hand and sliding across the table. Crue felt his lips curl upwards into a terrifying smile, before sinking to his knees and gripping the table. "Watts. Electrical Semblance. Of fucking course."

"Hey, do me a favour." Crue whispered to his attacker. Watts raised an eyebrow while staring at the kneeling male. "Never, ever, attack a girl named Nora Valkyrie. She's terrified of lightning. It just wouldn't be fair."

Watts chuckled. "Hmpf. Giving away the weakness of an ally? You are a very foolish man." The gentleman returned to his seat smugly, not seeing the smirk on Crue's face.

"Ooh, Valkyrie, the name sounds familiar." The crazy man mused, and felt a sudden chill go down his spine. Eyes like blue steel bore into his own golden ones. "Struck a nerve have I?" He asked.

"You strike one of my nerves, I'll strike you full stop." Crue warned.

The man chuckled ominously. "Ooh, I like you." He then placed an arm across his forehead, in faux offense. "But such aggravation between a fellow Faunus. Oh the shame, are we not supposed to work together to better our race?" He crouched on the handles of his chair, staring at Crue.

"You're a Faunus?" Crue managed to say, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

The apparent Faunus' belt began to unfurl. "Why yes I am." He stood to his full height and bowed, a deadly looking stinger pointed at Crue. "Tyrian Callows, a pleasure to meet you."

Crue stared at Tyrian, and started seeing connections. A Faunus, clearly somewhat deranged, and appeared to have a set of claws on his arms. Crue stood tall, and raised his arms. "There's only room for one crazed, clawed Faunus here."

SNKT

Crue's claws shot out from the hidden mechanism under his shirt, pointed at Tyrian. "And it ain't you."

The Scorpion Faunus stared at the claws, and at Crue. He licked his lips in anticipation of the fight that was sure to come. He vibrated in excitement, his own claws unhooking.

Stop.

Crue found himself choking on his own spit, and Tyrian appeared to whimper, before standing straight and putting his weapons away. Watts tugged on his tie, also standing up, glancing behind Crue. The Wolf Faunus wanted to turn, but found himself unable to move a muscle.

He heard the sound of a door opening, a chill that froze him to his very core blowing through. He looked to the side, and felt fear surround him.

White hair, pale skin, and a black cloak.

It glided silently past the table, straight towards the throne. She sat down. Blood red eyes burst to life, surrounded by inky blackness. The eyes of Death itself stared at Crue.

Crue stared back.

I feel like this chapter was a little rushed. Hmm. Tell me if it was.

Also if you compare Cardin to Bakugou I will literally not blame you. But the whole Semblance Evolving thing is something I believe can actually happen. Of course with how varied Semblance's can be, it will be different for every person.

Uh, what else. Oh yeah, you'll find out the name of the Mech next chapter, seeing as it wasn't actually in this one. I hoped you enjoyed the chapter, and as always

Until Next Time

-Friday