"It was a White Fang member sir." Jaune told Ozpin, standing in his office along with the rest of his team and Crue. "We didn't know what her plan was so we just tried to hold her off. She seemed to be focusing on Crue."
Said Faunus stared at Jaune, angry at him for calling him out, but also appreciative that he cared. Ozpin sighed and turned to Crue, before looking at his wrist. "Crue, you haven't been back at Beacon for even three hours, and already you've got in a fight."
"New record." He hummed, before frowning. "Believe me, I'm as annoyed as you are." Crue deadpanned, eyes going to the ceiling.
"Why was the White Fang member targeting you specifically?" Ozpin asked, and luckily Crue had enough time on the journey to his office to think of a perfect excuse.
"Uhh, I may have called her some very impolite things under my breath that she may have heard." The Faunus cringed slightly, hoping to add to the performance.
"And what did you call her?" Ozpin questioned.
"Nothing I would repeat in front of you." Crue responded, eyes wide with seriousness. And technically that was true. He wouldn't tell Ozpin that he called her Raven. There would be no knowing how that would go.
"A shame I believe you." Ozpin rolled his eyes, before looking at the report before him. "And it was you who noticed her?" Crue nodded.
"Yeah. I saw her reflection in my Scroll." Crue told the professor honestly. "I figured someone wearing a White Fang mask wasn't up to any good, so I turned to check and yeah, no good."
Ozpin rubbed his temples with a frown on his face. Crue could guess he probably knew it was Raven, not that the Professor would tell any of them. Because they didn't need to know. No, there was absolutely no reason to tell his students that one of their friend's mothers had tried to kill them-"Are you alright Miss Nikos?"
"Huh?" Pyrrha spoke up, surprised.
"You seem to be very… agitated." Ozpin used the word carefully, seeing as his metal desk had begun to shake slightly.
"I- I am perfectly fine." Pyrrha told him, shaking her hands out of fists. "I am just, concerned as to why this White Fang member attacked us. Specifically us." The emerald eyes looked to the rest of her team.
"Well, as Crue said earlier, he said some very rude things-" "Do not pin this on me." The venom in the Faunus' voice surprised everyone in the room. And the dangerous look in Crue's eye warned Ozpin not to continue.
"I called her a –word after she attacked." Crue refused to say what he called her, by name. "She attacked us. The reason I was attacked first is cause I noticed her."
"And after I was attacked, the first thing I did was help up Pyrrha. She would have gone for her if I didn't get her attention." He stared at the headmaster. "Now why is that? Ozpin?"
There was a tense silence in the room, waiting for Ozpin to answer. "Truthfully, I do not know the reason. The White Fang could have gone after you simply for your fame. Perhaps thinking taking out a celebrity may somehow help them."
Crue grit his teeth and clenched his fist, as the members of JNPR all nodded, apparently accepting this 'truth'. There was a 'ding' from the elevator, causing those in the room to look at how had entered.
"Ah, Qrow." Ozpin smiled. "Apologies students, but I need to talk to my colleague about what we have learned." He waved a hand, dismissing them.
JNPR headed to the elevator, while Crue headed to the window. "I'll be taking the shorter route. I don't think being in an enclosed space is good for me right now." He climbed out of the window, and fell from everyone's sight.
Once JNPR was in the elevator and going down, Qrow turned to Ozpin. "It was her Oz. I asked around for descriptions. They all said the same thing. Huge mask. Huge sword. Huge… things I would not like to think about in relation to my sister."
He cringed on the last one. "I had gathered that myself Qrow." Ozpin gestured to a seat by his table. The Hunter took it, looking to Ozpin. "I fear that she knows."
"Knows that we have a half-dead woman in the basement?" Qrow questioned with a dry laugh. "Out everyone who could possibly know, she's the one I'm least worried about."
"I fear she knows who we intend to choose." At that, Qrow grew deathly silent. "And I think it would be too late to change candidates."
"You're talking like you know they will say yes." Qrow spoke somewhat warily. "And besides, I thought you said she was after Cullen."
"Yes. But apparently that is because he called her a See You Next Tuesday." Ozpin could have guessed the word that Crue used and did not wish to repeat in front of him.
Qrow couldn't help but laugh. "Really?! Man, I need to buy him a drink."
"This is no laughing matter Qrow!" Ozpin told him, ignoring the muttering 'sounds like it is'. "Mr. Cullen could have died."
"Yeah." The grizzled hunter nodded. "And you'd be upset because you still haven't figured out what to do with him." He said sarcastically.
"I would be upset, because a student died while in my care." Ozpin frowned, crossing his hands and spinning his chair so he could look out at Vale.
In a rare moment of disagreement from Qrow, the Hunter scowled. "Whatever you say Oz, just another outcast to your collection."
…
Crue walked down the side of the CCT, deciding he had heard enough. "He knew I was an outcast. Just not the kind he thought I was." An amnesiac Faunus with no family. If only he knew the truth.
Crue let out a dark chuckle, imagining how Ozpin would react if he discovered he was technically harbouring an alien all this time. He'd probably be ecstatic. And probably try to see if he had any extra-terrestrial powers he could use to defeat Salem.
"Well, technically I do." He thought back to that, transformation. He arm twitched even thinking about it, the sudden shifting and ripping of his bones, his body transforming into something it wasn't meant to be.
"I just wish I had seen further than Volume Three." The Faunus shook his head angrily, finally reaching the bottom of the tower, closer to Amber than he had ever been. "If I knew more, I could help more."
"Or, I could end up fucking things up even worse." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Damn butterfly effect."
"What about butterflies?" Crue heard a voice ask. He turned, seeing the bouncing red hair of Bron- Nora.
"The Butterfly Effect." The Faunus answered, as the rest of team JNPR approached, looking confused at the term. "Do you, not know about it?"
"I've never heard of such a thing." Ren answered, before noticing something apparently a distance behind Crue. He gently nudged Nora, nodding in the direction of the something.
Nora took in a deep breath, and yelled. "PROFESSOR OOOOOOOOBLECK!" Crue's ears rang out in pain as he clutched them to his head tightly. There was a whoosh of air, and suddenly a tall gangly man was stood in front of them, towering over Nora.
"It's, Doctor Oobleck." Oobleck said, fixing his glasses slightly. "Now, how may I be of assistance?"
"What's the Butterfly Effect?" Jaune asked simply.
"Butterfly Effect?" Oobleck repeated, frowning. "I've never heard of such a thing." The group turned to Crue, who realised he had messed up.
Instead of trying to worm his way out of it, he sighed and took out his Scroll. "Alright. Science time." He set the Scroll to 'project', casting a light blue square upon the wall of the CCT, and took out a stylus.
"The Butterfly Effect is a term that used in Chaos Theory." "Thank you Jurassic Park." "It basically means that the tiniest change could have massive consequences." Yoink had drawn a butterfly on his Scroll, now projected onto the wall.
Team JNPR and Oobleck watched with interest, taking down notes on piece of paper he had gotten from somewhere. "An example of that being a tornado or hurricane forming simply because a butterfly flapped its wings a few meters away."
"The same applies to history." He turned to Oobleck. "Doctor, imagine if someone were to go back in time, and tell General Lagune his shoes were untied." It got a small laugh out of the Doctor, as well as the students.
"Tiny thing, right?" Crue asked. "But that would take, maybe a second to check, a few more seconds giving out to the person who said it." He had continued drawing, starting to draw a spiral. "But in those few seconds, anything could happen. Maybe a Faunus got restless waiting, maybe one of the soldiers thought to look up."
"Maybe when he looked down he saw the reflection of the trees in a puddle." Crue's spiral had now completely overtaken the projection. "Tiny thing. Huge consequence."
"I can even show you an example." He looked around, trying to find a bottle of water. "But I'll need a hand." A pale hand was instantly thrust into his vision, Nora looking excited and happy.
"Thanks." Crue responded, grabbing her wrist and holding it still.
"Oh you meant an actual hand." Nora realised, her joke having failed.
"Yeah, and some water." His eyes wandered over to Oobleck. "Or a drop of coffee." The Doctor gripped his thermos tightly. "Literally two drops. It's all I need."
Oobleck glanced between his beloved coffee and the Faunus, before sighing. "Very well." He nodded. "In the pursuit of science." He undid the lid of the thermos, and held it out to Crue.
Crue took the lid, and tapped his finger against it, a single drop of brown liquid sticking to his finger. "Ok, now watch." He shook his finger once over Nora's hand, and the drop fell, landing on her hand and rolling off.
"Ok, so, if I do it again, should roll the same way, right?" He asked, taking another drop. he repeated the process, but this time the coffee rolled off the other side.
"Woah." Nora said, bringing her hand close to her face for inspection.
"Tiny changes. Lines in your skin, wind direction. Big difference." He vaguely remembered a quote about it. "You couldn't move a grain of sand without changing history."
"That is remarkable!" Oobleck exclaimed, gripping a notepad tightly. "I need to tell my colleagues in the Scientific and Historical community about this immediately." With that, he quite literally disappeared in a blur of green and white.
"Well. Glad I could teach you something." Crue said, before realising that telling them about the Butterfly Effect, was actually the Butterfly Effect. "Shit." He cursed.
"How did you know that? I've never heard anything about it." Ren questioned, looking at Crue with an expression the Faunus couldn't place.
"I know about it. I don't know everything there is to do about it." Crue responded, turning his Scroll back to normal and slipping it into his pocket.
"And besides, you guys know stuff I don't. Like, fairy tales, how to fight," Jaune coughed. "how to survive in the wilderness. Wait, I think I know that one." Crue frowned, thinking back to when he was in Scouts.
"What do you mean you don't know fairy tales?!" Nora exclaimed, shaking Crue by the shoulders. "There are so many!"
"I-I-I-I do-o-o-o-n't remem-em-ber." The Faunus managed to get out as he was being shaken, the motion distorting his voice.
"Oh yeah." Nora stopped shaking, Crue's eyes spinning in his head. "Well we are going to read them to you!" The redhead exclaimed, dragging Crue by the back of his shirt.
"I remember how to read!" He yelled indignantly, crossing his arms as he was dragged along. The only reason he wasn't resisting was because he was actually interested to read the tales, maybe being able to figure out the future that way.
Jaune, Ren and Pyrhha all laughed as they followed after the dragged Faunus. "We should start with our favourites." Jaune said. "Mine is 'The Girl in the Tower'."
"Handsome knight rescues a distressed damsel in a tower?" Pyrrha smirked, as Jaune blushed.
"I always thought it was a Mage." Ren pointed out. "Although, maybe it's differences in location. Word of mouth isn't always accurate."
The trio continued to talk about their favourite tales, almost forgetting about the encounter entirely. However, in the back of a certain red haired spartans mind, there was a sudden annoyance at birds.
…
The nightlife of Vale was one of the busiest in the entirety of Remnant, although tonight, as Crue stood alone on a rooftop, dressed as The Wolf, it seemed eerily quiet. It took a while to slip out, as he had to make sure he wasn't being followed.
While he didn't trust Ozpin enough to make sure he wasn't being watched, he was pretty sure that Qrow would be focused on the JNPR dorm. He wasn't looking out for crows tonight however, he was looking for…
"You came." Crue heard, as he turned around to meet glaring red eyes.
"Raven."
So.
I last updated this almost a year ago. That's my bad. I have a solid reason for it however. THERE IS SO MUCH NEW INFORMATION LIKE OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL AM I MEANT TO DO THIS COMPLETELY CHANGES MY PLANS FOR THE STORY BUT BY GOD I'VE PUT ENOUGH EFFORT INTO THIS STORY TO KEEP IT ALIVE SO FUCK IT WE'LL DO IT LIVE.
Also thank you to Serefina because they gave a good review and pointed out an actual plot hole, or rather a decent criticism instead of just saying 'fuckufkcukufkcuk you'
That's all I've got to say on the matter so, I'll try to keep it updated. Hope you've enjoyed, let me know if you did, and as always.
Until Next Time
-Friday