I think I might start putting a few notes here just to respond to reviews. That being said, I like the way you think Icarus
Crue watched as the bodies of three women were electrocuted, floating to the surfaced of the water, and the crowd cheered. "I fuckin' forgot that's how they won." The Faunus was pale as Sun and Neptune celebrated their victory over team NDGO.
Not a single person seemed to have a problem with how the fight ended, including RWBY, who got up from their seats to go congratulate the victors. Crue wasn't paying attention as he walked, calculating in his head how long he had until Emerald and Mercury's fight. He stopped the virus upload, so it could be against anyone.
Something in the back of his mind twitched as he thought of the Virus. He paused for a moment, trying to figure out what it was. But for some reason he couldn't remember.
As he wasn't paying attention, he bumped into Ruby, almost knocking the poor girl down. "She's here." Crue heard Weiss speak up, looking into the sky as a rather large ship with four blue ribbons streaming out behind it flew overhead. Without warning, Weiss immediately began to sprint to the docks.
Ruby turned back to Crue in confusion, before following the Heiress. The Faunus, not wanting to be left out, quickly followed. Unfortunately, as the fights had finished for the day there was quite a crowd attempting to leave all at the same time.
Crue could only barely see Ruby's head among the crowd and couldn't for the life of him see Weiss' stand out white hair. As he was scanning, he heard Ruby cry out. "Weiss! No!" The Faunus' head whipped around, finally seeing the Heiress. Boarding a shuttle.
"Damn it!" Crue ran up to stand next to Ruby as the door to the shuttle closed and began to fly away. Ruby stamped her foot on the ground in annoyance.
"Ohh. The next shuttle won't be for soo long." She raised a hand up to shield her eyes from the sun, and to properly glare at the departing aircraft. Crue bit his lip slightly, looking at the aircraft, and then to the Beacon docking bay, where it was headed.
They were surprisingly close to Beacon today, the floating colosseum having a set path it followed for the week. And today, it was within a stone's swing of Setanta. A lightbulb popped up over Crue's head.
"I have an idea." Crue said slowly, causing Ruby to look at him with hopeful eyes. "A stupid one." He clarified. "But an idea." Crue rolled his shoulders, as he stepped along the ramp that the shuttle had been docked at.
Ruby stepped up next to him, glancing down. Amity Colosseum was extremely high up and made Ruby a little nervous as to what Crue had planned. He seemed to be pointing at random parts of Beacon, shaking his head and trying somewhere else.
"Ok. I've got it. Get on." He kneeled down, shrugging his shoulders towards Ruby.
"Uhhhhhh what?" Ruby asked, tilting her head to one side.
"Piggyback. Oh, Setanta's in the way." He removed his weapon and handed it to Ruby. The younger Huntress took it, still looking to Crue in confusion.
"I trust you Crue. I am really worried. But I trust you." She climbed on top of Crue's back, her arms slinging around his shoulders as Crue stood up completely. He doublechecked to make sure no one was watching them, as he spoke.
"Ok, now the most important thing about this, is to hold on tight, and never tell Yang." Before Ruby could question why, Crue began to run full speed towards the end of the platform.
"CRUE!" Ruby screamed, wrapping her body as tightly as she could around the Faunus as he leapt off the colosseum. Wind immediately rushed into Ruby's ears, but she clamped down on Crue and refused to let go.
With her eye clenched shut, Ruby felt the sensation of falling stop, and a curious feeling, like being on a boat descended over her. She cracked open an eye and saw the world passing by at a surprisingly slow pace.
"Woah." She let out, loosening her grip slightly and raising her head. Wind blew her air back, as the reaper took in the sights for a moment.
"Just like Initiation, huh." Crue called over his shoulder, staring at the airship that had departed with Weiss and concentrating his Semblance there.
Ruby let out a loud sigh and slumped against Crue's back, still holding on for dear life. "Crue, if I wasn't afraid it would drop the both of us, I'd smack you silly." The Faunus laughed but did not drop concentration, focusing on the departing shuttle.
He was certain that he could make it to Beacon. He hadn't been fighting or using his Aura for the past two days. The only issue was landing. He could just, land. But that would probably break every bone in his body. And Ruby's.
And like Hell he was risking that. "Ruby, do you know how orbits work?" He called back.
"Yeah! The moon orbits Remnant and that- WAIT NO! Crue I can just use my Semblance to land us!" Ruby exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Crue's chest as she activated her own. Semblance.
A strange sensation washed over Crue as rose petals obscured his vision. Like his body was scattered into pieces yet remained whole. When he could see again, he was looking at the rapidly approaching ground. Both fliers screamed, as Crue tried to focus his Semblance directly behind him.
However, with nothing to focus on aside from empty space, it was not working out for him. "PULL UP! PULL UP! PULL UP!" Ruby exclaimed, pulling at Crue's shoulders like one would a throttle on a plane. Cure threw his arms out wide in a last resort and craned his neck backwards.
That sensation of scattering washed over once more, and he found himself parallel to the ground, and heading towards a copse of trees. Another set of screams sounded out as Crue desperately tried to weave through the forest.
"THIS! IS! RIDICULOUS!" Crue yelled out, a swipe of a branch punctuating every scream.
"THEN STOP!" Ruby called back, narrowly ducking and avoiding a fairly large branch. Suddenly, she gasped from her position on the boys back. "I have an idea! Drop your Semblance!" The younger girl gave a mighty tug on Crue's shoulders, as he followed her instructions.
Ruby briefly activated her own Semblance as Crue dropped his, leaving the two suddenly shooting skywards. The momentum ran out almost immediately, allowing them to just barely get over the tops of the trees and see how close they were to their destination.
In the spiral, they had somehow gotten to the small forest just outside of Beacon's courtyard. "We made it!" Crue cried in relief, before realising something. He glanced down, seeing the ground below him, and then to Ruby.
"Oh crud." The girl whimpered, gripping onto Crue as tightly as she could as they both fell back to Earth with a comical slowness.
One imprint of Crue on the ground later, Ruby rolled off the boy and onto the ground, practically kissing the grass. "Oh, now I know how Jaune feels!" She hugged the ground, rubbing her face against it.
The Faunus let out a groan as he lifted himself out of a shallow Crue-shaped hole and got to his knees. "Ok. Apparently. Your Semblance doesn't like mine. Or mine doesn't like yours." He jerked his neck to the side, cracking a few joints and letting out a sigh of relief.
"Well maybe if you had told me you were going to JUMP OFF OF AMITY! I would have been better prepared." The reaper exclaimed, crossing her arms in a huff. Crue nodded in fairness with a small frown and didn't say anything for a while.
"…It was cool though, right?" "Oh, so cool!" The two suddenly began to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Along with how dangerous it was. "But we never tell Yang." Ruby said seriously.
"Don't need to tell me twice. I like my gonads attached to me, thank you very much." He stood up properly, still groaning, and leaned against a tree. "You want to go ahead and catch Weiss? I think I might need a minute. Or fifty."
"Ok. Thanks for the lift Crue." Ruby giggled at her joke, before jogging away to the courtyard, where Crue could see the fancy ship from before beginning to set down. He let out a sigh that seemed to age him a few years, before standing upright and walking towards the landing pads.
"Now that I think about it, this is where Ruby first brought me after we found out I was staying in the dorm." Crue murmured to himself. His hand absentmindedly reached back for his weapon. His hand grasped air.
The Faunus froze for a second, making multiple grasps as he began to panic. "Wait. Ruby has it." He remembered, giving it to his passenger so that she could actually sit on him without issue. The Faunus calmed down, knowing Setanta was safe.
"If you make a joke about Ruby 'riding' me here, I'm going to stab you in the dick." Crue growled, staring skyward as he continued to make his way towards the only Atlas ship on the landing pad.
From a distance, he could make out Weiss and Ruby, and a much taller figure talking to them both. He had to blink a few times as he got a better look at the woman talking to them. She wore a long white sleeved coat with a dark blue clasp. She had fair skin and dark blue eyes, and hair that matched her sisters.
"Damn. Winter is hot when she's not a cartoon." Crue realised. He also realised he should never ever say that to either Schnee. He was only a few feet away, and about to speak up, when he suddenly raised his hand and lurched forward.
"Well you must be Winter!" Crue said loudly, snatching the older woman's hand out of the air, where she had been about to strike Weiss across her head. His sudden presence startled everyone, and he took their surprise as far as he could.
"Weiss has told me so much about you." He said, vigorously shaking the Atlesian's hand and giving her his widest smile possible. "About how great you are, and about how you are absolutely not the type of person to hit their siblings." His eyes met Winter's, two shades of blue clashing.
There was a click.
Crue glanced downward to his hand that caught Winter's.
He lifted it up slowly to see a pair of handcuffs attached to the both of them. He turned to the younger Schnee, both her and Ruby looking at the handcuffs in confusion.
"Weiss, I'm not ready for another kinky relationship."
"CRUE!" Weiss and Ruby yelled, as the Faunus suddenly felt himself jerked forward with a yelp. He ended up at an awkward angle, his head looking up to Winter's.
"Crue Cullen. You are under arrest." Her slate-blue eyes pierced into Crue's, as the two soldiers behind her suddenly stood at attention, but with confused glances to one another.
"WHAT?!" Crue exclaimed, along with Weiss and Ruby, immediately acting on instinct and trying to jump back from Winter. "WHY!?" He yelled, pulling against his restraint as Winter did the same.
"Your arrest is a matter of Atlas Security. Now, come willingly, or come without consciousness." Her hand fell to her sabre, as she glared at Crue.
"Atlas Security? I only know Atlas anxiety!" Crue said, still straining to get away, while managing to point at Weiss with his free hand.
"Hey!" Weiss said, briefly coming out of her shock. "But he's right! He doesn't know anything about Atlas, Winter! He commonly fails tests about our culture!" Crue let out an annoyed 'Oi', but Winter did not seem to be listening.
"I don't know what the Hell you think I've done, but I'm not going with you." Crue pulled his arm back with as much strength as he could muster and managed to see an unwilling shift in Winter's position.
"Fine. Then I'll come to you." There was a ring of steel as her sabre left its sheath and swung upwards. Crue let out a yelp as he quickly jumped to the side, narrowly dodging the blade.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" He exclaimed, ducking as the sword whistled over his head, narrowly missing his ears. "IS THIS HOW YOU COURT IN THE MILITARY?!" The swings, along with Crue's dodges and yells, suddenly became more rapid.
"RUBY! I NEED MY SWORD PLEASE THANK YOU!" He backpedalled, still bringing Winter with him as he tried to lead her round in a circle. He heard Ruby yell out in confirmation, only realising afterwards that he had just told her to throw a pointy weapon at him.
He noticed Winter's eyes flicker over his shoulder, and quickly raised his arm to grab the sword that was hopefully about to land in his open palm. It might have, had Winter not suddenly surged forward and struck the blue blade with her own, sending it spinning skyward.
"Oh, you bitch." Crue cursed softly, before freezing as Winter's head spun round to glare. It was then the Faunus remembered the majority of his insults to opponents were when they were very far away from him.
The glare Winter levelled him with was sharp enough that Crue felt as though he had been stabbed. The abrupt lance of pain in his side suggested he was actually stabbed.
"Motherf-" He jumped back again, bringing Winter with him as he looked upward, trying to spot his weapon. "WHAT THE HELL DID I EVEN DO?!" He moved his body from side to side, desperately dodging.
"Your crimes are-" "A matter of Atlas Security." Crue beat Winter to the punch, putting on a winey voice that caused the Schnee to pause and crinkle her nose in annoyance. Crue halted his movements, Winter still unwillingly moving towards him, and brought his head back before slamming it against Winter's face as he yelled. "That's not an answer!"
"You should not require an answer to follow instructions." Winter said quickly coming out of her daze and bringing her sword back for a devastating strike. She swung, and a clang of metal rang out across the courtyard. Winter's eyes widened in surprise.
"And you shouldn't attack people for no reason." Crue brandished Setanta, having used his Semblance to bring it back to him. He slashed in a clumsy upward swing, that while was not dangerous, finally gave him the opportunity to be on the offensive.
His swings were wild and awkward, mostly because he was fighting with his non-dominant hand, and for Winter that seemed to be to her detriment. A crowd had gathered round, watching the sudden display as they would one of the matches in the arena.
Crue swung while pulling Winter close to him with the cuffs, only for her to duck as the blue blade sailed over her. The Specialist pirouetted, dragging Crue with her as she slammed the guard of her sword across his face.
Crue felt his entire body go backward, before he used his Semblance to literally run up Winter and spin round, staying aloft for a brief moment as he thrust his sword downward. The Schnee dodged backward, unfortunately bringing Crue with her.
His trajectory remained the same, as he stabbed downward, impaling the ground just between Winter's legs. He noticed a white glyph appear beneath the two of them as he let out a curse.
They both shot forward, landing against one of the pillars of the massive ring that ran around Beacon's courtyard. Winter stabbed her sword into the pillar, looking down and expecting to see Crue limply hanging.
"Hey." He said with a smirk, standing casually with Setanta resting on his shoulder. Winter's eyes barely had time to widen, before Crue swung down. The Specialist ran clockward, using her sword as a pivot before ripping it out and swinging.
The two began fighting on the side of the pillar, constantly circling each other and scoring glancing blows. In any other circumstance, Crue knew he would probably get his ass handed to him by Winter. His only saving grave was the handcuffs were detrimental to the both of them, and the fact he had been training with Weiss.
Winter's style wasn't too different, though as a large white glyph appeared beneath the two of them, Crue quickly changed his thoughts. They both shot upward, making this the second time in one day Crue was airborne.
Winter was above him and raising her sabre up high. Crue brought Setanta horizontally across him in defence. Winter swung with a deafening clang, striking Crue's blade and sending them both careening into the ground.
There was a massive explosion of rubble, as the two quickly got back up and spread apart as far as the handcuffs would allow them. It was almost like a dance, the two fighters spreading their arms wide with their respective blades outstretched.
Then, they both turned inward, their swords clashing once more. Crue smiled viciously as he saw Winter, not struggle, but not fight back as easily as she probably could have.
"The world's best swordsman ain't afraid of second best." Crue smirked leaning to the side as Winter shaved a few hairs off his head and parrying her sabre with his sword. "They're afraid of the worst."
"And buddy…" Their swords clashed, Crue leaning in close to Winter's face with a mad grin. "I'm as bad as they come."
"Bad is right." Winter said shortly, as her sabre suddenly spat out a slightly smaller sword. Winter grabbed it with her other hand and swung into Crue's side, winding him and causing him to fall to his knees, gasping for air. "You are a terrible example of what Beacon has to offer."
"Yeah, well I'm not exactly left-handed either." Crue hefted his sword slightly, still gasping, as he saw Winter grow a small smirk.
"More's the pity for you. I am ambidextrous." She lifted the arm that Crue was connected to, as Crue immediately thought of a plan.
"Ok. Cool for you. Love who you love, I guess." He said quickly, feigning confusion. Winter paused for a second, and the Faunus could see her mind trying to understand what Crue had said.
It clicked, as Crue hoped it would, with a sudden reddening of her cheeks. "THAT IS NOT WHAT AMBIDEXTEROUS MEANS!" She yelled, looking remarkably like her sister in that moment of exclamation.
And that moment was what Crue was looking for, as he suddenly sprang to his feet, dropping his sword and clotheslining Winter with their conjoined arm. With his other, he quickly grabbed an exposed hairpin from Winter's head.
With a yank and a wince, Crue quickly got to work, bending and jamming the hairpin into the keyhole. With his other arm wrapped around Winter's neck, and his Aura taking a beating from her repeated blows on his back, it took him a moment.
Finally, the latch clicked, and he immediately stood up and swung the handcuff around, careening Winter into whoever was unfortunate enough to be in the way.
"Aw, did I miss all the fu-HC!" And the unfortunate person in question, happened to be one Qrow Branwen. Crue let out a deep breath as he placed both hands on his knees and sagged.
"Damn Ice Queen, if you wanted to get on top of me, all you had to do was as-GH!" Crue looked up just in time to see Qrow get a boot to the groin, and Winter's head snap almost one eighty to glare at him.
Crue would have been intimidated, but the hairpin he took seemed to have been a lynchpin as well. Winter's white hair framed her face, falling down past her shoulders. "If she wasn't so pissed at me, I'd find that hot. Eh. It's hot anyway."
Winter lunged to her feet, Crue shooting upright and barely stifling a laugh as Winter suddenly went ass over teakettle and slammed back onto the ground. A brief flash of silver explained the situation, as through some unfathomable luck, Qrow was now cuffed to Winter.
Crue had to laugh at his luck, falling onto his rear and just taking a moment to breathe. Before him, both Qrow and Winter started to argue, quickly getting physical, and past them he could see Weiss and Ruby looking at the scene with mixed reactions.
He managed to catch Ruby's eye, who elbowed Weiss and pointed to him. She quickly found Crue's eyes, looking mortified by her sisters' actions. He gave an 'OK' with his hand, which caused her to sigh in relief, before both her and Ruby froze as they stared past Crue.
Crue had only a moment to wonder what they were staring at, before a loud voice suddenly shocked him. "SCHNEE!" Crue jumped in his sitting position, immediately looking back and up to find General Ironwood slowly approaching the scene.
"General Ironwood, Sir!" Winter stopped trying to throttle Qrow and quickly tried to stand at attention but was foiled due to Qrow deciding to place both hands behind his head and amuse himself.
"What in the world do you think you're doing?" He asked, stepping past Crue, not noticing him on the ground and being more concerned with his subordinate's insubordination. Crue noticed Penny behind Ironwood but decided this probably wasn't the best time to say 'hi'.
"I was in the middle of arresting a suspect and he intervened!" Winter stated. Crue felt himself freeze slightly, only now wondering if Ironwood might have found out he was The Wolf.
"Actually, that's not true. She got tossed into me like a ragdoll." Qrow said with a smirk. Crue found himself chuckling slightly. The sound, while not catching Ironwood's attention, did catch Penny's.
The ginger girl's head immediately turned to Crue, her eyes widening in what he hoped was happiness. She began to open her mouth, her lips forming into a smile, before it slammed shut as she glanced at Ironwood.
Instead, she opted to smile and rapidly wave her hand at Crue. The Faunus returned the motion with a smile of his own. Their waving was interrupted by a voice quickly gathering the attention of the crowd.
"Now, now everyone." Crue turned to see Ozpin and Glynda walking towards the group. Crue found it amazing how his fear of Ironwood possibly finding out he may be The Wolf was completely overshadowed by the fear of what Glynda might do if she found out this was his fault.
"There is a sanctioned fight happening just around the corner at the colosseum, that I can assure you has better seats." Ozpin said, looking to the crowd. "And popcorn."
"Break it up, everyone!" Glynda said with a wave of her hand. "We, will take care of this mess." She turned to stare directly at Ironwood with a glare Crue had seen before. When he accidentally exploded her.
Ironwood fixed his tie quickly with a glance back to Winter. "Let's go." Ironwood got about two steps before Ozpin spoke up with an amused smile.
"James, I think your Specialist might need a hand. Or at least a key." He gestured to Winter with his mug, who was desperately patting her pockets to try and find the key for her handcuffs, with Qrow tapping his foot impatiently.
"Schnee. Why are you cuffed to him?" The General asked, sounding particularly exhausted.
Winter's face immediately donned a shade of pink, and quickly answered before Qrow could make a sly remark. "It was an accident while I was trying to apprehend the suspect."
"What suspect?" Ironwood asked, genuine confusion on his face. Winter quickly pointed to Crue, like a student who was tattling on another hoping they would get in the teacher's good books. Ironwood glanced down, noticing Crue for the first time.
He was sat down cross legged, an elbow on his thigh and his hand cupping his face. He looked up to meet Ironwood's gaze as he glanced down. "How're ya." He said with a wave.
Ironwood looked back to Winter with even more confusion on his face. "I'm sorry, James." Ozpin said, not feeling particularly sorry at all. "But are you telling me you're trying to arrest one of my students."
Ozpin's grip on his mug was tight, his brown eyes boring a hole deep into Ironwood. "Yeah, I don't really understand it either." Crue said casually, before leaning around Ironwood slightly and giving a wave to a redhead. "Hey Penny."
"Hello, boy-friend Crue!" She said with a smile.
"Ah." Crue realised, as Ironwood's head immediately whipped round to stare at the Faunus. "I understand everything now." He pushed himself up with a groan. "Alright Ironw- Jesus you are fucking tall."
The Faunus barely came up to the General's chin. The General stared down at the Faunus, recognition in his eyes. "Anyway, let's go somewhere you can interrogate me." He gave the General a pat on the shoulder.
He was fairly certain the only reason the hand was still attached was because Ironwood needed a moment to process that anyone would interact with him so casually.
Crue turned to make his way to Beacon, before immediately spinning on one foot. "Actually, I should probably separate those two before they kill each other." He walked over to where Qrow and Winter were still linked, the former finding great joy with moving his arm all over the place and disrupting Winter's attempt at rigidity.
They looked up as Crue approached, Qrow with a smile and Winter with a snarl. Crue approached her similarly to how one would a chained and growling dog. "I'm gonna do him first." He muttered, grabbing Qrow's wrist and twirling Winter's hair pin round in his fingers.
"Damn, haven't seen you in a few weeks and you're back in trouble already." Qrow said with a smile, rubbing his wrist.
"Tell me about it." Crue said with a roll of his eyes, before turning to face Winter. She looked ready to refuse the help, so the Faunus grabbed her wrist before she could. "Just stand still. You can have this back when I'm done."
"It is bent out of shape thanks to your actions." Winter hissed. "Does it not concern you that he knows how to unlock handcuffs with such ease." She turned to Qrow, raising a silvered eyebrow.
"Knowing the women, he's been with, nah, not really." The older Hunstman laughed.
"Oi." Crue paused in his picking to frown at Qrow.
"Tell me I'm wrong." He said, hands going wide with the smuggest smirk he could muster. Crue grumbled to himself and got back to work.
"So that means you associate with criminals." Winter said, stilling as her hand neared her blade.
"No." Crue said quickly, if not annoyed. "What that means is, the next time you decide to slap a pair of handcuffs on me…" There was a 'click' as the cuffs came loose. "Make sure they're the pink and fluffy kind."
Crue quickly ducked and backed away before Winter could strike him, as Qrow broke down laughing. He felt himself back up into a wall and wondered when there had been a wall installed in the Beacon courtyard.
"Oh. You're not a wall." He said to General Ironwood.
"No. I'm not. What I am, is very curious to know how you know what you know." The General responded, staring down at Crue.
"Hold on, you said 'know' so many times it doesn't feel like a real word anymore." Crue closed his eyes for a second and pinched the bridge of his nose. He heard Ironwood take a deep breath through his nostrils, presumably praying for patience.
"Right. Do you want to do this here, or on your giant compensation cannon." He jerked a thumb towards the massive flagship hovering above. Ironwood mouthed the last few words to himself, before his face hardened and he glared at Crue.
"Yes, James. Please, would you like to interrogate my student here, or on your compensator?" Glynda asked from behind Ironwood, moving forward to stand protectively in front of Crue.
The Faunus looked at Goodwitch in surprise, genuinely touched by the protectiveness she displayed. "It's fine, Professor Goodwitch." Crue said, causing the Deputy to look at him with disbelief. Her face fell into a soft smile, that he doubted he would ever see again.
"You can use Ozpin's office." Glynda said, smile disappearing as she turned to stare at the General. "Do try to not arrest any more students on your way there." Ironwood turned his head ever so slightly in a wince.
"You. With me." Ironwood said through gritted teeth. Crue nodded simply, holding his hands up in a sign of passiveness. He briefly glanced back, seeing Ruby hanging off of Qrow's arm, right next to Weiss as they all looked at Crue with some form worry.
"I'll be fine." He mouthed, giving a thumbs up. He turned back, following the imposing figure of the General. He could probably talk his way out of this. Probably. And while he's at it, hopefully slip some info about Cinder.
Provided she doesn't find out that he's being interrogated by Ironwood. Crue missed a step in his walk and cursed silently. "I just jinxed it, didn't I?"
So, we finally have a meeting between Crue and Winter. And unfortunately it does not go as well as one might have hoped. Thanks to him accidentally showing knowledge of Penny, he's become a person of interest for Atlas. Also, it was said in the story but I shall repeat it here. Crue would have gotten his ass, handed to him, if it wasn't for the handcuffs.
Some Semblances do not work well with each other, as shown with Ruby's Petal Burst and Crue's... you know I don't think he's actually thought of a name for it. Should probably get on that. Also with Crue, I might have had to make sure he forgot something pretty important. Can't have things going too easily for him now, can we?
Next chapter will be a lovely conversation between Crue, General Ironwood and Winter. What fun.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and as always...
Until Next Time
-Friday, the author