"Crue Cullen of Beacon!" Port announced, damning the Faunus. Murmuring sprang up around the arena like a swarm of angry hornets. Who was this newcomer? This stranger? They weren't in any of the previous fights. Why was he in the finals? Questions and accusations sprung up like weeds

"I thought you told Ozpin you didn't want to participate?" Weiss asked. Crue could feel the eyes of those who knew him boring a hole into his head. His throat felt very dry all of a sudden.

"I did." He nodded numbly. "This, this is wrong." He said, looking to the screen with naked concern in his eyes. Beside him, the majority of Team RWBY looked at him worriedly.

"Crue Cullen is a special circumstance in this Vytal Festival." Port's voice rang out, causing the Faunus to look up to the commentator's booth. "As he has no Team to speak of, he was unable to participate in the previous bouts."

"But opportunities arise for every Huntsman!" Port continued. "And as such, every Huntsman deserves an opportunity to shine, wouldn't you say folks!" He asked the crowd. The murmuring was gone, replaced with loud cheers.

"Crue? You don't look so good?" Ruby gently placed a hand on the Faunus' shoulder. He turned, looking incredibly pale.

"I've… got a bad feeling." He answered. He looked down to the arena, where he was able to catch Sun's gaze. He gave a wave and gestured for him to come down. His gaze slid along the chain, landing on Mercury.

He was staring at him. Smirking. "Would all other combatants please leave the stage and would Crue Cullen kindly make his way down." Port requested, as the majority of the competitors left. Sun was the only one still on the stage, stretching from left to right in preparation. Crue didn't know what would happen if he went down. But he doubted it would be any better than what might happen if he didn't.

"Keep an eye on Emerald." Was all Crue said, gritting his teeth as he stood. He grabbed his hurley and slung it onto his back as he stood onto the railing.

"Um, o-ok." Ruby looked to the others in confusion. "Uh, break a leg Crue!" She cheered. Crue froze as he took a step off the railing.

"I had better not." He replied as he dropped like a stone. He had fallen further and faster before and landed without issue. He felt every eye on him as he made his way to the stage. "I've never been in front of so many people before. Or at all." He gulped.

At least he was dressed nice, he figured. His waistcoat and jeans didn't feel very huntsmen-like, but seeing as Sun was standing there in an open shirt and cargo pants, he figured he'd be fine. "What's up dude." The Monkey Faunus called.

"Didn't think I'd be fighting you of all people in this." He laughed. Crue wished he could share his optimism.

"You and me both." He responded. "Really feels like someone put me here against my will." Crue said, trying to sound casual. His words caused Sun to cock his head slightly. He looked the Faunus up and down.

"You sure you're up for this, then?" He asked, sounding genuinely concerned. Crue appreciated the sentiment as he took a moment to look out at the distant crowd, trying to spot any of Team CMET.

"I don't think I have a choice." He said, deadly serious. The tone was enough to give Sun pause. The world around them shifted, as the stage began to rise into the air, along with a ring of spotlights. Sun seemed unsure what to do.

"This is gonna sound weird but…" Crue's voice caught Sun's attention. In the background, Port began to countdown.

"3!"

"No matter what, I'm not gonna attack you after the battle." Crue said, bringing his hurley round.

"2!"

"Uh, ditto?" Sun replied in confusion, grabbing his crimson staff and spinning it a few times. Crue smiled, meeting his fellow Faunus' eyes. His own suddenly widened in concern as he realised… "I don't have my glasses."

"1!"

"FIGHT!" Crue immediately brought his hurl up and fired off a few shots towards Sun. The Faunus reacted quickly, spinning his staff round and blocking them. He grew a smile as he held his staff behind him and ran towards Crue.

The Wolf Faunus debated shifting his weapon to its sword form but decided against it. He swung his hurley round to hold it properly, before running towards Sun in kind. The weapons clashed in a deafening clang, which Crue only barely heard over the roar of the crowd.

"Focus on Sun and don't think of the crowd." He jumped back as Sun spun his staff and slammed it on the ground. Crue took a moment to hold down the trigger on Setanta as he made space, forming a sliotar of Dust.

Sun noticed the reprieve and took advantage of it. He closed his eyes as he slammed his hands together, as two glowing clones of Sun appeared before him. "Oh right, that bullshit." Crue despaired, as the ball of Dust came to being.

Crue quickly grabbed it with his other hand and tossed it as the clones ran forward. The Faunus swung, the ball striking one clone and immediately bouncing back to him as he used them momentum from his swing to spin round.

The sliotar came back, and Crue swung hard, directing the ball not to the clone, but to Sun himself. The clone's head turned to follow the trajectory, before dissipating. Sun's eyes snapped open as he jumped skyward at the last minute, taking minimal damage as the sliotar exploded on the ground.

While in the air, Sun separated his staff into two nunchucks, and aimed one of the barrels at Crue. The Faunus cursed as he took a shot to the shoulder, before spinning with the strike and dashing in a curve to where Sun would land.

He was shot at the entire time; Sun using the momentum of the shots to re-chamber his ammunition and shoot once more as he fell. Crue cursed as a few shots struck, before swinging his hurl skyward. At the last minute, he pulled the trigger.

His weapon shot forward with the extra momentum from the blast, striking Sun in the chest as he let out a grunt. Crue jumped up after it, grabbing the handle and twisting in mid-air. He swung it towards Sun, his lack of options in mid-air sealing his fate.

At least, that's what Crue would've hoped. The blonde was as dexterous as his Faunus heritage suggested, as he rolled mid-air and clapped his hands together, his hair glowing bright. A single clone appeared before him, pushing off the Faunus and sending him further upward as it the clone shot down.

An explosion of light enveloped Crue as he hit the ground, rolling with a grunt. He glanced upward, eyes going to the scoreboard. They were both in the low 40% of Aura. "His Semblance must take a lot out of him." Crue realised, not feeling like he had scored too many blows on his opponent.

He swung his hurl round and took aim at Sun, firing a few shots. His aim had drastically improved since his fight with Yang all that time ago. And he had his friends to thank for that. The bullets impacted Sun, with little room to dodge in the air.

The Monkey Faunus hit the ground with a roll in Crue's direction. His gunchucks spun round as Sun closed in on the Wolf Faunus. Crue let out a soft curse as he brought his hurl round and laid it flat against his palm.

Sun fired, and fired and fired again. Crue activated his Semblance, focusing on his hurl and letting it spin without friction on his hand as he avoided as many blasts as he could. The flat of his hurl blocked most of the shots, along with Crue's natural affinity for dodging and not getting shot in the face left him able to bounce back.

Crue parried and stepped into Sun's guard, where even his weapon was unable to strike. The Faunus' heads connected as Crue slammed his against Sun's. The blonde reeled back, as Crue jumped high.

He caught his hurl under Sun's chin and flipped round. His own weight, along with some added Semblance for good measure, allowed him to bring Sun up and over, slamming him into the ground and slipping his hurl out from under him.

He hopped back a few paces and began forming another sliotar. While Sun picked himself up, Crue spared another glance to the scoreboard. He paused. They were both barely below forty. "Something's wrong."

He turned back to Sun; the Faunus having gotten to his feet and rolled his shoulder. He remained completely silent, looking at Crue as he spun his staff round and slammed it vertically on the ground. He hooked it into his elbow and slammed his hands together once more.

Not one, not two, not even three shining clones appeared. A whole army of Suns burst into being. Crue took a step back, his dust ball finishing as he grabbed it, his eyes going wide with shock. He bounced it slowly on his hurl, as the horde of Suns rushed him.

"This is Emerald. I don't even know how much Aura either of us have." He hit the sliotar up high. "I don't know what's real. I don't know if the fight is even still going." He didn't know what to do, but he knew how to stop the illusions.

In front of a hundred blinding Suns, Crue ignored them all. He waited for the sliotar to fall back down, and he swung his hurl with all his might. As he did, he screwed his eyes shut. The roar of the crowd was suddenly back, how he managed to miss it disappearing in the first place he didn't know.

There was a loud explosion, and then the sound of a buzzer. Crue opened his eyes once more. Sun was barrelling towards him, his staff brought back and ready to swing. Crue didn't budge an inch. He walked into Sun's guard, and the Faunus swung.

Crue's entire body screamed at him to move. To dodge. To retaliate. To do something. He ignored it all. Sun swung, and Crue tensed. No pain came, as the staff passed harmlessly through his head. A fanged smirk grew on the Faunus' face.

"Good fight Sun!" He said, a little louder than normal, staring at the Faunus. He held his hand out expectantly, as Sun scowled and aimed his weapon at his face. His body shook as he looked down the barrel of a gun, but he felt a hand grab his. It began to move up and down without his input. "I'm sure you're saying something nice, but I gotta be honest I cannot see or hear shit right now."

He made a show of closing his eyes and whacking his fist against his head a few times. When he opened his eyes once more Sun was holding his hand, his head at a slight angle. "Better." Sun smiled widely as they shook.

"Did you go easy on me?" The Monkey Faunus asked. "I hear from everyone your fights involve some damn dirty tricks, and a Hell of a lot more cursing." They dropped their hands as Sun smiled.

"Those fights are for enemies." Crue said. "You're a friend." Sun looked genuinely pleased that he considered him such.

All around them, the crowd cheered wildly as they shared a one-armed hug. "Be careful of hallucinations." He whispered to the blonde as he brought a hand up to wave to the audience. Sun looked at him in concern, but before he could say anything Port's voice boomed.

"The Winner is Crue Cullen! An amazing display between two able bodied Huntsmen!" He commentated. "And what a show of camaraderie!" Up on the Screen, Crue watched a replay of their fight. The last moments were on screen for all to see. Two of Sun's clones were inches away from Crue when he swung his hurl, the sliotar rocketing forward and striking the real Sun.

After that, Sun got up and walked toward Crue casually. The Faunus felt himself tense up. If he had attacked him there, without his Aura… "Woah, watch the sword." Sun suddenly said, backing up from Crue.

The Faunus' weapon was still at his side, and in its hurley form. Crue immediately realised what was happening, and quickly wrapped his arm around Sun's neck. He brought him in for a half hug and began to nuggie his head.

"Remember what I said earlier." Crue hissed, releasing Sun and slapping him on the back a few times. Sun's blue eyes looked up at Crue, before they widened in fear. Crue's hand clamped down on his shoulder reassuringly.

He felt the Hunter tense, as he only could only imagine what he was seeing. After a second, Sun spoke. "Man, I guess stage fright is a lot worse than I thought." He shook his head, blinking several times and Crue released him from his grip as they both walked off the stage, waving to the crowd.

Crue glanced up to the scoreboard and sucked in a breath through his teeth. Sun's Aura was at three percent, while his own was at seventeen. If either had fallen for even one illusion, things could have been so much worse.

"Damn, these are really starting mess with my head." Crue's attention returned to Sun as they passed into the tunnel that led out of the arena. He turned to where Sun was looking.

"No, I see that one too…" Ozpin and General Ironwood were both waiting deeper in the tunnel, the former looking decidedly angry at the latter. The boom of the crowd disappeared as they approached the Headmasters.

"Mr. Cullen. I'm afraid we need to talk." Ozpin said gravely. A blue eye twitched as Crue stepped closer.

"Yeah, no shit! Why was I up there?!" He gestured backward, Sun having to duck to avoid the swing of his hand.

"That-" "Is not important right now." Ironwood stepped forward, in front of Ozpin and directly before Crue.

The Faunus had to crane his neck up to meet the General's eyes. "Crue Cullen, you are-" "If you say 'under arrest' again, I swear to God." Crue sighed.

Ironwood took a deep breath through his nose, ignoring Sun's laugh. Word, and video, of the previous incident had gotten around. And despite the concerning nature of a Schnee trying to arrest a Faunus, a great many found the image of an Atlesian Specialist getting beaten by a Faunus student a funny one.

"No. You are not under arrest." Ironwood said through gritted teeth. Crue didn't even get a moment to sigh in relief before the General continued. "But you are under suspicion, of being The Wolf." Crue's breath caught in his throat.

"Hey." Sun stepped into the conversation, surprising irritation in his voice. "Just cause he's a Wolf Faunus doesn't mean he's some criminal who goes by the same name." His tail flicked angrily at the accusation.

"I happen to agree, Mr. Wukong." Ozpin said, slapping Ironwood's shin with his cane as he stood in line with the General. "And thanks to the General's previous, baseless accusation..." He stared at Ironwood, who steadfastly refused to meet his eye.

"The General finally sought my council before trying to arrest the same student again." Ozpin turned to look at Crue. "Mr. Cullen, I don't know where the General has acquired this belief from, but I think it would be better to prove him wrong now, than allow another video of you defeating Atlesian Military to go viral, hmm?"

Crue didn't know if Ozpin just implied he could beat Ironwood, but damn if he wasn't going to take it. "Yeah, I agree with you there." The Faunus nodded, turning back to Sun. "I'll be fine. Keep an eye on the girls, and do not tell the others what happened."

As he was facing away from the General and Ozpin, they didn't see the wink he threw Suns way. The Monkey Faunus made a small 'o' with his mouth, before closing it and nodding. "Sure. Wouldn't want them to worry." He held a fist out to Crue. "Good fight, dude."

Crue bumped it. As soon as the contact ceased, Crue came to the realisation that he had just won an actual fight. "Without my glasses…" He felt something surge in his chest. Pride? Happiness? Things he hadn't experienced in a while. Whatever it was, it would have to wait until after dealing with this.

Sun ran off down the corridor and through a door, leaving Crue alone with the Headmasters. The Faunus turned back to the General. "Right. What in the name of fuck makes you think I'm the Wolf?" He crossed his arms and glared.

The action had a dual purpose, to show his annoyance, and to hide how his arms were shaking. Had he figured it out? How? Who? Was this why he fought in the tournament? "This is what." The General reached behind him and held out what looked like a set of knights gauntlets.

They were a dark green metal, with a triskele engraved on them. Crue let out a soft whistle. "Woah. Those are really well made. What are they?" He reached out to touch them.

"Jaysus!" He exclaimed, yanking his hand back as claws shot out from them. "Where the Hell did they come from?"

"They were found in your locker." Ozpin informed Crue, looking troubled.

"I don't-" The Faunus nearly outed himself by saying 'I don't keep my claws in my locker'. "I don't have the ability to build anything like that." He looked to Ozpin. "I've never seen them before in my life."

"I believe you. But, I do have a question for you, Mr. Cullen, that will hopefully resolve all of this." Ozpin spoke, holding Ironwood at bay. Crue raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Do you want to kill me?"

"WHAT?!" The Faunus physically recoiled from the question. "NO!?" He continued, still sounding confused. "Ok, well, maybe a little bit now after you put me in there." He jabbed a thumb backward to the arena.

"If anything, I thought you'd want to kill me. For the coffee thing."

"On second thought, arrest him, James. Immediately. Without trial." Ozpin's expression was flat, though Crue could tell he was joking. Or, at the very least he hoped he was.

Ironwood looked like he would have no greater pleasure than to do so, but didn't want to for something as stupid as coffee. "You co-operated with us before, Crue. Which is why I am giving you this chance. Why were these weapons in your locker?"

Crue gave an honest shrug. "Look, I don't know what to tell you. Even if I was some masked vigilante, you think I would leave the things that prove I am in my school locker?" He asked. Suddenly, something clicked.

"Wait. When did you find these?" He asked.

"Not too long ago." Ozpin answered. "Ironwood received an anonymous tip that you were not who you said you were. And decided to act on it. We only just arrived in time to see you finish your fight."

"A fight where I would've attacked Sun in front of thousands when he was already finished." Crue's eyes widened as he realised what was going on.

"Sirs." He began, which immediately set Ozpin on edge, as the boy rarely used the term seriously. "I'm being framed."

Ironwood let out a small scoff, but Ozpin's hazel eyes continued to stare at Crue. "Explain."

"In my fight with Sun- Oh why did I send him on he could verify- doesn't matter." He quickly regained his train of thought. "I saw him about to attack me when he wasn't. I think someone wanted me to, so you would come out and arrest me."

"That, is a serious accusation." Ozpin said slowly, as even Ironwood lowered his hands to listen to Crue properly. "How do you know this for certain?"

"Because I couldn't hear the crowd." He explained. But, he wasn't sure if that was enough. "And what I saw didn't match up with what was on the screens. I think it was someone's Semblance."

"A hallucinatory Semblance is dangerous." Ironwood said slowly, his eyes still looking to Crue somewhat distrustfully. "Do you have any idea who it might be?"

Crue did. But, if he just dropped Emerald's name without any kind of proof, it would look suspicious. "No. There are thousands in the stadium. I wouldn't be able to pick out one person who was looking at me. Unless there was someone else in the fights who experienced hallucinations?"

He asked longingly. Coco did, he knew. But did she share that with any of the teachers? With anyone other than her team?

"If you don't have a clue, then we can't investigate properly." Ironwood said, bringing the gauntlets back up. "And you still have not explained why these were in your locker."

"I just did! I'm being framed! I've never seen, or worn anything like those before!" Crue exclaimed.

"Then why do they fit you perfectly?" The General asked, grabbing one of Crue's hands and forcibly shoving it through the brace. His fingers spread out within the gauntlet, thankfully without any damage. He flexed his fingers, the green metal moving like almost a second skin.

To his horror, the item did fit perfectly. "I fought The Wolf." Ironwood said, grabbing Crue's hand and holding it up to his face. "He wielded claws like these, and now that I think about it, held a similar disposition to authority that you do."

"Maybe neither of us are a fan of being wrongfully arrested for shit we didn't do!" Crue seethed, trying to wrench his hand out of Ironwood's grip. It was futile, and Crue grunted in pain as he felt the grip tighten and strain against his Aura.

His Aura was low enough as it was… and the idea that all his effort, everything he worked for would be ruined because the General was too eager to arrest him… It filled him with Wrath. "Let. Go!" Crue exclaimed, his eyes briefly flashing gold as he tore his hand from Ironwoods grip, and with his other reached up to grab the General's tie.

He yanked the General down to his eye level and was prepared to unleash a tirade of curses and affronts that, if being The Wolf didn't get him arrested, the words definitely would have. He opened his mouth to insult everything about Ironwood, from his robot half to his mother, and froze as his ears twitched.

"What's that noise?" He asked, releasing the General's tie and turning his head back to the arena. Ozpin and Ironwood both looked to the entrance, now hearing the sound as well. It was an angry hum. Screaming. Booing. An uproar.

"No." Crue whispered, immediately turning tail and running back to the entrance of the tunnel. He ignored the shouts of the Headmasters, as he arrived back in the arena.

He came to a stop, his eyes, blue as steel and nearly crying, widened as he looked out on the stage. "What on Remnant happened?" Came Ozpin's voice from behind him, as both he and Ironwood caught up with Crue.

Upon the stage, surrounded by Atlesian soldiers and robots, was a terrified Yang Xiao-Long. In unison, the three looked up to the giant screen. It showed Yang, shooting a blast into Mercury Black's leg as he approached calmly.

Ironwood and Ozpin immediately ran out of the tunnel and up to the stage to take control of the situation. Behind them, Crue fell to his knees, as his heartbeat thumped in his ears, drowning out the noise of the crowd.

He failed.

How's that old saying go? The more things change...

Seems like I'm not the only one trying to get Crue into more trouble than he can handle. I'm not too surprised Crue managed to win. He is an annoyingly good fighter, and despite the many times I tried to kill him, he carried on through. Unfortunately for him, the dominoes are already falling, and they'll hopefully land square on his head.

Maybe that will teach him to go against what the story is meant to be.

Until Next Time

-Friday, The author