"I thought we weren't going ahead with this one. Will I ever walk again?" Mercury groaned in faux pain on a stretcher, before giving a genuine cry of pain as he was thumped by Emerald. "OW! What's your deal?"

"Headache." Emerald brought a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Two minds twice in the same day has me stretched thin." She rested on one of the beds in the flying ambulance they had stolen.

"You're correct, Mercury." Came Cinder's voice from the co-pilot's seat. She stood from her chair and stared at Emerald. "What happened? You used your Semblance on Cullen, didn't you?" She kept an eye on the sudden tensing of Neopolitan beside her.

"Of course, Cinder." Emerald nodded, before wincing as she clutched the side of her head. "I-I did exactly as you said. Made it look like his opponent still had enough Aura to take a few more hits, and then made it looked like there were a hundred of his clones."

"I even made the Monkey think Crue was gonna attack him when they were finished." She gave a growl of annoyance. "I don't know why it didn't work."

"Maybe it doesn't work on Faunus? They have that stuff with their eyes where they can see in the dark." Mercury waved a hand before his own grey eyes. "You need direct eye contact for that, right?"

"Unbroken eye contact." Emerald clarified, before scowling as she remembered where she had learned that weakness. "That's why I was panicking during your fight. The bimbo had those glasses on, and I couldn't get a lock on her eyes."

"Yeah, the glasses pissed me off too." Mercury said, grinding his teeth together. "Glad I could kick'm off. Didn't help they were the jerks. Speaking of, how'd Plan B go?" He asked his boss. Cinder's eyes glanced to the pilot's seat, where Neopolitan was driving them to their safehouse.

She'd have to choose her words carefully. "The evidence was planted. Solaris managed to get the fake gauntlets into the locker. She stole them from the original location that he made his debut. I sent an anonymous tip to the General. Regrettably, Ozpin stepped in and prevented any immediate action."

"And unfortunately, because Emerald's Semblance didn't work…" She paused for a moment to look at her subordinate, who sunk in her seat and lowered her head like a dog who was in trouble. "The match was over without incident when the dear General approached."

"And, while our original plan did work, it robbed Ironwood's attention." Cinder turned back to her seat. "So, we will have to wait for another opportunity. Not that one should be needed. Everything is falling into place."

…

"You're not going in there." Ironwood stood in front of Team RWBY's dorm, preventing Crue access. The Faunus' mouth morphed into a snarl; fangs bared as he let out a growl.

"Why the Hell not?!" He asked, stepping forward. The two Atlesian Knights that flanked Ironwood moved toward the Faunus. He backed up unwillingly, looking at the two robots.

"Because you are not a member of Team RWBY." Ironwood stated.

"I'm as good as."

"And don't think I've forgotten what you're hiding." Ironwood's eyes narrowed as he looked Crue up and down.

"I'm not the fucking Wolf." Crue cursed, glaring at the General. "And seeing as you already arrested me once, don't you think you would've found out then." Ironwood scowled, before turning to the droids.

"Do not let him through this door." The Knights stood at attention, positioning themselves to defend the door. Ironwood stared at him for a moment, before turning and opening the door. He got a brief glimpse of a distraught Yang, who looked up as the door opened.

They managed to make eye contact, but the door slammed shut before he could open his mouth. Crue's fists clenched, his nails biting against his Aura. He moved forward to open the door, but the two Atlesian Knights stepped sidewards to block him.

The Faunus took a step back, glancing at the two androids before him. He could easily destroy them. He didn't have his hurl, but he had defeated the training droids in the gym before without issue. But that probably wouldn't help his case with Ironwood.

"Just tell him. Tell him everything. Cinder wants the maiden. She wants to destroy Beacon." He tried to convince himself, shaking in front of the robots. He felt an ugly lump in his throat make itself known, as he stared at the reflection of himself in the droid's visor. The mirrored image looked back with an expression Crue was very happy to say was not one often there.

Fear.

He couldn't tell him. Ironwood tried to have him arrested just because he knew what Penny was. How would he react when he told him 'There are plans to disrupt the Vytal festival and give someone working for Salem untold power'?

Probably with a bullet between his eyes. And now, because he had come under suspicion of being The Wolf, he couldn't even use that disguise to anonymously give the information. All because of some stupid pieces of armour in his locker.

Someone planted those gauntlets there. He didn't know who… He scoffed to himself as he rewound that thought. "It was Cinder. Obviously." But she didn't know he was The Wolf, did she? Crue bit his lip, before looking up at the Knights.

His own problems could wait, as he ran off down the corridor. Ironwood instructed the robots to not let him through the door. He said nothing about the window. He rapidly knocked on a door a few rooms down from team RWBY.

The door opened, revealing a student with pitch black hair and blood red eyes. "Crue Cullen of RWBY/ What brings you to the dorm of Blood/ may I be of help?" Blood Saber stood before him.

"Hey Blood." Crue greeted, a bit rushed. Behind him, the rest of Team BLDD looked up from their various activities. He had interacted with the team a few times during his time at Beacon, and discovered they were alright once you got past their quirks.

"I need to jump out your window."

"Oh, Wolf of Cullen." Crue looked past to see one of Blood's teammates standing up. A girl with white hair and white fox ears. Lilith Zenko, her pale white eyes looked to Crue. "A jump from a height solves nothing and helps no one."

"Not that depressed." He clarified. "I can't get into the dorm, and I need to talk to Yang."

"Ah, I understand/ The assault on Mercury/ A bad tragedy." Blood turned his body to the side and gestured to the window.

Crue took a breath through his nose, as he nodded stiffly. "Yang is innocent." He told them. "She was tricked, and I intend to prove that to Ironwood." He entered the dorm and through open the window.

He spared a quick greeting to Yin and Yan Dao. Twins with black and white hair respectively. He jumped out the window and quickly spied the only other one open. He ran with purpose and a growl.

"She's innocent!" Crue exclaimed, jumping into RWBY's dorm, before face planting as he tripped over the small bookcase in front of the window. He lifted his head up from the ground. Ironwood wasn't there. "Ah shit he's gone."

"Crue?" Yang looked at the Faunus, tears in her eyes. "You think I'm innocent?" She dared to hope. Crue looked around the room, specifically to Blake. She had the same look of surprise as the others, and Crue figured it meant Blake hadn't shared her feelings yet.

"Of course, I do, Yang." Crue pushed himself to his feet and walked over to give the girl a hug. The blonde hugged back tightly, as if Crue was a lifeboat in a storm. He parted her hair slightly and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead, surprising the team, before meeting her lilac eyes. "You would never attack someone for no reason. You're not a monster. And you've never done anything like this before."

Yang's face finally broke into a smile, as she rubbed her eyes. She then reached down to her chest and plucked a pair of mirrored sunglasses from her shirt. "Here, I guess they weren't that lucky after all, huh." Crue took the glasses in his hand, his grip nearly crushing them before he hooked them onto his waistcoat.

He stood up and looked around the room. At all the dejected faces. "Has Sun not talked to any of you?" He asked. Considering the way the group looked around in confusion, he hadn't.

"He mentioned that Ironwood thought you were a criminal." Ruby spoke up. "But, then everything went to sh-" "Ruby!" "I was gonna say shambles." The reaper looked up at her sister innocently. No one in the room believed her.

"Sun saw me trying to attack him." RWBY shot to their feet. "And I saw the same."

"That's why you believed me?" Yang's eyes were wide.

"Well, that and the other stuff."

"Why didn't you tell Ironwood? Or Ozpin?!" Weiss asked, staring at the Faunus.

"I did! Ironwood confronted me as soon as my match ended, and thinks I'm a criminal! I'm going to go to him and Ozpin more as soon as I can." Crue looked round and sighed to himself. "Look, with everything that's happened so far, with Torchwick, the White Fang, and now this…"

"Something bad is gonna happen." He told them seriously. Silence permeated the room as the girls looked at each other with concern.

"Crue…?" Ruby asked slowly, silver eyes meeting blue steel as she stared at Crue.

"Stick together. And trust each other." The Faunus said, his face set in a frown. It quickly dispersed as he shook his head and forced a smile. "But, maybe I'm just paranoid."

"Now. Where's Ironwood? I'm gonna give that tincan a piece of my mind." He marched over to the door and wrenched it open. He picked a random direction to go in, refusing to look back in the room.

"OI! IRONCUNT!" He shouted, stomping away from the door as it closed behind him. The dorm was left in silence, the occupants mouths slack in shock that Crue would call the General of a military such a name.

The silence was dispersed by a small, broken laugh from Yang. "He always knows how to make things better." She turned to the rest of her team. "Do you believe him? About something bad happening?"

"Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence." Weiss spoke up. "But, if both Sun and Crue saw the other attack, why was it only you?" She asked.

"I, I don't know." Yang grew a frown. "Maybe because I actually hurt Mercury. But, then how did Crue not attack Sun?"

"Maybe it doesn't work on Faunus?" Blake suggested, her ears twitching below her bow. Her teammates murmured the idea around, before eventually disagreeing.

"Is it a Semblance? Unless they both- Crue wasn't meant to be up there." Ruby suddenly said. The others looked at her in confusion, before Weiss made a noise of agreement.

"That's right! He said Ozpin didn't put him in the singles!" The Heiress stated. "That means someone put him there to try and trick him like they did you! Someone was out to get him in trouble!"

A spark of anger blossomed in Yang. "They tried to get Crue to attack Sun when he didn't have Aura, and when that didn't work, I was, what, Plan B?" Her eyes flashed red as her hands curled into fists.

"Someone wanted this." Blake realised. "Regardless of if it was Yang, or Crue, someone wanted Beacon to look bad." She turned to look at her partner. "We know for certain now what Yang saw wasn't real."

"Wait." Yang said, her eyes reverting to lilac as the met Blake's. "What do you mean 'now'?"

Ruby and Weiss both looked to Blake, their eyes wide with disbelief. "Blake?" Yang whispered, her eyes close to tears.

Amber eyes glanced downward. "I wanted to believe…" She cut herself off, frowning as she shook her head. Beside her, Weiss and Ruby both looked at each other aghast. "No. No, Crue is right." She looked up and met Yang's eyes.

"I had someone very dear to me change. It wasn't in an instant, it was gradual. Little choices that began to pile up." She explained. "He told me not to worry. First they were accidents, then self-defence."

"This is all just, too familiar." She took a deep breath, and stared at Yang, trying to ignore the tears in the corner of her eyes. "But, Crue is right. You're not him. You're not a monster. And you've never done anything like this before."

"But…" Blake continued. "I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me that he attacked you. I need you to promise me that you regret having to do what you did." Yang gave a small sniff as she rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hand.

"I saw him attack me. So I attacked back." Yang stated. Blake smiled at her partner as she nodded.

"Ok. Thank you." The room was all smiles for a moment, and Ruby took the opportunity to speak up.

"Now, what do we do about this person out for Beacon?"

…

"Ozpin, I'd like to call in my favour." Crue strode into Ozpin's office, the man looking surprisingly dishevelled as he sat behind his desk. The Headmaster looked up at the words, his brown eyes meeting Crue's.

A brief flash of surprise crossed his face, at the intense look on his student. "Mr. Cullen, I'm afraid this isn't a good time." Ozpin sighed, sitting up straight in his chair as he looked at the Faunus. "With everything that is going on with Miss Xiao-Long, I don't think I can help."

"You can stop the festival."

The words brought the room to a still, the only sound being the ticking of clocks and gears up above. "I beg your pardon?" Ozpin rose a silvered eyebrow. "You wish me to bring the Vytal Festival to a halt? That would cause outrage."

"There's already plenty of that going round." Crue walked up to his desk and slammed his hands down on it. "And I get the feeling there's only going to be more of it." He snarled, looking at his Headmaster.

"Mr. Cullen, when I offered you that favour, I did not imagine you would use it to bring one of the most important events to a grinding halt." He sounded aggrieved. "If this has anything to do with the General's accusations, I do apologise."

"Yeah, I already called him a dick to his face for that, I'm content. And I'm keeping those claws." The look on Ozpin's face suggested he shouldn't be alive after such a thing. "I'd also like to know what the fuck I was doing in the tournament in the first place!"

"I didn't put you in it." Ozpin answered. "I followed your request. I don't know how you ended up there, but you performed well." Crue wanted to believe him, but Port's reasoning for his participation screamed of outside interference.

"Yeah, real fuckin' nail biter." He didn't usually curse this much around Ozpin, but he wasn't in the best of moods right now. "And you didn't find it at all suspicious that I was put in there, saw something that didn't make sense, and immediately after the fight that happened."

Ozpin's eyes tightened. "What are you suggesting?" Crue grit his teeth as he took a moment to think.

"I fought White Fang that planned to destroy the colosseum. With Coco and Velvet." He reminded Ozpin. "And we stopped them. But that doesn't mean the threat is gone. The White Fang still exist. And I don't even know who else would benefit from that."

"And I already told you and Ironwood what I saw. How could you think Yang would do that? She clearly had the same thing happen to her!" His teeth ground together in anger. Anger that Yang was going through this. Anger at Ironwood for not believing him or her.

But most, anger at himself for failing to stop it.

Ozpin took in his words carefully. "I believe Ms. Xiao-Long is innocent." He said. "Unfortunately, the rest of the world does not. And, as much as it pains me to say, I cannot be seen showing preferential treatment to a student of my own school who attacked a man in front of thousands."

"So you agree she shouldn't be trapped in her dorm? That someone made her see things?" Crue asked.

"Yes." He nodded. "But, I have searched through the registered Semblances of all tournament participants, and found nothing that could induce hallucinations." He linked his hands together, staring at Crue.

The Faunus cursed inwardly. "Yeah. Of course you wouldn't. Cinder wouldn't be stupid enough to actually register what Emerald's Semblance did." Despite his inner turmoil, Ozpin carried on speaking.

"In fact, I have convinced James to carefully review the fights between you and Mr. Wukong, as well as Ms. Xiao-Long and Mr. Black to check for abnormalities." He leaned back in his chair, looking particularly old in that moment. "This is a dangerous time, Mr. Cullen. I hope you understand that."

"I think I understand that better than you." He replied, steely blue eyes meeting the Headmaster's.

In that moment, Ozpin felt that he believed him all too easily. It was all too familiar. He stared at Crue, seeing another person from another time standing before him. The Faunus shuffled uncomfortably for a moment, before speaking.

"What of Team CMET?" He asked.

"They have returned to Haven to be with Mr. Black's family." He informed Crue. "At least that is what I have heard."

"It's not true."

Ozpin looked at Crue, the Faunus unable to stop himself. "My girlf-." He took a moment to close his eyes and wince. "My friend, Polly Trio, we agreed to meet up after the tournament. She wouldn't rush back without telling me."

"I'm sure Miss Trio has her reasons for not contacting you. I've heard rumours about your, break up." Crue's anger flared at Ozpin's words, who suddenly appeared genuinely apologetic. "I'm sorry, Crue. I didn't realise it was still such a sore subject."

The Faunus's eyes squinted in confusion, before feeling a wetness on his cheek. He brought his hand up to his face and wondered when the Hell he started crying. "These aren't my tears." He wasn't sure how he knew that for fact.

He had cried before, obviously. But, his tears almost always came after a great amount of anger. When all his rage had burned up and nothing but sadness remained. And while what Ozpin said did piss him off, it wasn't to that extent. "Why the Hell am I…" He sucked in a breath as he felt a wave of overwhelming anxiety suddenly hit him.

He felt himself almost buckle, leaning down on Ozpin's desk for support. "Oh shit. Pyrrha!" Crue cursed softly, running to the window of Ozpin's tower and throwing it open.

"Mr. Cullen! What is the matter?" Ozpin got to his feet, as the winds billowed into his office. Crue looked back to the Professor. He was the cause of this anxiety, this burden he placed on Pyrrha's shoulders.

"Pyrrha's upset." He said shortly. "I'm going to go make sure she's ok." He didn't wait for Ozpin's reaction, instead jumping from the window and sprinting down the tower.

"Convince her not to take the power. Then Cinder won't have a reason to go after her. And then I can stop her." Crue ignored the fact he had no idea how to take down a fully powered up Fall Maiden Cinder, and instead focused on Pyrrha.

Literally so, with his Semblance. He had no idea where to find the girl, so instead followed the direction his Semblance was dragging him. He finally landed, running and nearly tripping as he fought against gravity.

Turning a corner, he felt himself struck by a train. "Crue!? I'm sorry!" A rather polite train, apparently. The Faunus bounced onto the ground, before looking up. Bright green eyes stared into his own, framed with dark red hair.

For a moment, Crue wasn't in Beacon. He wasn't even in Remnant. He was back in his old life, staring into the eyes of his sister before she was taken from him. "Crue? What's wrong?" Pyrrha's voice snapped him out of his memories, as the Faunus stood.

There were many things Crue could answer with. Yang was tricked. He was The Wolf. By the end of the night, she might be dead. He could explain everything, but with the way Pyrrha was looking at him, her eyes red from crying, he only had one thing to say.

"Are you ok?"

It was the straw that broke the camel's back. Or the dam, in this case, as Pyrrha's eyes began to water. "I-" Her words were cut off with a sob. Crue acted quickly, stepping forward and embracing the girl in a hug, squeezing her tightly as if it would put everything that was broken back together.

"It's ok. It's ok." Crue reassured. He kept a hand on her shoulder as he brought his head back to look at her. "Breathe. Take your time." He waited for the Spartan to take a few deep breaths, before managing to meet his gaze.

"Crue. I need some advice." Pyrrha said, bringing a hand up to rub her eye. "I, I don't know what to do."

"Say no."

"Crue?" Pyrrha looked at the Faunus in surprise. His blue eyes shone like steel as he stared at her. "I didn't even explain-" "It doesn't matter."

"If whatever the Hell you need advice for has you like, this." Crue gestured towards her. "Say, no. Nothing is worth seeing you this distraught over it." His voice wavered, angry. Anger at Ozpin for forcing this on her. Rage at Cinder for causing all this strife.

"But, what if it's my destiny to-" She stopped dead, immediately feeling the rage radiating off of Crue. It burned within her, hot and ugly as the Faunus' shoulders shook.

"To Hell with Destiny." He spat. "If destiny is real, why are so many people destined to die?!" His teeth ground together, several deaths replaying in his mind. His sisters. His parents. Penny. Pyrrha. So much death, because Destiny said so?

The idea filled him with Wrath. "Crue? Why, why are you so angry?" The Faunus blinked, looking to Pyrrha. Her face was set in a deep scowl that didn't suit her, and for a moment Crue saw unimaginable anger in her eyes.

He dispelled his own with practice, and her eyes settled. "I'm just, angry at everything. The incident with Yang, the stupid fight I didn't want to be a part of. The God damn hallucinations." He hissed angrily.

"Hallucinations?" Crue cursed as Pyrrha repeated his last statement. The Faunus hesitated for a moment, before explaining.

"When I was fighting with Sun, I saw shit that wasn't there. Hundreds of his clones, him attacking me when he wasn't." He said with a hush. "I don't know if it was my own stress from being up on a stage like that for the first time, or, something else. So, keep an eye out for anything weird when you're fighting. Like, hundreds of swords or something when there shouldn't be."

Green eyes widened. "Isn't that what-" "Happened to Yang? Yeah. I told Ironwood that, but he's too convinced I'm a goddamn criminal to listen to me." He hissed, looking away and cursing the General's name.

"Criminal? Is this because of Penny?" Pyrrha asked. Crue hummed in surprise. Apparently, that story had really gotten round.

"No, actually. This time he thinks I'm The Wolf." The redheads head tilted in confusion, and Crue felt the tiniest sliver of dejection. "The Wolf? He's a vigilante that he fought with in Vale."

"I'm afraid I haven't heard of him." Pyrrha responded. Always polite, even when she was going through Hell. An alarm suddenly went off on her Scroll, startling the two. Pyrrha brought her Scroll out to check it, and her face fell.

"I have to leave for Amity. The semi-finals are continuing." She looked up to Crue sadly. "You'll be there, won't you?" The Faunus nodded firmly, his eyes hardening.

"I can't miss it." He told her. "I just, need to grab something before heading up." He turned to leave, before stopping and giving Pyrrha another hug. It was tighter than the previous one, like it might be the last one she was ever going to get.

"Crue? Is everything alright?" Pyrrha asked, her eyes shimmering with concern as the Faunus turned away from her. He paused, as he considered what to say.

"Everything will be fine, Pyrrha." He told her, walking away from the Spartan. Pyrrha had some serious doubts, as the moment he began to walk away, she could feel his rage. It lessened, as Crue got further away, far enough that Pyrrha couldn't hear his whispered words.

"I'll make sure of it."

'I'll make sure of it' he says. Like he hasn't spent the last few months going against what I had in store for him. Hopefully he'll realise how foolish he is to go against what my destiny for him is. His own fear is what is pushing things this way.

Fear of what Ironwood might do. Fear of what he might lose. Fear is what has driven him from the start. And now, it will be his end.

Until Next Time

-Friday, The author