This one is being uploaded a bit late, my bad. I went out to watch the Dungeons and Dragons movie, pretty good if I do say so myself.
It's a shame that FFN doesn't let me reply to comments other than giving the reviewer a PM, cause sometimes I see a comment that makes me want to reply with just " ;) " and leave it at that to keep you wondering lol.
Anyway, on with the chapter!
"Ah, home sweet home." Vermillion smiled widely as she pulled through a set of massive gates. Crue looked up in interest. A large stone wall surrounded the entire village, with the occasional guard patrolling it.
"I haven't seen many places outside of Vale. Hell, Seamlsy was the second town I ever visited." The first being Mentis. He wondered how Sunny was getting on. Along with Team CRDL. And CFVY. A frown flit across his brow.
He hadn't seen any of his friends from Beacon since he had woken up in the Emerald Forest. And he didn't want to say it was on purpose, but Roman had informed him that the world thought he was dead.
And it wasn't that he wanted them to continue to think that, but Roman pointed out that included Cinder and her lot. The bad guys thought he was no longer a player, which meant he had the element of surprise.
That being said, he still wanted to find the ones he was closest to. Neo, RWBY and JNPR. RWBY was separated, but at least Yang knew he was alive. Assuming Taiyang told her at least. Weiss was in Atlas, Blake was God knows where along with Neo, and Ruby was probably already in Mistral with Jaune, Nora and Ren.
Pyrrha was there, too. He managed a smile as they drove through the town. Pyrrha was alive, he managed to change at least that. Even if he couldn't save Penny. Or Ozpin. The familiar feeling of guilt mixed with rage bubbled up within Crue.
For all Crue faulted the man for, Ozpin had protected Pyrrha and Jaune. He did care about his students, himself included. He had vouched for him when Ironwood accused him of being the Wolf. And Crue lied to his face.
He was jostled from his inner turmoil when the car came to a stop outside a two-story home. "Well, this is my stop." Vermillion said, turning off the engine and looking towards the house with a smile. Crue briefly glanced around his surroundings, noting that they were a fair distance away from any other buildings.
"Yeah, you can thank my Dad for that." The blonde said, seeing Crue look around. "Huntsmen houses tend to be out of the way of regular ones." She undid her seatbelt, as Crue copied her actions and got out of the car.
"Your Da's a Huntsman?" He asked, before seeing Vermillion struggle with the box of books. He quickly took it into his own arms, carrying it with ease one handed.
"Yep. But he doesn't really talk about what kinda jobs he's done, which is why I appreciate you telling me yours." She smiled, walking up to the door and ringing the bell. "I'll get your payment once I get inside. As long as no one smashed my Grimmybank that is."
"Your fuckin' what?" Crue blinked. "They don't have Piggybanks? They're called Grimmybanks? What the fuck?!" Before Vermillion could turn back and ask how he didn't know what a Grimmybank was, the door opened.
"Millie!" A woman exclaimed, long blonde hair flowing past her waist as she immediately wrapped Vermillion in a hug.
"Mooom." Vermillion groaned, but returned the hug nonetheless. "I'm a grown woman now!"
"You're not too old for me to bend over my knee." Her mother said. Crue let out a wheezing laugh, as he desperately tried to cover his mouth. Vermillion turned with an annoyed look to the Faunus, and her mother blinked in surprise, having apparently not noticed him.
"Oh, hello." She said with a warm smile. "I didn't see you there. Are you a friend of Millie's?" She turned to her daughter expectantly.
"Mom, this is Crue." She gestured to the Faunus. "Crue, my Mom."
"Nice to meet you." Crue said, holding out a gauntleted hand. Vermillion's mother shook it, her eyes a deep green that matched the gauntlet as she seemed to take in Crue's appearance.
"You as well, dear. Please, call me June." June held her hands across a long purple skirt. "You're a Huntsman." She didn't ask.
"Well, in training." Crue gave a lopsided smirk.
"He helped me get to here from Seamsley. Oh! None of the others have been at my stash, have they?" Vermillion suddenly asked her mother.
"No dear, it's still safe. Though I really think you should just deposit your funds into a bank like the rest of us." June let a hand rest against her cheek as she looked at her daughter with exasperation.
"I don't trust banks." Vermillion said shortly, quickly running past her mother. June gave a sigh as she looked to Crue.
"I get the feeling she's wrung you dry for conversation." "Oh, you have no idea." Crue couldn't help but laugh as June did the same.
Her smile became somewhat brittle as she observed Crue. "Thank you for bringing my daughter home safely. With everything that's happened recently, I was worried I may not see her again."
Crue felt a pain he knew all too well in his heart. What it was like to lose family. "I'm glad I could help. Even if it was meant to be just a job of convenience." He shifted the box of books in one arm, wondering what might have happened to Vermillion had he not taken the offer.
"Oh, where are my manners. Please bring those inside." June stepped into her home and gestured for Crue to follow. The Faunus did so, briefly wiping his feet on the mat inside the door. He noticed a picture of a faded rainbow on it, before walking on.
The home was quite spacious, with several photos hanging on the walls. Crue followed June into what appeared to be a sitting room, an absolutely massive couch taking up almost half the space. "Just leave it on the table, dear. Vermillion likes to sign some of her books before shipping them out. Kind of like an extra surprise for her readers."
"I'm already surprised I happened to meet her." Crue said, setting down the box and picking up one of the books. "I have a sister who's very fond of these books." He said without thinking, holding up a copy of 'Kunoichi's Of Love: Blossoming Battles'.
He turned it over, and saw the name of the writer on the back. "Vera Millions." He read out, before blanking as he looked to June. She smiled with the patience of a mother.
"Millie can write very well. But, her creativity seems to find a hurdle when it comes to names." June said. Crue was about to say something about 'knowing the feeling' in regards to certain Authors sucking at what they do, before a crash sounded out from upstairs.
Crue's body immediately tensed, but June simply sighed. "That would be the Grimmybank." She shook her head, long blonde hair flowing. Crue ignored the twinge of annoyance that came with the name as his one eye observed June.
"At least she doesn't have the 'Dead Anime Mom' hairdo." Crue thought, his posture relaxing. Shortly afterward, Vermillion entered the room with a literal wad of Lien and handed it to Crue expectantly.
"This is for the escort." She said, as Crue took it gratefully. "And this…" She continued, picking up one of her books and grabbing a pen. "Is for letting me pick your brain."
"Wait." Crue held up a hand to stop her. Vermillion raised a blonde eyebrow, as did her mother. Unbeknownst to either, Crue's heart began to beat rather rapidly at the image of someone deliberately writing in a book before him.
"Could you, make it out to someone? For me." He asked.
"Oh. I suppose I could, yes." Vermillion nodded, waiting for Crue to give the name.
"Blake. Blake Belladonna." He said. That was Blake's gift ticked off the list, he thought.
"Oh, is that the sister you mentioned?" June asked, her dark green eyes crinkled upward in a smile as Crue nodded. "It's so nice to see a brother thinking of his sister." The Faunus felt he should probably clarify there wasn't a blood relation, before he was distracted by Vermillion letting out an annoyed grumble.
"Unlike some brothers." "Vermillion." June frowned at her daughter's words, who seemed to shrink under the gaze.
"But, he hasn't even sent a letter. We don't know if he's alive or dead!" Vermillion said, lowering the book and shoving it roughly into Crue's hands. Her words caused the Faunus to realise that, throughout the entire journey, Vermillion hadn't once mentioned her background.
And now, he was beginning to see why. He swallowed audibly, feeling like he shouldn't be witness to what was clearly a family matter. June seemed to take notice, as she sighed. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Crue."
"My son, Millie's brother, was at Beacon."
Crue felt his mouth suddenly become dry. Was this another person's blood on his hands? Because he didn't stop the Fall. He let his hands fall, the gauntlets creaking as formed fists. "I was there." He said, looking up to June.
His covered eye twitched painfully at the memory. "What was his name? Maybe I can, give you some closure?" His heart was currently somewhere between his legs, feeling like it was made of lead.
Vermillion looked away. She had already known he was at Beacon, but didn't ask for fear of what the answer might be. Her Mother held no such fear however, as she raised her head properly and looked Crue in the eye.
"Jaune. Jaune Arc."
"Oh." Crue blinked. His heart was back where it was meant to be, and the tone of surprise caught both blondes' attention. "So." He set the signed book down and lightly clapped his hands together.
"Good news. Jaune is alive." His words caused June to sag with relief and her daughter fell back into the sofa while letting out deep breaths. "Or he is. For now." The two blonde women- Crue had no idea how he hadn't realised- looked up at his words.
"Because I am going to strangle him once I get my hands on that noodle boy's neck for not talking to his family!" He made that motion with his hands still by his sides as his one eye twitched. Crue was unusually pissed off at Jaune for it. The fact he had no family to tell he was ok, while Jaune didn't even tell his!
Vermillion looked aghast at the threat to her brother, but June recognised it for what it was. "You know Jaune? You know my son?" She stepped forward toward Crue with a surprising intensity. The Faunus, who had quite literally stared down Salem, found himself backing up at the look in her eyes.
"Yes. I'm actually good friends with him." He said quickly, causing June to still and Vermillion to snap her head to him.
"Why didn't you mention that in the car?!" She asked, looking remarkably like her mother in terms of intensity.
"You were only interested in my girlfriend! Not my regular friends! And I didn't know your surname!" Crue defended. "That's why I took your job! I'm trying to find him." Crue felt his tongue suddenly tie into a knot as he realised he probably shouldn't have said that.
"JAUNE IS IN MISTRAL?!" Vermillion exclaimed, as June suddenly looked rather pale.
"Uhhhhhhhhhh. Yes?" Crue winced.
"Why is my son in Mistral?" June asked, her green eyes hiding a fire behind them.
Avenging me, Crue wanted to say. But, he felt like he might not have survived the wrath of the two Arc women with those words. "During the Fall, he lost a friend. And he nearly lost someone he loved. And who loved him. So… Vengeance quest?" He said awkwardly.
A part of him was disappointed in himself for throwing Jaune under the bus like that. But another part told him 'shut up, it's his fault for not talking to them in the first place'. Crue agreed with the second part more.
"He's not alone." Crue quickly said. "He has friends with him. Friends who care about him." He hoped it would lessen their anger towards the boy.
Surprisingly, it did. "Someone loves him? My boy loves someone!?" Or, maybe it was the other thing, Crue thought as June and Vermillion were suddenly invading his personal space.
"Yes?" His voice came out at a somewhat high pitch. "Uh, yeah they kissed before-" "THEY KISSED?!" Crue's ears flattened against his head at the shrill noise that came from the women's lungs. The previous anger at Jaune was gone, as Crue watched June and Vermillion grab each other's hands and talk so rapidly that he couldn't understand.
"Do you have a picture of them?" June asked, back in Crue's face once more. The Faunus leaned back at the closeness.
"Not of them kissing." Crue said, though he felt it would be weird if he did, as he reached for his Scroll. "But, I do have one of them dancing." The two backed up, eyes wide and waiting with glee.
He opened his gallery and quickly found pictures from the night of the dance. He wasn't present for the dance between Pyrrha and Jaune, as he was too busy punching Cinder in the face, but Weiss and Yang had both sent him pictures.
He showed it to the women before him, and two very different reactions occurred. "…is he wearing a dres-" "IS THAT PYRRHA NIKOS?!" June cut across her daughter, grabbing Crue's wrist with a strength he hadn't expected the woman to have.
It was, in fact. And Crue had a few more photos of them, but as he felt the bones in his arm shift he figured he might not get the chance to show them. "It is. She really likes him. She made it through the Fall…" He almost said thanks to him, but he refused to take credit for it. Pyrrha nearly died. Would have, if he hadn't pissed off Cinder enough to focus on killing him instead.
And even that she didn't manage. "So, he's off to Haven. Along with some others. Also to meet up with her, I'm pretty sure." He had gotten an abridged version of the events that transpired after his 'death' from Roman. In the same way that Weiss had been taken by her father, Pyrrha had been picked up by several of her agents, along with her mother.
The fact Pyrrha was gravely injured is what kept Crue from being angered. Pyrrha was brought home out of love. Weiss was stolen. "Oh, she's pretty." Crue blinked, seeing that June had swiped through the photos, and was now looking at a picture of Crue standing next to Neo while they were dressed for the dance.
"Gah!" Crue let out a surprised yelp as the Scroll went sailing, before being snapped out of the air with his other hand. A few more swipes and June probably would have seen more of Crue than he would have felt comfortable showing a friend's mother.
"Mom. You know it's impolite to look through people's photos." Vermillion said, though she hadn't stopped her mother from doing so.
"Oh hush. I'm just glad my son's alright. And in Mistral." June's voice took on a dangerous edge once more. Her green eyes looked up to Crue, and the Faunus swallowed as he felt the gaze of a mother staring at him.
"You said you're going after him?" She asked, suddenly sounding far frailer than the woman who had just had him in an iron grip by the wrist.
Crue nodded, his steely blue eye hardening. "Yeah. I feel like it's… kinda my fault he's there too, so. I'm going after him, and the others."
June let out a breath that caused her shoulders to sag. Her daughter was immediately by her side, wrapping an arm around her mother as she looked up at Crue. "Be sure to give him a smack from me, ok?"
Crue let out an awkward 'ehhh' as he considered the offer. He fought against Winter Schnee because she nearly hit Weiss. And while he definitely wanted to smack Jaune for this, he'd be one Hell of a hypocrite if he actually did. "I, don't think family should hurt each other."
"You were raised well." June said, looking up with a pleased smile.
"Yeah, for about nine fucking years before the ones raising me were killed in front of me." Crue shook away the thoughts. As he was shaking, his one eye fell on a picture of several blonde haired and blue-eyed children.
And then, Crue had an idea. "I don't think hitting him is a good idea…" He said slowly, turning to look at Vermillion and June. "But, embarrassing him might be the way to go. So, got any baby pictures?"
A pair of bright white smiles told Crue all he needed to know.
…
"Eugh."
"Is everything alright, Jaune?" Ren asked his leader. The two had just left a blacksmiths within the town of Gipan. The upgrades Jaune had requested cost a bit of Lien, even with promising to defeat the Gheist, as the blacksmith would have to upgrade his sword and shield from scratch.
The only thing he had to offer was the broken remains of Miló. Pyrrha's spear. There was no chance of repairs, according to Ruby. So, Jaune hoped that Pyrrha would be ok with the use of her weapon.
"I feel like someone just walked over my grave." Jaune answered, ignoring the shivering feeling crawling up his spine. He felt like he had forgotten something gravely important. But he couldn't for the life of him remember what it was.
"Maybe it's the fact you just told a Blacksmith to melt down the remnants of Pyrrha's weapon in order to improve your own?" Ren suggested.
"Nah, that's not it." Jaune shook his head, scratching the back of his head in confusion. His blonde hair had gotten a bit longer, not as long as Ren's however.
Ren wanted to ask the boy how he was feeling in regards to Pyrrha, but decided that it could wait for a time when they weren't about to go and fight a dangerous Grimm. He hoped whoever was walking on Jaune's grave would cease, as he saw Nora and Ruby awaiting them.
He also hoped Nora would stop trying to make 'Team JNRR' a thing.
…
"Well, Jaune might not be dead by the time I get to him, but he'll probably wish he was." He smiled, pocketing his Scroll as he left the Arc household. How he hadn't realised Vermillion was Jaune's sister, he had no idea.
Though, she never gave her surname. And Crue didn't either. Though, his was more because 'Crue Cullen' was the one Cinder blamed for the Fall of Beacon. So, he was just Crue to anyone who asked.
"Does this count as a gift?" He wondered, making his way down the long driveway and back into Dromremy proper. "Wait. Isn't that where Joan of Arc was born?" He paused trying to remember. Unfortunately, that was a question in both history and geography, so Crue couldn't find the answer.
He was so busy trying to remember what he had learned while exploring the backgrounds of the various allusions that the people he now called his friends were related to, that he didn't notice the tall man passing him by and pausing to stare at him.
As Crue walked on, muttering about fairy tales, the taller man continued on to the house he called home. His deep blue eyes strayed to the car currently parked outside, and he found himself walking a bit quicker.
"June?" Johnathon Arc called out once he opened the door to his house, two thin blonde strands of hair waving in front of his face. His wife's head immediately popped out from the sitting room as her green eyes twinkled in delight.
"Hello honey." She said, walking forward and giving her husband a chaste kiss. The man, who stood an entire head above his wife, found his knees growing weak at the affection. "It's good to see you." June ended the kiss much to soon for Johnathon's liking, but the man quickly regained his composure as he looked about the house.
"Is Millie home?" He asked, removing a very large blade from his back and shrugging off a brown tweed jacket. He set Acutum Argentum down as he scratched at his full blonde beard.
"Yes, dear. She came home just an hour ago. She's already back in her room, writing her next story." June shook her head with a soft smile. "A Huntsman escorted her home." She explained.
"Oh." Johnathon took a moment to look back to the door. "That would be who I saw walking down the road then, I assume." The boy had the air of a Huntsman on a mission. Albeit one who was trying to remember fairytales.
"Oh, you saw Crue." June smiled to the side, before noticing her husband suddenly tense and glance to his sword.
"What did you say his name was?" Johnathon asked, turning to face his wife properly.
"Crue." June repeated, a golden eyebrow raised in confusion. "Crue Belladonna."
Johnathon's body suddenly slackened. Maybe 'Crue' was a more common name than he thought. "You're certain?" He had to ask. It was extremely unlikely that a dead man had been in his home. But with a name the same as the one that had been blamed for the Fall of Beacon, but he wanted to make sure his family was safe.
June's eyes tilted into an unamused frown as she placed both fists on her hips. Johnathon cursed inwardly, recognising the posture and knowing what would follow. "Johnathon Jacquot Arc. I am more than certain of the name of the boy who brought our daughter home."
"He even asked Vermillion to make out one of her books to his sister, Blake Belladonna."
June's expression was one that looked ridiculously smug, as if waiting for Johnathon to admit his wrongs. Being a married man, he did exactly that. "How could I ever doubt you, Junebug." Johnathon took a step forward and placed a hand on his wife's cheek.
And as a married man, he knew exactly what to say to prevent him from sleeping on the couch. June's face grew red as she leaned into the touch. "Oh Johnny. I'm glad you're home." She suddenly gasped, as her face broke into a wide smile.
"I have news about Jaune! He's ok!" If there was anything better for Johnathon than coming home to his wife, it was hearing that his son was ok.
"He is?! How do you know?" Johnathon, while glad for the information, wondered how she had found out.
"Crue told me." That self-satisfied smile was back again. "And that's not all~." She bounced on the balls of her feet, unable to contain her joy. "He's going to find a girl! One he kissed!" She quickly took out her Scroll, and showed her husband the picture she very politely requested Crue to give her.
"…why is he in a dress?" Johnathon asked. Not disappointed by any means, as he himself had gone out with June for the first time in a dress because he lost a bet.
"Forget the dress! Look who he's dancing with!" June sighed, zooming in on the picture of a girl with emerald green eyes and long red hair.
It took Johnathon a moment to recognise who it was. Face blindness ran on his side of the family, but as his wife sighed and grabbed a box of cereal from the side, it clicked. "Jaune danced with Pyrrha Nikos?!"
And then, what June had said before clicked as well. "Jaune kissed Pyrrha Nikos?!" He looked to his wife. She nodded.
"THAT'S MY FUCKING BOY!"
"The fuck was that?" Crue paused in the middle of Dromremy, his head turning to where his ears picked up the sound of a victory cry. He shrugged it off, and walked down a long pier to where several boats lay bobbing in the sea.
In the distance, he could make out a larger ship sailing away. Crue sucked in a breath through his teeth as he saw it. "What are the chances that's the one I'm gonna need…" He looked around for some kind of kiosk that would tell him where to go.
He spotted a man in a white sailor's cap standing before the pier with a clipboard in one hand, looking out over the various boats. Most were fishing vessels, but some were in the middle of boarding passengers.
"Hey, 'scuse." He said, waving to the man in question. The man turned, Crue noticing a few white feathers sticking out of his skin.
"What'ya'want?" The Faunus asked, as Crue came to a complete standstill and prevented himself from violently foaming at the mouth.
"Just. Wondering. How. To get. To Mistral." He said, his one eye twitching madly as he screamed internally. "I KNOW I CAN'T BLAME YOU ANYMORE YOU DEAD FUCK! BUT WHAT THE HELL IS DONALD DUCK DOING HERE?!"
The Duck Faunus raised a white eyebrow as a pair of dark blue eyes looked over Crue. "Well ya shoulda been here a few minutes ago." He raised a finger to point to the horizon, where a departing ship could be seen.
"That's the last one for today. Sorry about ya." The sailor said, before pausing as he witnessed Crue taking several steps back while staring at the distant boat. "What're ya doin?"
"Taking a long jump off a short pier." Crue said, before breaking into a dead sprint in the direction of the boat and leaping off the pier and falling. He heard a quack of shock, before Crue continued to fall in the direction of the ship, parallel to the water.
"I wonder if I could walk on water with my Semblance?" Crue thought, staring at the waves rushing past. It was much too late when he realised looking away from the thing he was speeding towards was a bad idea.
Crue looked up at the last second, and found himself slamming against a metal hull as he let out a curse of pain. "Yep. That one's on me." He did not begin to slowly slide down the rear of the boat, thankfully his Semblance not allowing it.
Agonisingly slowly, Crue stood to his feet on the stern of the ship, brushing some dirt off his one sleeve. He paused, looking to his other arm. The muscles had become much more defined since his time in Beacon.
While swinging Setanta was great exercise, and he did miss his weapon, the weighted gauntlets he wore meant he had to change his fighting style to one better suited for such short reach. He knew how to fight with his fists in the first place, it was pretty much the only thing that helped him survive his adolescence.
He flexed his hands, watching as Freedom and Sorrow bared their claws, before retracting them as he walked up the side of the boat to the edge of a railing. He poked his head over, and saw that it was not a passenger ship he was aboard.
It was a cargo ship, with various containers lined up neatly in rows. There was also a gun pointed at him.
Crue blinked as he stared at the barrel. He wondered if he had been on Remnant for too long that this wasn't affecting him as much as it should be, before looking up the rifle to the one holding it. A woman with pure white hair and shining yellow eyes stared down it at Crue. Despite the fact he should absolutely be bricking it due to the fact he was over churning waters with a gun pointed at him, he let out a surprised laugh.
"Oh shit." He said, managing something that resembled a smile. "Fionnula!"
The woman lowered her rifle in shock, as she stared at the sudden arrival with confusion. "Do I, know you?" She asked, her finger no longer resting above the trigger.
"Uh, it's been a while hasn't it I guess." Crue said, scratching behind one of his ears with a chuckle. "Mentis?"
"Oh." Her yellow eyes widened. "OH! Crue?!" Fionnula lowered her gun completely, staring at the Faunus with wide yellow eyes. Crue gave a smile as he walked up the wall and hopped over, sitting on the railing as he laughed.
"Yeah, the very same. Good to see you. Surprised you didn't recognise me."
"Didn't recogni- You're supposed to be dead!?" Fionnula said, resting the butt of her rifle on the ground, giving Crue a decent look at her ensemble. She had a white shirt under a red corset, showing off her bare arms.
"Rumours of my demise have been greatly- WHOA!" Crue suddenly ducked as a cutlass went sailing over his head. Unfortunately, as he sat on a railing, 'ducking' meant falling backward.
"AODH! Stop!" Fionnula exclaimed, looking to where Crue had fallen with her mouth open in horror.
"What the Hell man!?" Crue's head popped back up, a scowl on his features. The same hair and eyes as Fionnula sat on a more masculine face, as Aodh looked shocked at his sudden return.
"Crue?! You're alive?!" His jaw dropped, as Crue made his way back up and onto the boat.
"Well I nearly just wasn't." His scowl fell as he let a smirk play on his face. "Thought the oldest was meant to be the wisest."
"I didn't recognise you." Aodh defended, looking Crue up and down while the Faunus did the same. He, like his sister, wore a puffy white shirt. There was no corset, but there was a red sash going across his chest.
"Well, I mean I guess Mentis was a while ago." Crue shrugged, accepting the reasoning.
"And you look completely different." Aodh said. "You look, older." It sounded like the man wanted to use a different description for how much change the Faunus had gone through, but he decided to be polite.
"Thanks, it's the trauma." A fanged smile appeared on Crue's face, neither sailor knowing him well enough to see how brittle it was.
"I guess being blamed for the Fall of Beacon would do that to a person." Fionnula said, as Crue's smile fell and was replaced with a deep scowl.
"We didn't think you caused it." Aodh spoke up, seeing the change in expression. "You saved so many people at Mentis, so many Huntsmen. Why would you do that only to try and destroy the place that makes them."
"I'll be sure to use that argument against anyone who does think I did." Crue let out a sigh, but felt a bit warmer inside. "Thanks." He wouldn't say he was extremely close friends with either white-haired Hunter, but they had talked enough during the campout.
At the time, Crue felt a kinship that he now knew was misplaced, as he thought they were both meant to be interpretations of myths from his home. "Didn't mean to be a stowaway." Crue said, glancing back at the churning waters. "But I'm on my way to Mistral, and Donald Duck told me this ship was headed there."
"Who?" They said as one, before Aodh shook his head, ignoring the description. "We are. But, why do you want to go there?"
"Cause, like you, a few other people think I'm dead. Some I want to let know I'm not, and others I want to keep thinking that." His steely blue eye glinted dangerously. "At least until I'm in the process of kicking their teeth in, anyway."
Two sets of yellow eyes widened. "The people who killed you think they succeeded." Fionnula realised. Crue nodded in confirmation. He couldn't wait to see the look on Cinder's face that Crue would hopefully be in the process of punching. Emerald too.
"We'll keep quiet." Aodh said with a look to her sister, who nodded almost immediately. "You might want to keep an eye on the crew, Crue." He stopped, before sniggering at his accidental words.
"They're just normal workers, not Huntsmen like us." Fionnula explained, though she too had a small smile at her brother's pun. "They also don't know you like we do."
"Got it." Crue nodded. "Guess I am a stowaway then." He gave a smirk, looking around the ship. "I can probably find somewhere to hide, I might find you guys if I'm starving or something though." He said, his eye on a set of containers that formed a nice barrier that would hopefully prevent any prying eyes.
The two children of the Lír shipping company nodded, before looking around to make sure no crew had spotted them. Once they had made sure the coast was clear, they gestured for Crue to make himself scarce.
He did so immediately, leaping off the railing and onto a container, running around and down it so that he was out of sight. "It's a good thing he's not an actual stowaway." Aodh said. "We probably wouldn't have noticed him."
His sister nodded in agreement before they separated, patrolling the ship and keeping an eye out for any Grimm. Among the containers, Crue tried to make himself comfortable as he shrugged off the satchel from under his cloak.
He set it to the side and leaned against one of the containers, mentally ticking off his gifts for the people he cared about. "Ruby, Blake, Yang. Jaune, Nora." He still needed to get something for Weiss, Ren and Pyrrha.
"Maybe getting Jaune to open his eyes and go on a date with her would work." He theorised, bringing a hand to his chin. He felt a surprising amount of hair brush against the gauntlets. Not enough to be considered a beard, of course.
"Huh, no wonder they didn't recognise me." Crue thought. He hadn't really had an opportunity to shave in the months after the Fall of Beacon. It wasn't exactly high up on his list of priorities. Now, his priorities were finding his friends.
"And Neo…" Crue held back on any liquid that tried to escape his eye. He kept referring to her as his girlfriend to Vermillion, but it wasn't like he knew that for sure. They had agreed to meet up after stopping the Fall.
Seeing as that failed, and they had missed each other, Crue wondered if he could consider himself allowed to call her that. Roman would have smacked him over the head at the train of thought, and Crue felt his ear twitch ever so slightly, as if somehow an apparition of the thief did just clip his ears.
Roman, after thoroughly ripping into him for exchanging certain types of pictures with Neo, said that he was the only other person Neo had shown that kind of love to, other than himself. And when Crue explained wanting to get her a gift, Roman gave him some surprisingly tender advice.
"Kid. Just show up and be alive when you do. That'll be gift enough for her."
Unfortunately, he happened to say that in earshot of Junior, who immediately began to make fun of the once renowned, now dead, Gentleman Thief. It had taken Crue so long to recover from the Fall. He had to be practically stitched back together, and that wasn't even telling however many things were wrong with his numb arm.
He flexed it, then looked down to make sure the action went through. When he saw the shimmering green, he allowed himself to relax. The thought of himself, a blonde, blue eyed Faunus stowing away on a ship let his thoughts drift to another who was once in a similar situation.
"I hope Sun's doing alright…"
…
Sun Wukong was not doing alright. He was whatever the opposite of alright was. None left? Yeah, that worked for Sun, the Faunus thought. Of options and hopes, he had none left. He had followed Blake from Beacon, in hopes of making sure she had company in her roaring rampage of revenge against the White Fang.
Problem was, she already had company.
Said company was apparently better at noticing when they were being followed than Blake, and had cornered him and pointed a deadly looking blade at his throat. The fact she managed to find a corner on a boat at all was an impressive act to the Monkey Faunus, but he wasn't able to appreciate it at the time.
In fact, he probably wouldn't have had any time to appreciate it, as the girl, who Sun thought looked oddly familiar, also looked ready to gut him. And she probably would have. If it weren't for her face turning a particularly sickly looking shade of green, and pushing Sun aside to heave over the side of the railing.
Sun, who despite just being held at sword point, awkwardly rubbed her back while still sweating under his large brown cloak. The girl let out a groan as her arms hung limply over the side of the boat.
Sun finally found himself with an option again and quickly backed up as the girl was still throwing up. A hop, skip, and ridiculously acrobatic jump later, and he was on the crows nest of the ship he had stowed away on. There, he waited, running out of options and hoping that the girl's sealegs wouldn't kick in until he had a chance to talk to Blake.
Blake, who had wondered where her unwilling companion had gotten to, found Neo hunched over the railing of the boat with the rest of the passengers giving her a wide berth. Her amber eyes tilted upward in amusement.
Here she was, the girl who was a master criminal alongside Roman Torchwick, getting seasick. Blake approached, before her nose crinkled slightly at the smell. With a sigh and shake of her raven head, she began to rub her hand along Neo's back.
A pair of mismatched eyes looked up, saw it was Blake, and promptly fell back down to stare into the ocean. Her head still down, Neo raised a finger to point to Blake, then herself, and mimed walking, before making the same action with a much slower and more sinister gait.
Blake let out a small scoff. "The only one who's following me is you." Neo then made another gesture. One that involved only the use of a single finger. Blake retracted her hand as she frowned. Neo spat out the remnants of her lunch, mostly fish, and turned to look at Blake properly.
She blinked, as she looked a bit higher. A pair of cat ears sat atop Blake's head. Neo knew she was a Faunus, of course, she didn't know who she thought that bow was fooling, but she also had never seen them free of their confines before.
Neo tilted her head to the side and pointed to her own head while still looking at the ears. Now that they were free, she found it a bit easier to understand her emotions. Like the fact they flicked downward in annoyance at the question.
"I'm not going to need my bow where we're going." Blake said, before looking to the bowler hat atop Neo's head. "But, you might want to keep the hat on."
It suddenly occurred to Neo that she had never actually asked where Blake was running off to. She had assumed it was Mistral, as that was where Cinder had been pretending to be from. She blinked as she suddenly remembered the ease with which they had acquired her forged transcripts. She should probably mention that.
"Let's just say, it'd raise more than a few eyebrows if I brought home a Human." Blake let a small smirk play on her lips, as Neo absorbed the information. The girl suddenly seemed to grow very still, before a small smile made its way onto her face.
Slowly, Neopolitan lifted up her hat, and Blake's eyes widened as a pair of Wolf ears appeared atop her head. The colours may have matched her pink and brown hair, but Blake would recognise those ears anywhere.
"Crue…" She said softly. Neo raised a hand as if to pet her own ears, before her smile fell as her hand passed through, shattering the illusion. She yanked her cap back down on her head, pulling it down so the brim hid her eyes from Blake.
The Faunus wanted to offer some words of comfort, but a sudden violent rocking of the boat sent both her and Neo stumbling across the deck. Despite Neo's face turning green, they both looked up as a shadow suddenly covered them.
A massive serpent-like Grimm with a bone-scaled underbelly rose out of the water, with a large external skull that held two large glowing yellow eyes and several spikes nearly blotted out the Sun.
A different Sun was beginning to regret his decision to board the ship.
While Neo wondered why a Grimm would have whiskers, Blake immediately sprung into action, running up the prow of the ship and leaping into the air, using her Semblance to summon a clone and use the momentum to fling herself at the Grimm.
Neo watched with a faint frown as Blake unloaded into the monster. She really needed to get something that could shoot. Until then, however, she would make do with what she had. Neo leapt from railing to railing before finding herself atop the highest point of the ship.
She also found she wasn't alone.
"Uh, hi again." Sun waved awkwardly, letting a hand slip out of his cloak. Neo observed him closely, but was distracted by the Grimm roaring. She watched, as two large black and red wings unfurled from behind it.
"If I help, do you promise not to stab me?" Sun asked. The smaller girl tapped her cheek in thought, before giving a shrug and nodding.
"Good enough for me." Sun threw away his cloak, allowing Neo to see him in full. She didn't really recognise him aside from the fact she saw him a few times while at Beacon. They both leapt into action, literally, as Sun jumped down from the mast and used Neo's travelling companion as a springboard.
Neo vanished from her place atop the mast, before appearing in a shattering of glass on the Grimm's skull, just as Sun landed next to her. She watched as Sun grabbed the whiskers of the Grimm and pulled them back, causing the burst of lightning that erupted from its mouth to completely miss the ship.
Neo, who while certainly able to kill Grimm, never really fought one as large as this. Unless she counted Kevin. After a moment, she decided that she did. But unfortunately for this one, Neo thought as Hush sang free, this Grimm had made a very big mistake.
It rocked the boat. And made her feel seasick. Again.
Neo didn't realise how much she hated being on a boat until it was too late. Bullheads, teleporting and high-speed car chases she could handle. But boats? Neo took her anger out on the very inviting looking eye in front of her.
Really, glowing that brightly it was just asking to be stabbed. So Neo politely fulfilled the request.
The Grimm let out a screech of agony as it attempted to dislodge its unwanted passengers. Neo gripped onto one of the horns tightly, while Sun held tight to its whiskers, almost trying to steer the thing.
Neo could appreciate the attempt, even if it was going nowhere. She wrenched her sword free of the eye, black blood dissipating in the rushing winds. As the Dragon-like Grimm bucked violently, Neo realised she had been wrong about Sun's attempts.
It was going somewhere. Specifically, downward. Neo let her parasol unfold, allowing the winds to take her as she remained aloft in the middle of the sky. She watched the stalker fall from the Grimm, only to be caught by Blake at the last second while atop a series of rocks jutting out from the ocean below.
Speaking of below, Neo watched as the Grimm snapped its jaws upwards, crackling electricity sparking from its maw as it stared at Neo with one glowing yellow eye. Neo had already weaved an illusion of herself off to the side, but she decided to have the illusion drag a finger down one eye and stick its tongue out at the Grimm.
A blast of yellow electricity destroyed the illusion, as Neo folded her parasol and landed on the boat. Just in time to hear Blake yell out her name in shock. "Neo!" The illusion Neo weaved around herself shattered, startling both Faunus who had made their way back to the boat.
Blake's eyes widened, looking to Neo and back to where her original illusion had been struck by the blast. Neo tilted her head ever so slightly to the side with an expression that showed she was deeply touched. And also definitely going to make fun of Blake for her exclamation.
The Cat Faunus found her face becoming red with both embarrassment and anger. Sun, meanwhile, showed a look of sudden recognition. He opened his mouth to speak, before the captain of the ship suddenly made himself known with a shout.
"Huntsmen! If you can clip its wings and draw it out towards the bow, we can take it!" He exclaimed.
Sun looked to the two women before him. "I mean, you two have the sharp things." Blake met Neo's eyes, who made a motion of pointing to each of them, clasping her hands together and then throwing them out.
"Ohh. I hate doing that one." Blake groaned, before looking to Sun. "Give us a boost."
The Monkey Faunus nodded, running to the bow and slapping his hands together, as three glowing golden clones surrounded him. Blake and Neo ran as one, leaping onto their outstretched palms. As one, the Suns heaved and sent them skyward while they linked hands.
The Grimm roared in defiance that someone would dare take to its domain, but as suddenly as the intruders entered, they disappeared in a blink. Then, a sharp pain erupted in it's wings, as Neo and Blake fell from the sky just above its head and began to rip their blades down the red membrane, causing it's place high above to falter as it slowly fell down to Remnant.
Neo and Blake fell with a surprising control, the former once more using her parasol to descend smoothly, whereas Blake aimed for the ground feet first. Neo had a brief memory of the phrase 'cats always land on their feet' flit through her mind.
Apparently, cats were also caught by monkeys. Neo watched with a curious expression as Blake and Sun shared a few words, still calmly floating down as the Sea Dragon Grimm writhed in pain. It crashed through the various sea stacks, chasing down the Faunus as the boat sped up after it.
Neo closed her parasol and fell with practiced ease onto the ship, just as it impaled the Grimm. She landed atop a massive cannon currently pointed at said Grimm, as it turned with a roar, it's one glowing yellow eye staring at her.
Neo pointed Hush towards it as a blade shot out of the tip. The cannon below her fired with a boom that nearly threw her. The Grimm before her exploded in a shower of gore as its top half suddenly disappeared from her sight.
Acting quickly, Neo opened her parasol and protected herself from getting rained on with black blood. A disgusting splash later, and the boat erupted in cheers at their victory against the monster. Neo flicked her parasol, getting rid of the blood and basking in the applause. If being a Huntress meant getting this much praise, maybe she'd stick with it.
Her attention was brought to the sudden arrival of the two Faunus landing on the ship next to her. Sun took the applause well, waving a hand to the passengers who had exited onto the deck once the Grimm had been defeated.
Neo idly wondered if the red mark on his face was because of the girl currently trying to hide from the crowds gaze. Regardless, Neo leapt down from the cannon and observed it. She wondered how difficult it would be to shove that into Hush to give it a ranged option.
She'd figure it out later, as she turned her attention to Blake and Sun, the former looking decidedly annoyed at the latter. Blake noticed her approaching, and suddenly connected Sun's presence with what Neo had 'said' earlier.
"You were following us?" She accused.
"Uh, technically I was only following youuuuu- that doesn't make it sound better does it." Sun held up a slowly lowering finger as he realised what he was saying. "I didn't know you had a friend with you already."
He turned to look at Neo properly, taking in her attire and respectively keeping his eyes on hers. "Sun. Don't you know who that is?" Blake asked, a certain amount of disbelief in her voice. Neo let out a silent sigh, waiting for the history of her criminality to spew from her companion's mouth once more.
"Uh, yeah. She's Crue's girl, isn't she?"
Of all the things they thought he might have said, that was nowhere on the list. Two heads turned so fast they nearly got whiplash as they stared at Sun with eyes like dinner plates. Sun very quickly realised he made a mistake and tried to figure out what it was.
"Aw crud, was that sexist? Sorry, it just kinda slipped out." Sun looked genuinely apologetic at his words.
Neo and Blake were still stunned speechless, and as Neo couldn't speak in the first place, it was Blake who managed to get her words out first. "You knew- you know- WHAT?!" She asked, throwing her hands out in disbelief.
"Yeah?" Sun felt like he was missing some much needed context.
"HOW!? Do you even know who she is?!" Blake asked, and Neo also looked very interested in Sun's knowledge.
Sun let out an awkward 'Uhhh' as if trying to decide how best to put his words. "You remember when me and the guys went out drinking with Crue?" He questioned. Neo didn't, but the way Blake nodded vigorously suggested she did.
"Yeah, well, turns out Crue has like, stages, of drunk?" Sun remembered the night in question though flashes of colour and a pounding in his head. "The guy could out drink a Goliath, but at like, drink forty he gets super emotional."
And a few drinks after that he became musical, then ridiculously happy. "And, uh, he kinda had me by the shoulder and was showing me pictures of you two and kinda crying about how he messed up." If it wasn't for the fact Sun was also drunk at the time, he probably would have felt uncomfortable.
Instead, he just shared Crue's woes in being single and drank with him some more. Then, Crue began to go on a drunken rant about something called 'poh-key-man' and the despairs were forgotten. Before him, Neo and Blake looked shocked. "You realise she worked for Torchwick, right?" Blake asked, gesturing numbly to Neo.
Sun blinked, looking the girl over once more. Neo looked back, not ashamed of the accusation and not denying it either. Roman was her friend, her first actual friend. And maybe a slight father figure, but if anyone asked, she'd deny that. She would have worked with him if all he wanted to do was open a pound for lost and sick puppies.
"Uh, I didn't." Sun said, wishing to take a step back but found the railing for the boat impeding his retreat. "Are you, like, cool now?" He asked.
Neo's nose crinkled as she let out a small huff, as if to say, 'I've always been cool', but she nodded, a hand coming up to rest on the locket around her neck. "Nice. Welcome to team 'Good Guys'." Sun smiled brightly, his tail swaying happily behind him.
"Sun? You're ok with her that easily?" Blake was in shock he accepted it so straightforwardly. "She was a criminal!"
Sun looked at Blake with a raised eyebrow. "Weren't you a terrorist or something?"
Neo's presence does more than just annoy Blake. It also gives her someone to rely on. Even if that person used to be a criminal. And we finally have someone to pick up the chat in the form of Sun. Hooray!
We are well aware of the hypocrisy of Blake's character, which is mostly why she still has trouble accepting Neo. I'm sure they'll be best of friends by the end of this, though.
As for the Arc Family, every time I picture what Jaune's dad might look like Van Hohenheim pops into my head. Which, fits surprisingly well. Not a hundred percent sure if Johnathon fits the colour naming rule but, here's hoping.
And Crue meets some old friends from Mentis! Aodh and Fionnuala, funnily enough both actually work to follow the naming rule. 'Fire' and 'white shoulders' respectively. Let's just hope he doesn't meet any enemies from Mentis as well.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know if you did. And as always…
Until Next Time
-Friday