I've heard the news. Roosterteeth is shutting down, and with it it, RWBY's future is unclear. I'm not going to lie, I was genuinely upset when I heard this. Roosterteeth was one of the OG content creators on Youtube, and to have it end like this feels like a kick in the teeth. And with RWBY...
I love RWBY. I've loved it since the Red trailer and have loved everything since. I don't think I have the words to explain what I'm feeling about this. I've made friends that will last a lifetime because of RWBY, and for something like this to happen just, hurts, man.
I won't bother ye anymore with my woes. Enjoy the chapter and remember.
Keep Moving Forward.
"So, any more questions?"
Several hands shot up, and Crue's ears flattened against his head. "Yeah, that's fair." He sighed.
"You know I'm not going anywhere." Crue reminded them. "There isn't a time limit or anything. I'll answer any questions you guys have, even if you think of them tomorrow."
The mention of the next day had a few people glancing out the window, seeing how dark it was. It was well midnight, as the Battle of Haven had already started when it was dark, and obviously once it was over people wanted to know exactly what was going on with Crue.
It helped his case that Nora let out an exaggerated yawn, before catching it and looking vaguely embarrassed.
"How about one more each if you've got one, then ye can actually rest."
The various hands lowered, everyone thinking amongst themselves about what they wanted to find out most before going to bed.
While they figured it out, Crue glanced down to Neo, still holding on tight to him. "What about you?" He asked quietly, pink and brown eyes blinking in surprise as her head craned back to meet his gaze. "Any questions?"
Neo thought for a moment, chewing the inside of her cheek, before her eyes changed. The colour of fiery amber stared at Crue, before Neo made as though she was going to kiss him. "Ugh. Don't remind me." Crue groaned.
"Yeah, she kissed me. And I fuckin' hated every second of it." Crue scowled, and Neo mirrored his expression. "There was only one good thing that came from it." He said, and Neo's eyes went wide, shocked that anything good could come from Cinder kissing him.
"It made me realise who I'd rather be kissing." He smiled, a faint blush creeping over his features as he met Neo's gaze. Her eyes were pure pink.
"Aww." Both their heads snapped upward, looking across at the group who they momentarily forgot was there. Some fawned, some smiled with glee, and the some had the expression showing the same kind of disgust you got whenever you saw a relative do something 'cringey' with their partner.
It didn't help that Ruby had clearly taken a picture of the scene with Crue's Scroll, smirking playfully. Both Crue and Neo burned red, the former turning his head and coughing to the side as Neo buried her face in his arm. "You guys have your questions yet?" He asked, desperate to take the attention away from him.
A few hands went up. Weiss, Jaune, Pyrrha and Sun. "Weiss." He nodded to her.
"What did you use instead of Dust? Were you as technologically advanced as us?" She asked.
"That's two." Crue pointed out with a small smile as Weiss flustered. "But, I'll allow it. They're pretty much the same thing."
"Uh, we still had electricity and lights and everything. But our equivalent of Dust would be petrol. Or, oil, rather. It was a highly combustible liquid that's formed by the remains of plants and animals being subjected to intense heat and pressure over millions of years."
Weiss looked intrigued, but out of the corner of his eye Crue saw Scarlet elbow Sun gently and whisper something to him.
"Hey Crue, what animals are oil made from?" Scarlet asked.
"Dinosaurs." Crue answered immediately, before realising his mistake.
"What are dinosaurs?" A few people asked in tandem, as Crue's eye twitched and glared at Scarlet. He, Sage and Neptune bent over in laughter, while the rest of the group looked confused.
"You're a motherfucker you are." Crue grumbled. "Dinosaurs are…" He paused, seeing Weiss' upset expression that her question had been hijacked. "…something that I can go into way too much detail about so I'll save it for tomorrow."
Weiss smiled brightly. "As for how technologically advanced we were… We were kind of more and less than Remnant. We didn't have Grimm, so we had no need for mechashift weapons or anything."
There was a shocked gasp, as Ruby's eyes briefly rolled back into her head. Everyone paused for a moment, worried for the girls safety as she lay sprawled against Yang. Her older sister gave a small eye roll and nudged her.
Ruby's eyes were back in their sockets as she took a huge breath. "Crue, no offence, but I don't think I'd ever want to go to Earth." The Faunus snickered at her words, shaking his head.
"Don't blame you. But, anyway, I'd say we're about as advanced as ye, we just went in a different direction. We didn't have anything like Atlas Battleships, our versions of those were on the sea." He explained. He could probably go a lot more in depth, but that would take much longer.
He looked to Sun and nodded. "How many Kingdom's were there on Earth?"
"They were countries, not Kingdoms." Crue reminded him. "And… I don't know. Fuckin' two hundred or something?" Several jaws dropped, and Sun threw his hands up in disbelief.
"What do you mean 'or something'?! You don't know how many Kingdoms-" "Countries!" "-there are!"
"Because there are that many!" Crue explained. "Me sucking at geography isn't just a 'this isn't my world' thing. It's an 'I really fucking suck at geography' thing!" He didn't know how many there were off the top of his head, the best he could hope for is try and recite 'The Nations of the World' by Yakko Warner.
"…huhnuhduh Canada, Mexico Panama…." Crue mumbled trying to remember the song.
"How do you have that many King-countries?!" Sun continued, righting his mistake as Crue frowned.
"Ok, that's three. And like I said earlier, we've no Aura, Dust or Grimm. There's nothing really stopping us from living wherever aside from the environment. And even then it rarely stops people." Whether it be trying to protect the environment or trying to survive against it.
"Pyrrha," Crue said before Sun could get another question in.
"What happened after Beacon? How did you survive?" She asked, her eyes filled with such sorrow that it made Crue have to look away. Jaune lowered his hand at her words, either having been planning on asking the same question or deciding the mood wasn't right to keep his hand up in the air.
"I came to a few days after the fight on the tower. I woke up and saw the face of God." He smirked, showing fangs.
No one shared his expression, though Sage, Scarlet and Neptune each rolled their eyes. "You gotta phrase that another way, dude." Neptune told him.
"I mean it's true." Crue defended, before seeing everyone's eyes widen, causing him to sigh. "That dickhead I mentioned, The Author. He was there. Glowing white with nothing but a bright fuckin' smile."
Crue's eyes narrowed. "I tried to deck him immediately, obviously."
"You saw God and your first instinct was to punch him?" Qrow stated in disbelief.
"Yeah."
"That checks." Several nods, not exactly in approval, but rather in agreement and understanding of Crue's nature came from the group before him.
"Tried to swing for him anyway, but my left arm was, and still is, completely banjaxed." He had used the term around them before, so they knew what he meant.
"Wait, what do you mean it's broken? It looks fine to me." Weiss asked, as she examined the arm not currently enveloped by Neo.
"Well I mean I don't think anything's broken," Crue said, bending the arm and flexing his fingers as he did so. "But the nerves are shot. I can feel sweet fuck all on this side." He wanted to demonstrate, but realised purposefully injuring himself to prove he couldn't feel anything probably wasn't the best idea.
The fact part of his body was completely numb came as a shock, but Weiss looked as though she was offended by it. "…I was hugging that side." She grumbled, crossing her arms and pouting.
"That's your take away?" Yang asked, looking to the Heiress with a raised eyebrow, her own robotic arm drumming on the arm of the sofa. Weiss blushed, looking away as she made excuses.
"I'll give you a proper hug after." Crue was going to give everyone one anyway, no harm in Weiss being the first. He tried not to chuckle as Weiss' head whipped back ground, eyes practically sparkling.
"Anyway. The Author. A royal cunt if I've ever met one. One of the first things he said to me was how annoyed he was I survived." Crue's fist clenched as a scowl overtook his face, the Golden Eye only accentuating his anger.
"He explained everything to me. How the Relic worked. How he came to be the Author. How he could wipe out the world with a simple flick of a quill." His tone left no room for argument, nearly forcing everyone to believe him.
"He mocked everything I was, everything I did, said it was all for nothing. And he told me who I was meant to be. A villain. A bad guy. I was meant to hurt you, rather than help." Crue's voice quietened, the scowl becoming less angry, and more distraught.
He feared what way this might have gone if The Author had gotten his way. If he had dropped him right in front of Salem, rather than in the Emerald Forest. He shook his head, dispelling such thoughts and tried to ignore the mixed expressions of those in front of him.
"I took that about as well you'd think and tried to punch him again." He sighed, trying to smile. "But he grabbed me by the throat and told me I was about to die." The memory of it had Crue swallowing roughly, the phantom grip of The Author's hands on his neck slowing his breathing.
There was a reason Crue hated people going near his neck, and he was sure The Author knew why.
"He asked me if I had any last words, so I called him a jackass and stabbed him in the dick." He tried to smile. "Not that it did anything. Then he used the Relic of Reality and said I died."
There was a deafening silence left in the wake of his words. Even Neo pushed herself off of Crue to look up at him in concern. He managed to meet her gaze for a moment, but had to tear himself away.
Even Oscar, who had been pacing while trying to drown out Ozpin, froze in place, clearly listening to him, with the headmaster watching behind his eyes.
"But, you're alive." Ruby pointed out the obvious.
And despite the fact it was obvious, Crue couldn't help but frown. "Yeah. I'm going to be honest, I don't know how I am. Especially because, I think I did die."
Crue could remember the moment in question. He would never forget it.
One second, he was alive, in pain, and watching The Author write in the Relic. The next…
Everything went black. His heart stopped beating, and his breath left his lungs. He could feel no pain. No warmth. No cold. He could feel nothing. A soundless, empty void.
But he was still conscious. Still able to think. To understand what was happening. To feel anger that he had come this far only to die to a man with a book. To feel Wrath that everyone he knew was going to disappear.
Rage burned in him, and his heart beat. Once. Twice. Three times. His vision slowly came back. Warmth returned, and most importantly of all…
Pain.
Pain wracked his body, sending fiery shocks of agony to every part of him that could still feel. And Crue was glad for it.
Crue could feel pain. And being able to feel pain meant one thing.
He wasn't dead yet.
Crue focused on The Author, hearing him talking to himself about resetting the world now that he was done. And of course, his first words after coming back from the dead could be nothing other than, "Fuck. That."
Crue's memory fled as he felt someone shake him violently.
He blinked back to the present, seeing everyone staring at him with concern. He turned, seeing Neo staring up at him with wide white eyes. Not anger, but fear. "What happened?" He asked, looking back to the group.
"Dude, you stopped moving. Like, completely." Sun answered, his own blue eyes looking over the Faunus. "I think you even stopped breathing." Neo nodded rapidly, confirming Sun's words.
"Oh. I guess reliving your own death will do that to you. Hah." A very short, not very funny, laugh left his mouth. His face fell as he let out a tired breath.
"So, you did actually… die." Jaune stated, as Crue nodded firmly. "But, then how are you… not? I mean we all thought you were dead, and it turned out we were almost right."
"Rumours of my demise-" Crue froze, his head jerking as he analysed every corner of the room, searching for anything that could interrupt him.
"Rumoursofmydemisehavebeengreatlyexaggerated-FINALLY!" He sighed in relief, slumping against Neo as he smiled, the girl suddenly fighting to keep them both upright. "I've been trying to say that forever!" No one in the group quite knew what to make of the exclamation.
"Anyway." Crue continued, as though he hadn't just said a sentence at lightspeed. "The reason I'm alive is… I didn't feel like dying." He smirked at the groans. "But honestly, I don't know. I don't want to question it, for obvious reasons."
"I've heard of the phrase 'too angry to die' before." Ren stated. "But never thought I'd see it in person."
"What happened after you came back?" Qrow asked, his red eyes analysing Crue.
"The Author was in the middle of writing in the Relic, he was distracted, so I was able to clock him and get him away from the book." Crue explained. "He made himself look like a God, but he was nowhere near as strong as one."
"He came at me, but I managed to use the book as a shield and then hit him with it. Then, I got a hold of his Quill and the Relic at the same time." Crue didn't think the Quill itself was Magic, seeing as it was left over when the Book vanished.
"After that, I wrote in the Relic that The Author lost his powers. He turned back to a normal human, and I was able to beat him."
"What of the Relic?" Ozpin was back in control, it seemed, and his previous confusion, or anger, at Crue's old name had taken a backseat.
"Gone." Crue looked to the ground. "The Relic only existed as long as The Author did."
He didn't need to say what that implied, as it was clear to all what had happened.
"You… killed him?" It came from Pyrrha, and Crue wasn't able to meet her eyes, the idea of his own sister asking him that had his stomach rolling.
"I had to." Crue didn't want to make excuses. "He knew how to use the Relic, and he would have reset everything. I would never have met you all. Pyrrha wouldn't have survived. And who knows what else."
He had come to terms with the fact he killed him long ago. He had never directly killed another being before. Sure, there was the Hana guild, but that wasn't him, and the White Fang during the Breach, but they were distant, masked, it was easy to just smack them off the train in the heat of the battle and forget about it.
But The Author?
That was close enough for Crue to see the life leave his eyes, and for his blood to stain him. It was something he would always carry. He looked for his satchel, seeing it by the doorway, along with everyone's weapons.
Using his Semblance, he focused on it. It took a moment, but eventually the bag soared through the air, Crue catching it with his free hand. He set it down, and everyone held their breath as he opened it.
Crue's hand came out holding the most opulent Quill any of them had ever seen. It was about a foot long, the feather an intricate weaving of gold and purple that looked like it came from the archduke of peacocks.
The body of it was a pure gold that almost glowed, and though Crue had never felt confident enough to try it, he knew the ink was a purple so deep it absorbed light.
Ozpin inhaled sharply at the sight, and so did everyone else. Though their reaction was more towards the dark red blot that spilled over the top half of the Quill.
"This is all that was left. There was a few moments where the Book was still there and the Author wasn't. I barely had time to write three words in it before it vanished completely." He stared at the Quill, the gold shining in the light and the patch of red taunting him.
"What did you write?" Blake asked, her eyes flicking from the Quill to him.
At this, Crue managed to smile. "Keep moving forward." It was something he lived his life by, even before being sent to Remnant. And he would continue to follow it.
"You had something that altered Reality and that's what you wrote?" Qrow raised an eyebrow. Crue scowled at the man, but he didn't seem to be mocking him with the question. If anything, he looked impressed.
"I am not a God," Crue said, as though it was something that needed saying. "And I wouldn't fuckin' want to be one either. The power The Author wielded, there's not a person alive I would trust that with. Myself included."
Qrow nodded in approval, and so did many others. It was clear they all agreed, some of them imagining what they would do with such a power. Ozpin had a constipated look on his face, as if both approving of Crue's decision, and desperately wanting to smack him for getting rid of such a powerful tool.
"After that, I think I passed back out and managed to drag my ass to Vale, which took another day or two. I passed out in an alleyway-" Crue felt Neo's grip tighten like a vice. "-and then woke back up in Junior's."
His arm was nearly pulled from his socket with how hard Neo tugged on him. He turned, seeing both her eyes brown and nearly watering. She wasn't able to make any motions, but Crue knew exactly what she was asking.
"Of course I went there. I told you I would," Crue said softly.
Neo looked as though she might burst into tears. It was such a far cry from the expressions he was used to seeing that Crue was genuinely worried for her. "I found Neo waiting in an alley."
His head turned, seeing Blake's wide amber eyes, as everyone else looked to her. "It was the one on Steeler Street, next to a destroyed armoury."
"That's the one." Crue nodded in surprise. "I thought she followed you." He nodded downwards, where Neo was currently burying her face into his arm, hiding it from the rest of the group. He ignored the dampness he could feel dripping down his arm.
"I heard-" Blake stopped herself, wondering if it was something she would be allowed to say. "I found her in the alley, and found out she was Polly. I left, and she ended up following me." She explained.
Crue wondered what it was she had heard, but it whatever it was would stay between her and Neo until either of them felt comfortable enough to share.
"So, to clarify..." Nora spoke up, holding her hands together. "You fought a God, an arm down, died, came back to life, fought him again, and won." She gestured to Crue, tips of her fingers pressing together.
"That is about the long and short of it, yes." Crue nodded, rolling the Quill between his fingers.
No one was sure what to say in response. Crue didn't blame them. He didn't even know how to respond to the fact he died. So, he decided to try change the subject.
"Jaune." He stated, the blonde looking startled at suddenly being named. "What was your question?"
"Uh-" His blue eyes went wide, darting around. "Who was your favourite character?" Jaune blurted out.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Jaune's face contorted in cringe as his hand slapped against his face with a groan.
"Dude…" Crue sighed, as everyone looked at Jaune with a raised eyebrow.
"I panicked!" He defended. "I was gonna ask the same thing Pyrrha did, so I just asked the first thing that came to mind." He held his head in his hands in embarrassment.
Crue pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed. When he opened his eyes again, it was to see everyone looking at him out of the corner of their eyes expectantly.
"I'm not answering that."
There was no immediate outcry of disagreement, but several people looked reluctantly upset as his answer. "That's a fucked question given the circumstances. It'd be like asking who's my favourite friend."
Crue paused, thinking. "I'm not answering that either." Everyone could begrudgingly understand his reasoning, and it didn't seem like anyone had any more questions, so Crue decided to ask one of his own.
"So, now that I've said all this, do any of you believe me?" He doubted anyone did, as no one was able to meet his gaze, aside from Sage, Scarlet and Neptune.
"I believe you." The small voice came the side, and everyone turned to see Oscar holding a hand up, Ozpin's cane in his other.
"You do?" Crue was surprised. "But, I didn't know anything about you."
"Well, yeah, maybe I just didn't show up in the show yet." The young boy shrugged. "But, it's less about what you've said and more like…" He struggled for a moment to put his thoughts into words.
"Look. Until a few months ago I was just a kid on a farm. Now I've got an old wizard in my head- shush. You absolutely are a wizard." A soft frown came across his features as he looked upward.
"I've got a wizard in my head. A magic lamp on the table. An evil witch who wants to destroy us, and I can only imagine what else. So…" The boy smiled awkwardly. "You being from another world is, honestly easier to accept. I mean, my life has already become so weird, this may as well happen."
Even though it was Oscar in control of his own body, he looked a lot older at the moment. His words gave the others pause, each of them thinking about it from his point of view.
"He has a point," Blake said. "Up until, the start of this conversation, Magic was just something in Fairy Tales. But now it's real. And that evil witch we saw, she's real too. This…" Blake gestured to Crue with a limp hand and a sigh. "This might as well be real too."
Crue wanted to say something about how the only reason he was being believed was because it was the least weird thing they had heard all day, but he'd take what he could get. "It's fine if you don't believe me," He said instead.
"But I just had to tell you. I was so tired of the secrets." He let out a sigh, his shoulders falling as he finally felt a weight leave them.
"We're tired of secrets too." Ruby smiled. "So how about we just agree no more of them." There was an immediate murmur of agreement, everyone else clearly tired of knowledge being hid from them.
"OOH!" Nora suddenly exclaimed. "Except for surprise parties and birthday presents!" She crossed her arms and nodded firmly, as though she had the final say in a debate deciding the fate of the world.
Several people burst out laughing, Nora's words seemingly breaking the dam of awkwardness that had been close to overflowing since the start of Crue's confession. The Faunus himself found a wide smile on his face as he shook his head in amusement.
Several people stood, stretching their legs as they had been seated and still for so long. Crue did as well, Neo unintentionally being lifted from the sofa thanks to how she wrapped her arms around Crue's.
He glanced down to Neo with a soft smile, seeing her holding onto him for dear life. "I'm not going anywhere." He promised softly.
Neo's expression relaxed at his words, and she let herself slip down his arm. Not before giving him a small peck on the cheek however, one that seemed to flood Crue's face with colour. He still smiled as Neo let go and took a step back, letting Crue go to the rest of his friends.
"Weiss." He called, holding both his arms out wide. To say Weiss Schnee sprinted towards him would be an understatement. She bounded towards him, jumping at the last second and wrapping herself completely around Crue, hitting with such force that it sent the Faunus back a pace.
He laughed loudly, righting himself and squeezing Weiss back, their heads on each other's shoulders. Neo looked at the scene before her, and was surprised that there was no feeling of jealously rising within her.
Maybe it was because she knew exactly what Crue thought of Weiss and vice versa, and knew there was no chance of any romantic interpretation. She was distracted by a pair of bright silver eyes sidling up next to her.
"Uh, hey, Neo," Ruby waved, despite standing right next to her. An amused huff left Neo's nostrils as she waved back sarcastically. Ruby gave a quick smile, before her silver eyes darted away.
"I never actually got to thank you for protecting me on the ship." She murmured. Neo's eyes switched colour in surprise. It wasn't that she had forgotten the night in question, she doubted she ever would.
But more the fact she was being thanked for it. "I know I probably shouldn't bring it up but…" Her eyes glanced upward. To the top of Neo's head. Her hat. Roman's hat. "I heard Roman died after jumping from the ship."
Pink and brown eyes widened as Neo realised Ruby had no idea Roman was still alive. "And the only reason he had to jump was because of me and I'm so-" Neo held up a hand, stopping Ruby from speaking.
She took the bowler hat off her head and spun it round once, before making a slitting motion against her throat and mimicking someone walking away.
"Oh." Ruby blinked. "He faked his death?" Neo nodded, her eyes briefly becoming a hated shade of amber. She was pleased to see a scowl pop up on Ruby's face. "Because of Cinder?" Neo nodded once more, her eyes returning to normal.
"Huh." Ruby seemed to droop, despite looking relieved. "I had this whole speech and apology ready if I ever saw you again. About how even though he was a bad guy he turned around when he got the chance and I didn't actually want him to die."
"I, I'm glad he's alive." Ruby looked surprised at herself for saying it. "It's technically thanks to him that I got into Beacon and got to meet everyone. You and Crue included." She looked to the side as she did, Neo following her gaze and finding Crue.
Being held up in a bone crushing hug from Nora. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, the two turned back to one another. "Are you going to stay with us?" Ruby asked, her silver eyes staring at Neo.
Almost immediately, Neo pointed to Crue, and Ruby smiled. "I know. I know you'll go wherever Crue goes. I didn't doubt it." Her smile grew. "And we're going with him too. Or, he's going with us."
"A-Anyway." Ruby continued. "My point is, you're going to be a part of this group. Whether you like it or not." She gained a small smirk at the joke, as Neo rolled her eyes playfully. "And," She said in a teasing tone.
"Seeing as you're probably going to be my sister-in-law in a few years, I think we should try to get along." To Ruby's surprise, a deep blush spread across Neo's cheeks at the idea. Regardless, she nodded in agreement.
Crue loved Neo, and Crue loved Ruby. Different kinds, obviously, but the Huntress was right about them having to stick together. Ruby held out a hand with a smile. "Hi, I'm Ruby Rose. Huntress and Crue's unofficial-slash-totally-official sister."
Neo smirked at her words, shaking her head as she shook the hand. With her free hand she gestured to herself. "I'm Neopolitan." She signed. "Crue's girlfriend." She pointed to the Faunus and made half a heart shape with her hand, before tapping the side of her head and bending all four fingers down.
Ruby grew a confused expression. "What do you mean 'hopefully'?" She asked.
Neo's eyes widened in shock, and she made a few more gestures. "Huh? Oh, yeah I know RSL. It was an elective in Signal. But, anyway what do you mean 'hopefully'? Crue probably missed you most of all..."
She said it kindly, and Neo had to take a minute to think about it. Why did she say 'hopefully'? Crue was here. They kissed during the fight. She kissed him on the cheek twice during his explanation. Why was she nervous about- oh.
Oh. One of Neo's eyes turned white as she realised what she was feeling. She was nervous. She was nervous about getting back with Crue. She had never been nervous about a relationship before! But this was probably the most serious one she had ever had.
And they hadn't even seen each other in close to a year! Neo needed to figure this out! She grabbed Ruby by the arm and dragged her down the hall, the younger girl letting out a yelp of surprise as they quickly left the room.
Crue had just finished giving Pyrrha the tightest hug she had ever gotten in her life, setting the spartan down with a wide smile. He turned to the last member of JNPR, Jaune smiling in anticipation.
"Jaune, I am going to hug you," Crue began, causing Jaune's expression to falter as he rose an eyebrow. "But, I am probably also going to shake you and yell at you a little."
"Uh-" Before Jaune could question it, Crue wrapped him in a bear hug, pinning his arms to his side as he let out a sound not unlike a squeaky toy.
Crue released him, letting the boy breathe before grabbing him by his shoulders. "CONTACT YOUR FUCKING FAMILY!" Crue exclaimed, shaking Jaune violently.
The blondes head bounced back and forth with Crue's motions, before he stopped and his blue eyes widened comically. "THAT'S WHAT I FORGOT TO DO!" He slapped his hands against his head in shock, hands gripping his hair.
"Wait." He blinked, blue eyes returning to normal proportions. "How did you know I didn't contact my family? This wasn't a thing in the show, was it?" He asked.
In response, Crue reached for his Scroll, before realising it wasn't in his pocket. He glanced around, before seeing Neptune holding it out to Sun and Blake, explaining something to them. "Yo. Nep." He called, holding out his hand.
The three looked up at the call, and Neptune saw his outstretched hand. "Aw, I was explaining Jesus Christ to them."
Crue's hand clenched and he let out a wheezing laugh at what was said. "You can be a Jehovah's Witness later, I need to show Jaune something." He wiped away a tear with his other hand as his Scroll was tossed to him.
He caught it, flipping it round seeing the picture Neptune was showing was a church. He recognised the stained glass windows as St. Patrick's Church in Ringsend. He couldn't remember why he had a photo of it, but it was a pretty good one all things considered.
Crue went back into his gallery, ignoring any folders and went to the most recent pictures. There were a few pictures of his journey through Mistral of cool sights he saw. A somewhat blurry one of Crue running from the Ace-Ops, along with some normal ones.
He scrolled past them all, and opened one of the many things he needed to show Jaune. He turned the Scroll round to show JNPR, and Jaune let out a short, high-pitched scream.
A much younger Jaune, wearing a bunny onesie and holding onto a stuffed rabbit with antlers, looked up at the group before them. "HOW DO YOU HAVE THAT?!" Jaune yelled, making a grab for the Scroll.
Crue easily moved his hand out of Jaune's reach, only for his arm to be grabbed by Pyrrha who was staring unblinkingly at the photo, Nora looking over her shoulder with a shit-eating grin. Crue powered off the screen as both red heads looked to him.
"Because when I was travelling I ended up escorting your sister to Dromremy. Ended up being invited into your house without even knowing it was yours, too." He explained.
Jaune blanked, wondering what else Crue had pictures of, before a thought struck him. "Wait. Which sister?"
"Vermillion."
"Oh. I am so sorry." "Ya fuckin' should be!" Crue threw a hand up in exasperation. "My God the things she asked me!" He shuddered, remembering what he had told her. "And if I find out she used any of it in a fucking book I will hurl you back to Vale!"
"I also met your Ma," Crue said, smirking as Jaune's face paled. "She is terrifying. And I say that as someone has literally met Salem." At least with Salem he could fight his way out of it. Doing that with Jaune's Mam was unthinkable.
"For every day that you don't contact them, either by sending a letter or some other means. I'm going to show a baby picture." Crue threatened.
Jaune was gone, replaced by a Jaune-shaped cloud of dust as he ran off to try contact his family as soon as possible. Crue chuckled as he bat away the dust, before seeing Pyrrha and Nora looking at him expectantly.
"I'll send them to ye in a bit. Provided Jaune doesn't somehow get a letter to his family within the next week." He tried to bargain with them.
"In effort to keep our Leader's dignity intact, I think we should leave Crue's blackmail to him." Ren smiled, throwing the Faunus an amused glance.
"I wouldn't really use the term blackmail." Crue murmured, before shaking his head. "I'll send them onto you, and you can distribute them as you see fit." Nora and Pyrrha rounded on Ren almost immediately, and Crue deftly stepped away, leaving the ninja to fend for himself.
He saw Yang and Weiss talking to each other off to the side, and Blake talking with SSSN. He had already given Weiss a hug, and Yang would definitely get one soon, but it seemed they were talking about something important.
So, Crue approached the bigger group. They noticed his approach and immediately made room for him to slot in, with Sun throwing an arm around his neck.
Crue immediately flipped the Faunus round and slammed Sun onto his back. A bright white smile looked up from the floor. "It's him." Sun confirmed, as he held a hand up.
Crue grabbed it with a smirk, helping Sun to his feet as they clapped an arm around each and shared a one-armed hug. "Good to have you back, man." Sun said, once they broke apart.
"Good to be back." Crue agreed, turning to Blake and holding out his arms. He knew Blake was never really one for physical affection but- oh, never mind she was already hugging him so tight he might break.
Crue smiled, hugging back and resting a hand on her back, almost pushing her further into his embrace. Blake welcomed it, letting out a sigh of relief at the familiar touch.
"Missed you too, Blake," Crue said softly.
Blake let go, stepping back with a soft smile that Crue mirrored. "You know I was practically ready to hunt you down," He told her. "I thought you had gone to Mistral with Neo. Glad you two ended up here, cause I have no idea how I would've gotten to Menagerie."
"How did you find out we had gone to Menagerie?" Blake asked, wondering if this was more proof of his words of them being a show.
"That'd be thanks to tall, dark and green over there." Crue nodded to Sage with a smile.
"Oh, yeah, you probably had a tracker on me with your Semblance, huh." Sun realised, bringing a hand to his chin.
"That's about right." Sage nodded. "It's also thanks to my Semblance we even had an idea of Crue being alive." He noticed Blake looking between everyone in confusion, and explained. "My Semblance lets me know where things I've lost are."
"Useful when your Leader runs off, or when it turns out a guy everyone thought was dead is actually alive and in the middle of the most dangerous town in Mistral." The taller man smirked, looking at both blondes.
"Most dangerous- wait! You were in Kuchinashi?!" Sun looked shocked, and Blake's eyes widened as well.
"Is it that well known?" Crue wondered aloud. "I didn't go there intentionally. Just kind of ended up there after getting hit by a train."
"You got hit by a what?" Blake looked Crue up and down for any visible injuries.
"You left that part out, funnily enough." Scarlet crossed his arms as he frowned.
"Eh." Crue shrugged off the glare. "It didn't really have anything to do with my whole confession, so it slipped my mind."
"How does getting hit by a train slip your mind?" Neptune asked, gesturing for emphasis.
"Cause I got hit by a train." Crue answered with a joking smile.
Everyone let out a tired sigh. "It's amazing how quickly I forgot you considered life threatening situations completely irrelevant." Blake shook her head in disbelief, but a smile grew on her face all the same.
"Yeah, back from the dead and already making people wish I wasn't." A fanged smile bloomed on Crue's face. "By the way, thanks for looking after Neo. You too, Sun." He nodded to his fellow blonde.
"If anything, I'd say it was more like her looking after us." Sun laughed, looking around for the woman in question. Blake made a face, suggesting she would like to disagree, but couldn't.
"She followed me from Vale, and refused to leave my side. No matter how much I tried." Her lip quirked upward at that. Blake looked down to her left, expecting to see Neo standing right there.
She appeared visibly surprised when she wasn't. "I became… used to her." She practically whispered.
Crue thought that was adorable, especially when Blake realised what she said and her cheeks became dusted with pink. "Sienna mentioned something about your Mam basically adopting her?" He recalled the previous White Fang leader's words.
"Sienna- oh. Right." Blake clearly had no idea what to make of the fact Crue knew Sienna, but compared to everything else it was something she could brush off until tomorrow. "I would rather not think about Neo becoming my sister, even if it seems inevitable."
She smirked at that, it quickly becoming Crue's turn to blush. "Honestly I didn't even know you had parents. I thought you were an orphan, and that's why you joined the White Fang. I wasn't the only one learning new shit this week."
"Yeah." Scarlet agreed. "We learnt you were a princess, Crue was an alien, and Neptune was an unfortunate god-ow!" Neptune had socked the redhead in the arm with a frown on his face.
"He's a what?" "Oh god am I an alien?" Crue was distinctly less interested in something he already knew, but what Scarlet had said sent his mind spinning. He was, by all accounts and definitions, an Alien.
"And I didn't even get heat vision." He murmured in annoyance.
"Well, it turns out in Crue's world we're all references to other stories and fairy tales." Scarlet explained, rubbing his arm where Neptune had struck. "And Neptune here is named after an ancient civilisations God of the sea."
"You know, you never actually told us what we were meant to be based on." Sage reminded Crue.
"Oh, uh, well Scarlet is based on a character called Peter Pan, he could fly and he fought pirates." He glanced to the skull and crossbones belt around Scarlet's waist. "And you are based on an old Aesop called The Pilgrim and The Sword."
Sage's eyes widened slightly, despite not knowing what an 'aesop' was. "My sword is called Pilgrim…" He glanced over to the door, where the massive claymore lay against the wall.
"Ooh! Who am I meant to be based on?" Sun asked, his blue eyes wide with curiosity.
"Sun Wukong." "Yeah, me." "No, I mean you're based on a guy called Sun Wukong."
"Oh." The Monkey Faunus' shoulders drooped, disappointed. "Well that's not very creative, is it? Who is he?"
"He was the Monkey King, from a story called 'Journey to the West'. I think he was a trickster God…" There were a few other iterations Crue could think of for Sun Wukong of the top of his head, like Infernape, and Goku.
"Suddenly I'm more ok with it!" Sun smiled, before grabbing Neptune and throwing a hand around his shoulder. "God bros!" He threw a hand up in the air in celebration.
Crue rolled his eyes with a smile, before they landed on Blake. She looked like she wanted to ask, but at the same time was scared of the answer. "Before curiosity kills you," He said, chuckling as Blake's eyes shrunk.
"You alluded to a fairy tale called Beauty and the Beast."
Blake took in the information with a nod, before she frowned in confusion. "Wait. Which was I? Beauty or the Beast?" Her ears twitched in curiosity, wondering if they might be the reason for the latter definition."
"Believe me," Crue sighed. "That question caused a lot of arguments."
His words clearly flicked a switch of some kind in Blake's mind, as her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in horror. "Oh no!" She was loud enough to draw everyone's attention, and Crue wondered what it was that caused such an expression.
"You said we were a show!" She looked Crue dead in the eye, any doubts about this suddenly vanishing.
"Yeah, and I know that's hard to believe but-" "Was there fanfiction of us?!"
Crue's mouth slammed closed as he tried to put on a poker face. "Oh my god there was!" Blake screeched, slapping her hands against her face in abject mortification to try and hide from the world.
Her words caused a wave of realisation, most sharing in her agony. However, a handful rushed over to Crue to ask more questions about it.
"I-I didn't read a lot of it!" Crue lied. He read a lot. Enough that he was able to recognise he was in a shitty story from the start thanks to all the clichés, but that wasn't something he was very keen to share.
"How much was there?" "Were we well represented?" "Did the show say who got together?" The questions bombarded Crue, but one hit a nerve.
"Who asked that last one?!" He yelled. No one answered, falling silent as they looked at each other in surprise.
"Firstly!" Crue said, holding up a single finger. "The last thing in the show was Ruby, Jaune, Nora and Ren walking off into a snowy forest after the Fall of Beacon- that's a lie I saw Salem monologuing." He remembered, while the three named present looked to each other in shock.
"And secondly!" He stressed, holding up a second finger. "Even if I did know what relationships ending up happening, I wouldn't fuckin' tell ye!" His words did not bring an immediate yelling of 'why not', thankfully, but someone did ask.
"Why not?" Pyrrha's eyes were locked on Crue's as if she had to physically restrain herself from glancing in a particular direction.
"Because!" Crue said, wondering if he should leave it at that. "What if I told you in the show that fuckin'…" He began to wave a hand wildly, trying to figure out an unlikely pairing.
"Weiss and Nora got together."
Everyone looked at the two mentioned, Weiss letting out an 'eep' as she glanced at Nora. The ginger smirked, winking at the Heiress as Weiss' entire face turned a shade of red.
"If I told you that Nordic Winter was real, would you guys feel like you were obliged to date just because of what some show said in a different reality?" A few murmurs of 'he makes a good point' and 'yeah it is kinda messed up' sounded out.
"What do you mean by Nordic Winter?" Jaune asked.
"Oh, it was their ship name." "WE HAD A SHIP NAME?!" Nora and Weiss shrieked, both wearing completely different expressions.
"Yeah?" Crue cleaned out his ears with a nod. "Everyone had ship names. Even if no one actually shipped it. It was just fun making plays on words and- I think I should stop talking right now." He trailed off, seeing the expectant gazes.
"Nope. Nuh uh. Not saying them." He shook his head violently, backing up from the group before them. "I gave my reasons earlier."
"This isn't us thinking we're meant to be together or anything," Sun said. "We're just curious what they are."
"Oh yeah?" Crue rose an eyebrow, before pointing two fingers threateningly towards Sun and Neptune. "Seamonkeys."
The two glanced at each other.
"Yeah that fits." "I can see it." "Heh. 'Sea' it." The pair chuckled, and Crue was a little disappointed at the reaction. And even more disappointed that it hadn't deterred anyone.
"Look, most of the ship names were just team attacks or your names mashed together! Or something super on the nose like Arctic Monkeys." He tried to deflect any more shipping questions.
"WHY AM I ALWAYS THE EXAMPLE?!" Weiss cried out, before realising who the other side of the pairing clearly was.
"Wow. People shipped me with the Ice Queen?" Sun asked, eyes wide as he met Weiss' gaze.
"Dude, people shipped anything with anything," Crue said, exhausted with the knowledge he had of such things. "They shipped Cardin and Velvet. They shipped Qrow and Ozpin." "THEY WHAT?!"
"Oh, you're still here. Hey, Qrow." Crue waved at the older man, who looked as though he might be sick. Several people laughed at the sight, as Qrow desperately drank from his flask.
"Ugh. I'm going to be having nightmares about that now." He eventually said once his drink had run dry. "Did it have a cool name at least?" He wondered.
"I think it might have just been OzQrow." Crue tried to remember, but it wasn't something he shipped or ever read so it wasn't something that stuck.
Qrow waved a hand angrily with a "Bah" as he stalked off, presumably to go drown himself in enough booze to make him forget people in a different dimension shipped him and Ozpin.
"Wait where is Ozpin? I want to know what his deal is with my name." He searched for the small farm boy currently housing a coffee loving wizard in his head.
"I think Oscar said he needed to lie down because Ozpin wouldn't shut up about Hibernians and hurleys." Nora explained. The mention of lying down cause a few people to yawn, the time of night finally kicking in.
"I'm going to be here tomorrow." Crue reminded the group. "Any questions you've still got, I'll still answer." Even though it was him suggesting it, he didn't really want them to leave.
"I don't think this place is big enough for three teams." Sun pointed out, turning to his team. "I'm pretty sure our dorm survived the attack. We can sleep there and come back tomorrow."
"Still have some questions then, huh?" Crue smirked.
"Dude you're apparently from a whole other world! Of course I've got questions!" Sun threw up his hands with a smile. "But I've also got pains in places there shouldn't be from all the fighting, so I'd rather focus on getting rid of those first."
Everyone agreed, rolling sore joints and yawning as those sleeping in the house made their way upstairs, SSSN saying their goodbyes and grabbing their weapons before leaving.
"Oh, Yang!" Crue called as she began to leave. The blonde turned around in confusion as the others streamed by her.
Crue dragged her into a tight hug, and he heard her breath hitch before returning the embrace. "Missed you, sis," Crue said softly, trying not to touch her hair. The Faunus could hear the gears in Yang's new arm whir and click as her grip tightened.
Neither wanted to let go, Crue especially with how warm Yang was. It was like hugging a hot water bottle. Still, they both needed sleep and both needed to breathe.
"Saving the best for last, huh?" Yang asked, once they had broken.
"You know it." Crue smiled, holding up a fist for her to bump. The metal fist hit the metal gauntlet with a satisfying 'tink'.
"I know we didn't get to talk much, but there's always tomorrow. And I'm not going anywhere." He told her firmly.
Yang's eyes nearly watered. "Do you promise?" She asked, voice wavering.
"Of course." Crue said, his brows knitting together in concern. He was unable to meet her gaze as Yang pulled him into another hug. He wrapped his arms around her without a second thought, squeezing tight.
"I'm glad you're back, Crue." Yang whispered, before bringing herself out of the hug and staring skyward. "Try not to die between now and tomorrow, ok?" She requested.
"I'll do my best." Crue replied with an amused expression. It faltered when he saw the seriousness in Yang's eyes. "I won't die," He said firmly.
"Good." Yang sighed in relief. "There's a single bedroom down the end of the hall. I don't think anyone's been using it, since Qrow and Oscar share a room." She told him.
"Oh. Cool. Honestly I was just gonna…" He made a gesture to the sofas they were all sitting on. Yang looked to the furniture, frowning.
"Crue, when was the last time you slept in an actual bed?" Her violet eyes met Crue's, looking not at the eyes or the scar, but the bags under them.
"Uh, slept in a bed?" Crue held up a hand, counting on his fingers. When he ran out of fingers, Yang's eyes narrowed.
"How long ago was Beacon?" "Crue!" Yang was aghast at his answer.
"You haven't slept since Beacon?!" She hissed. She wanted to scream and cry, but that would bring the others down and probably start a whole other thing.
"I mean, I've slept." Crue glanced away from Yang's fiery gaze. "Just, not in a bed. And, not well." The last good sleep he could remember having was the one in Kuchinashi with Winter.
Crue cringed, rewording that mentally. When he slept on the couch in the same room as Winter. Every time before and since had been filled with nightmares of failures, though thankfully he had become adept at not waking up with a scream or shooting out his claws. The only exception was when Tortuga used her Semblance on him.
"Crue, you are going to go to bed and sleep or so help me I will knock your ass out and then tuck it in." She raised a fist as her eyes flashed red.
"Weirdly, thoughtful threat." Crue leaned back from the fist, briefly going cross-eyed as he stared at it. And one he knew she'd follow up on.
"Damn right." Yang smirked, lowering the fist and making her way up the stairs. She paused at the top, looking back to Crue. "Remember to take care of yourself. You're finally back, we'd be pretty upset if you keeled over from lack of sleep."
With that, she turned and left Crue's vision.
He was left in the silence of the living room, as he turned and looked out across the empty room. Despite how dead it seemed, Crue knew it would only be a matter of time until they were back down, bombarding him with questions and reacting to strange things about Earth.
Crue smiled.
He looked forward to it.
He noticed a light switch as he made his way to the staircase, flicking it and watching the room plunge into near darkness. Thanks to his Faunus vision, and the fact he now had both eyes in use, he could still see everything clearly.
He saw his satchel left at the foot of the sofa, and concentrated on it with his Semblance. It flew into his grasp in a matter of moments, and Crue turned his back on the empty room, making his way up the stairs.
He found himself in a rather dim hallway, a few doors on either side of him. He didn't analyse them in any way, instead focusing on finding the room Yang had mentioned. It wasn't too hard, given that Yang had already told him where it was meant to be.
The door to the bedroom creaked open after an unresponsive knocking. Crue poked his head in, just to be sure there was no one in there asleep.
It was empty. A single bed lay against the wall next to paned window. Crue glanced out, seeing the lights of Mistral down below, they weren't bright enough to be a bother, so he closed the door behind them and let himself plop onto the bed.
His body felt tired. The fighting from earlier finally catching up on his muscles as he rolled the one shoulder he could feel. He let out a sigh of relief, before looking around the room. It was fairly barren.
A single large wardrobe and a vanity table with a mirror decorated the room. Crue shrugged off his cloak, tossing it over the chair in front of the vanity and gripped his gauntlets. They came off with no issue, and Crue revelled in the fresh air hitting his hand.
He frowned when he noticed the small lighting-like scars on his left arm. Even if he didn't feel it, Hazel's attack clearly did some kind of damage. He got up from the soft mattress and set the gauntlets down on the vanity, before his hands gripped the wood tightly.
His legs felt weak as he sat down, before finally looking in the mirror.
One blue eye. One gold eye.
One for Earth. One for Remnant.
Crue stared at himself long enough to wonder if he had swapped places with an ancient Greek myth, before both eyes began to tear up. "I finally found everyone." He had to look down, bringing up a hand to rub his eyes clear.
When he looked back into the mirror, it was no longer himself looking back.
A massive furred monster took up nearly the entire mirror, a set of Golden eyes staring at him down a fang filled maw. And yet, Crue felt no fear or shock from the sudden change. And within the eyes of the Monster, there was no hatred. There was no wrath.
There was joy.
It looked… happy.
Seeing the Monster in the mirror, Crue amended his statement. "We finally found everyone."
The Beast closed its Golden eyes with a satisfied nod, before the ears atop its head, a near exact copy to Crue's own, flicked. The Golden eyes opened, looking past Crue.
The Faunus turned round, seeing a shadow moving under the door. Not a moment after, a soft knock sounded out.
"Come in?" Crue called, briefly glancing back to the mirror. It was just him again, but in the reflection he saw the door open.
"Neo?" Crue turned back round, getting to his feet immediately as the diminutive woman stood in the doorway. She seemed unable to meet his eyes, but as Crue approached her, Neo moved.
Like a rocket, Neo launched herself at him, burying her head in his chest and wrapping her arms around him so tightly Crue doubted a crowbar could pry her off. "Woah," Crue said, nearly being knocked off his feet from the impact.
"Hey," He whispered, bringing a hand up to rest on her head. "Hey, what's wrong?" Instead of answering, Neo just tried to bury herself deeper. While staring down at Neo in confusion, Crue's ear flicked at the sound of a creek by the doorway.
He looked up seeing Ruby freeze in place in the middle of reaching for the door handle. He opened his mouth to ask what the Hell she was doing, before Ruby shook her head rapidly, making several 'NO' motions with her hands.
Crue kept his mouth shut, as Ruby closed the door, leaving the two of them alone. Neo looked up at the sound of the door closing, and Crue took advantage of the opportunity.
"Hey." He caught her chin with his hand as she tried to bury her head back into his chest. "Look at me," He said it softly, but firmly. Neo followed the instructions almost immediately, her pink and brown eyes meeting blue and gold.
"What's wrong?" Concern was written so clearly over Crue's face a blind man could have read it.
Neo hesitated, looking around the room, as if making sure it was only the two of them.
"I-I missed you."
Neo's voice was hoarse. Rough. As though it hadn't been used in years. Yet despite that, Crue found himself melting at the sound. It had been so long since he heard her voice, he almost forgot how beautiful it was.
Crue steadied both himself and Neo, before trying to shuffle to the bed. Neo let him, as the Faunus sat down it let him properly hug Neo back, his chin resting on her shoulder as she mimicked the action.
"I missed you too." Crue whispered, kissing her on the cheek as he hugged tighter. He felt Neo vibrate, before she lifted up her legs so they too were wrapped around Crue as she sat on his lap.
They stayed like that, losing track of time as Crue ran his fingers through Neo's hair, humming a song from his world as both of them refused to let go of the other. The entire situation made Neo feel safe, soft and loved.
After an unknown amount of time, Crue felt Neo tap his back once. Reluctantly, he eased his grip on Neo and let her extricate herself from Crue's embrace. It was clear they both wanted to remain as they were, but Neo took a few steps away from the bed before meeting Crue's eyes.
"Ev-Everything you said down there." She began. "It was true?"
Crue felt himself tense. It was the first time Neo had actually questioned anything he had confessed, aside from asking for her proof.
"Yeah. All of it." Crue nodded regardless. It was the truth, and he'd answer any questions she had.
"In the, in the show." Even if she believed him, it was clear it was still a difficult thing to come to terms with. "In the show, did I die?" One of her eyes turned white, as if she was afraid of the answer.
"No." Crue stated, before breaking eye contact. "You didn't." His emphasis had Neo staring at him in concern, and Crue sighed, forcing himself to meet her gaze. "Roman died."
An expression of sheer terror exploded onto Neo's face as she stumbled back. Crue shot to his feet to catch her, but Neo held up a hand, causing him to freeze.
He stayed put as Neo pointed at him. "Because you're here, because of you, Roman's alive?"
"I don't want to take credit for that." Crue frowned. "It was you and Ruby who helped save him-" Neo sliced a finger through the air, silencing him immediately.
"No." Her voice wavered. "No, I wouldn't have cared about Ruby if it wasn't for you. I, I wouldn't have cared about Blake! About Weiss, about Yang! About any of them!" She brought one hand up to grip her hair.
"Before you, I only cared for myself and Roman." She swallowed, her eyes swimming with an emotion that Crue barely recognised on Neo.
"And now! I do care! I-I'm nervous!" Her voice was still quiet as ever, but Crue heard everything clear as day. "I'm nervous that we've been apart for so long, something will go wrong. I actually care about Blake and consider her a friend! And Ruby! And-And I don't want that to go away!"
She began to breathe rapidly, and Crue knew exactly what it was she was experiencing. "You're waiting for the other shoe to drop." He stated. He knew the sensation well. Hell, he was going through it himself.
But he had experience with this kind of thing. Neo's eyes were damp as she nodded, meeting Crue's gaze. "I'm not going anywhere," Crue said, holding out a hand towards Neo. She took it without hesitation, but remained standing.
"We kicked Cinder's ass. We managed to find each other across the entire world, and we're together." He gripped Neo's hand tightly, and she did the same in kind. "And there's not a god damn fucking thing in this world or mine that'll change that."
Neo's eyes were fully watering, as she brought her other hand up to push her palm against them. "You made me soft." She complained, though she couldn't help the small laugh that bubbled up with her words.
"It's a good look on you." Crue smiled, tugging on her hand and trying to pull her in close. Neo hesitated, holding up a hand. It stopped Crue immediately, as he released Neo's hand and watched her step back.
She took a breath, closing her eyes and concentrating. From the ground up, her appearance began to change. Grey shoes. A brown dress with dark brown cuffs and white collar with black ribbon. Her hair lost its colour, becoming a complete brunette with pigtails tied with the same ribbon around the collar.
Her eyes opened, both pure brown as they stared at Crue.
"Trivia Vanille," She said quietly, unable to properly meet Crue's gaze. "This, this is who I was born as. Not Neopolitan." She looked to the side, her eyes landing on the mirror as she stared at her reflection. "She was an imaginary friend, someone to help me with my loneliness."
"This is who I am." "That's not you." Crue's words had Neo's head snapping to him in surprise. He had stood from the bed and was staring at her seriously. He stepped towards her, and though he was looking down at her, Neo didn't feel small.
"That might have been you, once upon a time," Crue said, surprisingly not cringing from the words, as he brought a hand up to rest on her shoulder, just below a pigtail. "But that's not who you are now. Just like I'm not Darragh Faolán."
"I'm Crue Cullen. And you're Neopolitan." He threw his hand out, through her pigtail and shattering the illusion as Neo looked up at him with pink and brown eyes. "My…" Despite himself, Crue hesitated, before getting on a knee so they could be face to face.
"My girlfriend?" He asked hopefully.
Neo barely managed to nod through the tears, throwing her arms around Crue for a hug, before breaking it and bringing her head back to press her lips against his.
Crue kissed back, the warmth from Neo flooding his veins and obliterating any worries he had about her not wanting to get back together. He stood, putting his arms under Neo's pits and holding her tight as Neo let herself be lifted, wrapping her legs around his waist for stability.
Still, they barely even stopped, lost in each other as Crue swayed, trying to back up onto the bed. The back of his legs hit the side and their eyes shot open as they fell, gravity sending them crashing down onto the soft mattress.
He bounced, finally breaking their connection as they both gasped for air. Neo laughed silently as Crue shook his head in embarrassment. They glanced at each other, sharing another kiss, this one shorter but no less filled with months worth of love and longing.
They broke, and Neo unwrapped her legs as Crue maneuvered himself so that he could lie down with Neo atop him. He kicked off his shoes as Neo did the same, grabbing the blanket and dragging it over them.
Neo let out a sigh of content, snuggling into Crue as she pressed her lips against his neck. Crue vibrated as his nerves tingled from the touch, resting a hand on Neo's back and craning his neck to kiss the top of her head.
He could feel Neo go limp from happiness, breathing softly as she made herself comfortable atop of Crue, keeping her arms around his neck. The Faunus felt a smile that he was sure would last until the morning as he let his head rest on the pillows, staring up at the wooden grain in the ceiling.
Despite how certain they were this was real, they hugged each other tightly. Both worried they might wake up in the morning and find this all a dream, but both of them determined they would do everything in their power to make sure that wasn't the case.
It was barely a few minutes until the exhaustion caught up with them and they fell into the realm of unconsciousness, refusing to let go of each other, even for a second.
Some more questions answered and some much needed hugs. Neo is experiencing what it's like to belong in a large group for the first time and is understandably terrified. But Crue will be there for her. Always.
And like Crue said, any questions that aren't answered today will be answered tomorrow or the next. I know all yours and Crue is as desperate to find out Ozpin's beef with his name as you are. I don't think there's much to say for this chapter as it is just all talk, but if ye have any more questions just let me know.
Oh! And just so you all know I'm going to be crossposting this on Ao3 just for ease of access and reading. I know some people have trouble with FFN's layout so it's just to give ye the option. I'm letting ye know so that I don't get any reviews or PMs telling me someone's reposting my story. Same user name and everything so it should be easy to find.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know if you did, and as always...
Until Next Time
-Friday