Black blood evaporated away while he stood standing above the fresh corpse. The alpha beowulf was a challenge, but it was not as if his friends had it easier.

Their entire fight into the heart of the Grimm lands had been filled with waves and waves of Grimm, and more and more of the alphas were accompanying each.

"You good, Jaune?"

He looked to his right. "Sorry, Ruby, I wasn't paying attention. Did you need anything?"

Ruby furrowed her eyebrows, but quickly shook her head. "Nope, I was just checking in. I think we're close now."

Jaune looked up from her face, finally noticing the tower looming close.

When did we get so close? How long have we been fighting?

"At the rate we've been going, I'm certain that we will be there within the hour," Weiss added.

Yang frowned. "Nice guess Weiss-Cream, but I think we can do it in thirty."

Weiss glared. "This is not the time for theatrics, Yang. We need to be slow and steady if we are to get there with our auras intact."

Yang grumbled under her breath but nodded, prompting her to check her scroll. Her aura bar was somewhere between yellow and green.

About two-thirds or so left. Ruby, Blake, and Weiss all have smaller aura supplies than me, too. Maybe Weiss is right.

"Don't worry, guys. I can boost you all a little bit before we head in." Jaune said.

"While the sentiment is appreciated, you need all the aura you have."

Jaune winced. Weiss wasn't wrong, which only made it hurt more. He had learned his semblance and it had made him useful, and — in his opinion — made him worth keeping around.

He was a far better fighter now, about on par with the skills of a full Huntsman, but he was still leagues behind the prodigies that made up team RWBY. He may have had more aura than them, but he would need it all if he were to keep up with them.

Ruby smiled up at him. "We can make it through together, Jaune, don't worry."

"Heads up," Yang called out.

Yang pointed to a black clad figure racing towards them. Within seconds the figure was upon them. It was Blake.,

"We need to go. Now." Blake panted.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"Grimm. Lots of them. Heading this way."

"We can't afford to get bogged down by them. We need all the aura we have to fight Salem. Is there any way past them?" Weiss asked.

"Not from the tower. From the rear."

Weiss cursed. "They're going to pincer us."

"Actually, I think they're going to sandwich us." Ruby piped up.

"That's what a pincer is, you dolt."

"Pincers are nice, too…" Ruby muttered.

"They won't." Jaune said.

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"They can't pincer us if you guys are already well past. I can hold them."

Weiss narrowed her eyes. "That's not a plan, that's suicide."

"I don't have to fight them all, I just have to hold them long enough for you guys to beat Salem and come back. I have the aura reserves for it. I can hold out."

Weiss regarded him for a long time before checking his aura level on her scroll.

"Girls? Whatever we're doing, we kind of need to do it now" Yang said.

Weiss scoffed.

"You're lucky we don't have time to argue."

Jaune spread his arms and she glared at him before embracing him.

"You aren't going to die, clear?" Weiss says into his ear.

He laughed nervously. "Crystal, uh, ma'am."

Weiss pulled away with a small smile. "Good."

Jaune did the same to Yang and Blake, but before he could finish turning to her, Ruby gripped him tightly from behind.

"I heard what Weiss said."

"Oh, you… did?"

"And I agree. Don't do anything stupid."

Jaune paused for a moment before responding. "I promise that I won't now, and-"

"An Arc always keeps his word." Ruby finished as she pulled away to join the rest of her team.

"We'll be back faster than Zwei after hearing the word walk!" Ruby called.

Jaune turned around to where the Grimm would inevitably rush him.

He smiled.

Team RWBY stood before the giant twin doors of Salem's antechamber. Weiss pulled out her scroll to check on their aura levels before the battle.

"Alright, girls. We've made it this far. On the other side of these doors is our goal. Everything we've done has led us here. All our friends got us here. All we need to do is work together and watch each others' backs."

Ruby smiled. She thought it was a pretty good speech. It should have been for the four days she spent rehearsing it.

"That idiot!" Weiss screamed.

The rest of the girls stared at her.

"What in the world got that reaction?" Yang said.

Weiss showed them her scroll. On the small, translucent display were their aura bars.

They were all nearly full.

Yang and Blake caught on a moment before Ruby did. Just as Ruby tried to sprint back to the first friend she made at Beacon she was caught by them both.

"No! Let go! He's going to get hurt!"

In a display that none of them had seen since they reunited at Haven four years ago, Ruby kicked and punched and bit and scratched. Anything to get out of her team's grip.

"Jaune!" She tried to elbow Blake in the stomach, failing without Crescent Rose.

"Jaune!" She heard her sister saying something. She couldn't make it out though.

"Jaune!" Weiss was in her face, yelling at her. It didn't matter what she said.

"Jaune!" He couldn't hear her, and she couldn't get to him.

"Jaune!"

They first appeared over the hills in the distance like small dots. Dots weren't intimidating.

Shield up.

Jaune readied his shield and angled it to the left. Just as practiced.

Grip tight.

He gave the hilt of his sword a squeeze. Just as practiced.

Front foot forward.

He slid his left foot along the ground until he felt comfortable. Just as practiced.

Ready.

He closed his eyes and took three deep breaths in, then out. Just as practiced.

Go.

Just as practiced.

The first beowulf was on him the moment he opened his eyes. It easily slid off Crocea Mors as its head and body went past in two directions. The next went down just as quickly, a gash where its eyes should have been. .

A boarbatusk rolled at him from the left, and he jumped back a step before thrusting his sword in the center of the spinning Grimm as it passed, dissolving it before it could stop.

Another swing, another Grimm.

Had Jaune not had all his focus on not being killed, he would've mused on how much he's grown since faking his way into Beacon five years ago.

Quickly sheathing his sword, he pulled out a grenade from his belt. Tossing it into the air just above a group of Grimm, he pulled out a green machine-pistol and shot it mid-air.

Not bothering to check how much damage it did, he swung the machine-pistol in a close arc into the closest beowulf's neck before pulling out his sword once more, decapitating an ursa minor on the draw, skewering another on the riposte.

Jaune was suddenly on the ground, a rock cutting into his cheek. One hit. It took one hit for his remaining aura to fail.

He rolled into a crouch, thrusting into the neck of an ursa major as he did so. Without his aura, the stab didn't put the ursa major down in one hit.

In exchange the ursa swung down a meaty paw onto Jaune's sword arm, severing it at the elbow. Jaune was aware that his arm was gone, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Adrenaline was a helluva drug.

He took his shield and shoved down as hard as he could onto the hilt of his sword, still buried in its neck. The sword, acting an internal guillotine, sliced through the neck of the ursa.

Spinning in place, Jaune swung the hard edge of his shield into the head of another Grimm. He didn't even know what Grimm he had just caved in the skull of, but it was another tally mark.

Jaune wasn't sure if it was the blood loss, the adrenaline, or both, but the next few minutes were a blank. As he collapsed to his knees, leaning on his shield as a lifeline, he saw what was left of the Grimm passing him for the tower, seemingly in a panic.

He dragged himself to a nearby rock, and dropped onto the ground, all pretense of grace long passed.

Tossing his shield to the side, he pulled out his scroll with a shaking hand. Black spots filled his vision but he barely needed to see to navigate to a familiar video.

He must have watched it hundreds of times by now, of course. He hit the play button and closed his eyes. A quick nap before team RWBY came back sounded like just what he needed.

"Alright, Jaune, just like we practiced…"