Beta: Jefardi

Falling Down

Chapter One

"I really think I'm going to be sick." Jaune groaned, clutching his stomach as if it was about to explode at any given minute. Which at this point wouldn't surprise him.

"Is that from the nerves or all the food we just ate?" It was little comfort, but Ren looked to be regretting their decision to gorge themselves right before their match just as much if not more, than he did.

"Both." Jaune shot back dryly, causing a small smirk of mirth to cross Ren's face. He really meant those words though; the food was bad enough, but this dimly lit hallway wasn't doing much for his nerves. Especially since he could hear the throngs of people directly above him as they all waited for the match to begin.

"You'll be fine." Pyrrha enthusiastically clamped a hand on both of their shoulders, giving them one of her award winning smiles that could probably reassure an Ursa. "Both of you. And if it comes down to it… well, take Nora's advice."

"Yeah! Aim it at the enemy!" Nora wickedly repeated her earlier joke, at least he thought it was a joke. Knowing Nora it could go either way.

"Shall we go?" Ren at least seemed to find his partner's words comforting as he straightened out the smallest amount, before beginning to walk towards the blindingly illuminated exit. Nora skipped merrily next to him and they passed outside and onto the arena grounds together.

"Guess so." Jaune gave a dull nod at his own partner and they both started after their teammates.

"Jaune! Wait!" Well, they tried to anyways, but a call from further down the tunnel stopped them in their tracks. They both turned to see Ruby darting up to them as quickly as her little legs would take her, which was actually quite quick.

Pyrrha gave him what felt like some kind of understanding pat and a wink before she started after the others without him. "Good luck, Jaune." She said with a cryptic smile. He had no time to wonder what she meant as Ruby doubled over in front of him, gasping for breath.

"I… caught… up." She heaved each word with a ragged exhale before gaining some small form of composure.

"What's up, Crater Face?" He placed a hand on his hip and gave a small tilt of the head. They had literally just seen each other when both their teams had been eating. Although the two of them hadn't had much chance to chat.

Ruby's cheeks puffed out in a pout at his use of her old nickname, but at the same time she was fumbling with the hem of her combat skirt and silver eyes were darting around in an effort to look anywhere but at him. The odd combination of her pouting face and embarrassed blush was so funny he almost laughed out loud. Instead, he managed to restrain it to a joking smile.

"Sorry, I'm just messing with you." He tried to amend but almost immediately ruined it with his next sentence. "You just make the cutest face whenever I call you that." Of course he had to add that, only further adding heat to her reddening face.

"Jaune!" She drawled loudly and flailed her arms wildly. This time he did chuckle as he held up his own hands defensively, her tiny fists battering at him, albeit without any real force.

"What? Not gonna shoot back with a Vomit Boy?" He probably shouldn't joke about that nickname right now though, since it was entirely possible he was going to show off why he earned it on national television for the whole world to see. Great, as if he wasn't already nervous enough.

Although, this small banter with Ruby was already enough to help somewhat calm his heightened nerves. She always did have that kind of effect on him whenever they talked. Probably yet another reason why they were best friends. Well, that along with the fact they were both horribly awkward fellow leaders.

Ruby finally quit flailing and instead crossed her arms, glaring up at him. "I was coming to wish you good luck, but I think I'm going to give it to the other team instead."

Jaune rolled his eyes and lightly nudged her shoulder. "Come on now, don't do that. I'm seriously going to need all the luck I can get. Although my team has probably got the rest covered."

Ruby's eyes softened ever so slightly and she gave what he could only describe as a jittery smile. "I uhh… might just so happen to know a way to give you a super boost of luck."

"Really?" He quirked an eyebrow suspiciously. She wasn't going to try some magic chant from a cartoon or something, was she? He certainly wouldn't doubt it.

She nodded so enthusiastically it caused her short hair to bounce. "My sister taught it to me… you gotta close your eyes though."

He was even more suspicious now, anything taught by Yang surely spelled trouble. Still, he had teased Ruby enough so he supposed he could at least go along with it. With some reluctance, he slid his eyelids closed and waited to find out just what this luck boost really was.

With his sight cut off, everything around him seemed to be amplified. He could feel the crowd's excited cheers right down to his bones, their clamouring vibrating the whole coliseum. The smell of concessions reminded him once more of his impending nausea and he became acutely aware of how clammy his hands were. Would he even be able to wield Crocea Mors like this?

He allowed himself to get so caught up in all these things happening around him, he momentarily forgot Ruby was directly in front of him until the softness of her palms gripped the sides of his cheeks. The small warmth was so startling he nearly opened his eyes.

Instead, he allowed them to remain closed even as Ruby's hands pulled his face down ever so slightly. All other noise and feeling vanished as he focused in only on Ruby's gentle touch. On the small nervous breathes she gave that smelled of cinnamon. And then on the small jolt of lightning that permeated his whole body as something soft and wet pressed against his dry lips.

Without even meaning to, he leaned a little more deeply into what was undoubtedly a kiss, forgoing all other sense of time and space. He no longer realized he was late to a fight, or that just above him, separated by a row of concrete were thousands of people waiting for that fight. The only thing he knew right now was that Ruby was right in front of him, and their lips locked together.

So when she pulled back, after what was probably only but a brief moment in time, he nearly stumbled forward. Air filled his lungs as he breathed in the dank hallway. The clamouring of the crowds returned. And as he opened his eyes, only scattering rose petals were left in place of the girl he had just shared his first kiss with.

He slowly rose two fingers and pressed them against his lips, still able to feel remnants of the warmth and a huge grin split his face. Oh yeah, he didn't feel like there was any chance he could lose now.

Once more, he turned back to the blinding light that led to the arena. And this time nothing stopped him as he marched confidently into that light, ready to put all the luck Ruby had just given him on display.

"Team JNPR of Beacon vs Team BRNZ of Shade." Professor Port announced as the two contesting teams stood opposite one another in the middle of the arena. The glowing plates that would randomly choose the outside environments of the arena had just started spinning.

Weiss tapped the side of her arm impatiently with one finger, eyes darting between the match that was about to begin and down the row of seats, looking for any sign of Ruby. She only had a couple seconds or she was going to miss the beginning of the match.

Which would have been ironic, considering she was by far the most vested in it. That wasn't to say that the rest of them weren't interested in cheering on their sister team, but her partner was the only one with a crush on a particular member from that team as well.

A loud hum just to her left caused Weiss' eye to twitch as she turned to see their leader sitting there as if she had been present the whole time. "I didn't miss anything did I?" She looked around the arena feverishly, before relaxing once she realized that the random environments hadn't been generated yet.

"Rather than you missing something, what did we miss? Huh, sis?" Yang grinned teasingly and began jabbing her sister in the side.

"N-n-nothing!" Ruby quickly and miserably lied, pulling the hood of her cloak over her blushing face.

Yang's lilac eyes widened. "You took my advice… didn't you?" Ruby shook her head vigorously from side to side, but that did little to convince her older sister. "Oh! I'm so proud of you! My little sister is growing up."

Weiss rolled her eyes. Honestly, what she saw in that dunce, she had no idea. However, she would admit he was more tolerable as of late. And the two of them did have a certain awkward chemistry… no, she wasn't going to try and justify this in her head. Better to just leave it alone.

With a loud beep, the rotating boards came to a stop. The arena floor opened up on either side of the teams as two sets of perfectly replicated outside environments rose from the darkness below. Behind team BRNZ was a forest area, and behind JNPR was a tall mountain.

"Three." Port began counting down the moment both stages were set.

"Two." Both teams tensed for battle.

"One." Ruby overcame her embarrassment enough to cup both hands over her mouth and give a loud cheer.

"Begin!"

Before either team had a chance to react, something flew out of the sky like a meteor and crash-landed directly in between the two groups.

The resulting explosion from the crash sent every member of both teams sprawling to their backs, where most of them remained unmoving. Meanwhile, a cloud of smoke drift up from the point of impact, obscuring whatever it may have been that just crash-landed.

"Was that… someone's Semblance?" Yang scratched her head as she, along with everyone else in the entire stadium tried to figure out what just happened.

"I don't think so." Blake shook her head, already halfway out of her seat. "That didn't look like something intentional from either team." This point Weiss had to agree on. If someone on either team had dropped something from the sky, it would have been poorly timed.

Something within the smoke shifted and the tall figure of what appeared to be a man rose out. As the remaining smoke dwindled away, gasps from the entire crowd were heard, and Weiss was ashamed to admit her own voice had added to them.

Not just her's but her entire team as well, all of them surely recognizing the man that had stepped out from the concealing smoke. They didn't know him by name. Nor could they say they knew his face, as it was concealed by that white mask. However, they surely knew him.

Weiss had faced him on the train that had departed from Mt Glenn. To her shame, she had suffered a humiliating defeat to this man, this faunus. The chainsaw he had wielded was nowhere in sight. Unlike last time, he had shiny new metallic gauntlets and greaves on his hands and feet.

"Amity Colosseum..." The man spoke out in greeting, his deep voice echoing through the colosseum speakers. "You thought you were safe... You thought that because you stopped the Breach of Vale that you had won. That because you arrested a common criminal like Roman Torchwick that we were defeated.

You were wrong."

He gestured broadly to them all, spinning in a slow circle, as if capturing the face of every single person in the crowd who had fallen deathly silent. No one made a sound, everyone was too scared to move, let alone speak. "You depend on your Huntsmen and Huntresses to protect you. To keep you safe.

You rely on the army of Atlas and their technology to defend you. Allow me then, to show you how misguided you truly are. Using the very weapons designed to aide you-" He held up the gauntlets and Weiss' eyes widened as her mouth dropped in horror. The marking of the Schnee Dust Company was imprinted on the side. "- I will take the life of your Champion. Just as the life of my own brethren was taken to create these weapons."

"Jaune…" Ruby's mouth barely whispered those words and Weiss' vision danced to the two teams still inside the arena. Almost all eight of them were still down… with the exception of one. The blonde knight had somehow staggered back to one knee but he clearly looked far too disoriented to understand what was happening.

"I'm not waiting around for this nut to do whatever the Hell he wants." With an audible click, Ember Celica shifted into active mode as Yang rose dramatically to her feet. Blake was already standing next to her at the ready. Weiss gave their leader only a brief glance just in time to see her nod and rest a hand on Crescent Rose.

That was all the confirmation Weiss needed. As if they were of one mind, the four members of team RWBY leapt forward together… and bounced pointlessly backwards off the barrier originally intended to protect the audience from any of the contestant's attacks. The barrier flickered as several dozen other Hunters all experienced the same problem, the barrier repelling anyone that tried to get through. Something was wrong. It should've gone down already. That meant something, or someone was interfering with their control of the colosseum.

"Why isn't this thing coming down?" Yang yelled as she swung at it with her fists, Ember Celica discharging powerful dust shells. Two explosions blasted pointlessly backwards, startling the crowd behind them. One women shrieked, and as if she set off a chain reaction, the entire stadium broke into a mass of panic.

The silence was replaced by ear-shattering howls of terror and a stampede of footfalls as civilians trampled all over one another. Weiss pressed herself as closely against the barrier as she could in an attempt not to get swallowed by the rampaging crowd.

This was quickly becoming a nightmare. If the crowd had just remained still, the Hunters would actually be able to properly navigate and figure out the best possible means to get inside the barrier. Now that the panic had begun though, their priority was going to have to shift to those injured in all the madness. And Atlas' Air force wouldn't be able to properly respond once all the ships fleeing the stadium filled the skies.

Regardless, until things out here settled down, they weren't going to be able to look for a proper way through the barrier. Which meant until they could find a way to bring it down, BRNZ and JNPR were on their own.

More specifically, it looked like Jaune was on his own.

What the Hell was going on?

Jaune's mind groggily tried to work its way through everything in as linear a fashion as it could. Which was turning out to be surprisingly difficult.

It didn't help that his vision was still swimming, and even though the ringing in his ears was finally beginning to subside, it was replaced by the deafening sound of a thousand screams of terror.

The only thing he knew was, the match was just about to begin… and something struck the ground. Whatever it was, it had knocked him clean on his ass and was probably what started all this panic he was hearing.

His vision finally began to focus and the first image he saw was the unconscious form of his partner. "Pyrrha!" His voice gave a strangled cry as he dropped down next to her, pressing a finger just below her neck. There was a pulse, she was okay. At the very least she was alive.

Once the initial panic began to subside, he realized everyone else was also down. And standing in their place was some man he had never seen before. His affiliation was quite clear though. Jaune slowly rose back to his feet, both hands gripping either part of Crocea Mors tightly as he glared down the man with the most intimidating look he could muster.

"...Your Aura is impressive." The man's voice was deep and gruff, devoid of any emotion. Jaune didn't want to admit it, but that only added to his already frightening appearance. He took an intimidating step forward and Jaune's eyes were drawn to the greaves on his feet.

With every step, small waves of blue energy pulsed out from under the soles of his feet. Had it been those that had knocked them all out when this guy came barreling down like a meteor?

It didn't matter. The only thing that was important right now was buying time. For whatever reason, it looked like the barrier was still up. And the crowd was in the middle of trampling all over itself. This meant until things got brought under control on their end, he was the last line of defense on this end.

"So… you gotta name, big guy? Or do you just wanna be known as Random White Fang Grunt #24 when they write about how I kicked your ass in the paper?"

The man stopped about five steps away from him and inclined his head ever so slightly. Jaune couldn't see his face, but he seemed pretty pissed. What part of ticking him off seemed like a good idea again? Screw it, he was feeling pretty lucky right now. After all he had just gotten his first kiss not even five minutes ago.

"...My brothers have taken to calling me Banesaw. My true name… is no longer relevant." The moment those last words left his lips and he leaned in, fist already flying forward and the gauntlet on his arm glowing bright blue.

Shit. Jaune's brain didn't have enough time to process that dodging would undoubtedly be the better call, and instead just raised his shield lamely in defense. A dull ring echoed out across the arena and over the sound of the screams as every joint in his arm from the wrist to the shoulder locked and grinded together.

A light blue pulse expanded from the point of impact and Jaune was sent flying backwards at least a dozen feet. The world began to spin and he lost all sense of orientation as his body flipped through the air and stomach churned in protest. A flicker of red and bronze flashed by in a blur and he remembered his team.

They needed him right now. This wasn't the time for him to be getting tossed around in only a single hit. He tucked in a ball and his erratic flight straightened out, aligning his vision. Just before he hit the ground he kicked both legs out and touched down with his feet, skipping backwards and nearly stumbling into the rocks behind him. By some miracle he had managed to maintain his balance.

He really had to remember to thank Pyrrha again for all that training. Before he could pat himself on the back for pulling off such a landing, the light above him was blocked out and he was cast into shade. It didn't take longer than second for him to realize Banesaw was no longer on the ground in front of him.

His head snapped up to see the man flying above, foot extended high over his head and seconds away from coming down on him in an axe-kick. Jaune didn't think twice about diving to the side this time, narrowly dodging the man's leg as it blurred into motion.

The ground ruptured and metal hunks of the arena were sent whistling by Jaune's ear. While he was still pulling his foot from the ground, Jaune saw his chance to attack and leapt forward, sword raised over his head and shield held up in defense.

He never even got close as Banesaw ripped his foot free and pivot on the other, spinning around and launching a high-powered spinning kick aimed right at Jaune's head. The blonde had no choice but to abandon his own attack as he ducked. The wind pressure from the passing kick alone nearly bowled him over and he had little doubt if he hadn't reacted as he had that would've been it for his head

"Your attacks won't hit me!" The faunus yelled, clearly taking delight in picking on someone half his size. A gauntlet flew in low, bending up at the last second in a powerful uppercut that Jaune just barely managed to lean away from.

What he wasn't prepared for was the blue energy from the gauntlet to explode outwards even when it didn't land a direct hit, and Jaune was once more sent crashing backwards from the wave of power.

He hit the ground on his back and rolled to his feet all in one fluid motion only to yet again have Banesaw on him before he could recover. His right gauntlet already inches away from his stomach. Jaune got his shield in front of himself a second before it was too late.

Instead of hearing the dull ring from the collision like last time, there was a strange amount of silence as Banesaw stopped his fist millimetres short of striking the shield. So it came as even more of a shock when the blue energy passed through like it wasn't even there and Jaune doubled over. It felt like Yang herself drilled into him with one of her most angry punches.

He collapsed to a heap at Banesaw's feet and gave a horrible heave, once more feeling the impending threat of losing the contents of his stomach. "Tch… weak." The man scoffed and began to turn away with a metallic clink as his greaves touched down on the arena's surface.

Jaune felt like he was seeing double of everything as he fought to keep the bile down for just a couple seconds longer. This man… he was heading back to his teammates. For some reason, he was intent on killing one of them. And Jaune's gut told him it was Pyrrha he was after.

"W-wait…" His shield collapsed to the floor with a loud clang next to him as he abandoned it to reach forward, placing a hand just next to the Banesaw's foot. The man turned and gave an almost curious grunt as Jaune struggled up to his knees, barely managing to even achieve that.

And then… with a sickening heave he finally lost the contents of his stomach… projecting it all over the shiny metal greaves of his enemy. "What the Hell!?" The man gave a yelp that sounded both enraged, yet completely appalled at the same time.

As the vomit finally petered to a stop, Jaune just barely managed to give a sarcastic chortle, the very noise stinging his already sore throat. And with a raspy voice he glared up at Banesaw's masked face. "My attack… hit you."

Jaune knew what he had just done must have really, really, and he meant really just pissed his opponent off.

So when Banesaw's foot lashed out in a kick aimed at his chin, Jaune was prepared and blocked the strike with his sword, holding one end with the hilt and pushing against the broadside of the other.

Of course, this guy was strong enough when not ticked. So with his strength enhanced now by an overpowering fury, Jaune was sent rocketing over the treetops of the forest sector and clear past them before diving for the dirt ground outside of the arena.

...He just had to say something witty.

That was his last thought before he struck the ground in a crumpled heap, kicking up a wave of dirt that blinded his vision. All sense of feeling flew from his body but somehow knew he must have still been moving as his body skipped forward and rolled to a stop.

Buzz

A loud ding echoed over the arena, signaling that he had been knocked out of the arena. If this had been an official match, he would've just been disqualified. Too bad the rules in the real world weren't so nice.

Pain surged through every fibre of his body as feeling returned all at once and his lungs demanded air. The only thing he got with an inhale was all the dust circling around him and that sent him into a fit of coughs that wracked his body and caused it to seize.

A single arm duly waved in front of him, attempting to batter back the dust, only succeeding in kicking up more. Legs floundered and attempted to push him out from the infuriating particles, every movement causing fire to course through his veins.

Finally he succeed in breaking free of the miniature cloud only to smack the back of his head against the wall of the arena. Damn, that was one Hell of a punt to send him all the way over here. He attempted to raise one arm to feel a strange heaviness in it and only then realized he had somehow managed not to drop the blade of Crocea Mors in his short flight. The shield was still where he had dropped it, unfortunately.

"Jaune!" The barrier behind him shimmered and shook as the familiar voice of Ruby called just over head. Using the short wall as support, he pushed himself back up until he was barely standing on wobbly feet.

As he turned around, not letting his body leave the wall lest he fall right back to the earth, he came face to face with Ruby's horrified silver eyes. "...Hey." He gave her a bloody grin, pretty sure he felt his lips crack from the small movement alone.

Tears started to form in the corners of her eyes as she hit the barrier harder, causing it to shimmer multiple colors at once. Mouth opened and closed but only air escaped her lips as she tried to find the words to say to him right now.

The panicking crowds behind her had all but thinned and only the other Hunters were left now. It was only a matter of time before they got in. He just had to hold out a little longer.

He shook his head slowly, just the simple gesturing cause his vision to blot with black dots. "It's alright… Ruby. I know you would try to help if you could. Don't worry bout a thing. I've got this… after all, you gave me all that good luck."

A thundering crash echoed across the stadium and he grimaced, almost afraid to turn around. Despite the wishes of his aching body though, he forcibly broke eye-contact with Ruby and spun back to the arena, where several trees had just been uprooted, collapsing in what had been the loud ruckus he just heard.

And charging at him in a blind rage, was Banesaw, apparently having forgotten that his whole purpose had been to kill Pyrrha. Well, if nothing else that meant he had accomplished something, right? It made him feel better to think that way, at least.

Too bad he really didn't have much strategy left to hold this guy off any longer. Aura was shot, shield gone, and his limbs would barely respond. Defense was pretty much no longer an option. Which only left him with offense.

Do or die time. He just really hoped it wasn't die.

With a small push he stumbled off the wall, Banesaw quickly narrowing what little distance was left between them. "Jaune! Jaune!" Ruby found her voice as he stepped away, but he no longer had the luxury of glancing back. No matter how much he wanted to.

Deep breaths. Take deep breaths. Remember Pyrrha's training. He was a Hunter in training. This was what he signed up for. When he forged those transcripts, he was prepared for this.

Crocea Mors shook in the palms of both hands as he held the blade up. Banesaw was only several steps away from him now, one gauntlet cocked back and prepared to splatter his brains across the barrier. He could only imagine how that would scar Ruby, seeing such a gross sight.

He couldn't afford to look uncool in front of her now.

Banesaw swung. Jaune's sword quit trembling. His eyes hardened in resolve. Time slowed for but a brief second as he twisted the blade, scraping the tip against the metallic gauntlet as they grazed by one another, sending sparks flying. At the last possible second he twisted his neck and the fist flew right over his shoulder.

Jaune dipped in, and took a single confident step forward, twisting Crocea Mors horizontally. The muscles in his body tensed for a second before uncoiling, and he swung his sword.

Metal tore into flesh and blood sprayed from the gash he gouged into the side of his opponent. With a single swing he had ripped through the faunus' Aura. For just a second he felt a small sense of pride well inside his heart. Pyrrha's training had paid off.

He wasn't a failure.

Crack

"Jaune!" Ruby's scream tore her vocal cords as she beat at the barrier with renewed tenacity.

This wasn't happening. This wasn't happening. She was not watching as this happened.

Jaune had dodged Banesaw's first swing, ducking just past it at the last possible second. Then he swung his blade and cut into him in what might have been the coolest move she had ever seen him pull.

But the wound had been shallow and Jaune was still within the tall man's reach. With a simple twist of the body and an underhanded jab, he struck Jaune middle of the back, and the noise that had followed was so sickening it made Ruby want to puke.

That gross, horrible noise of Jaune's spine taking the unblunted strike echoed so loudly she had no doubt that the whole coliseum had heard it, now that there were so few left.

Jaune's mouth was opened wide and he gave a pained breath, not even able to scream. His back was bent at an unnatural angle, legs spread wide and beginning to buckle. As the last of his strength gave out he began to crumple.

But Banesaw wasn't done with him yet as he gripped Jaune by the back of the neck before he could hit the ground. Jaune's legs dangled limply, unable to support him any longer.

As if flaunting a trophy, Banesaw spun around, holding Jaune's broken body in the air for all to see. The blonde's eyes were glazed over as he barely hung onto consciousness, blood flowing from his open mouth and dribbling down his chin.

Hot tears rolled down Ruby's cheeks and her eyes burned. The rest of the world melted away as she watched on helplessly as her friend and crush was broken down. Teeth grated together loudly and stomach churned angrily in protest as fiery hatred well up inside. Never in her life had she wished pain on another living person, let alone wanted someone dead.

"Uncle Qrow!?" Over the angry buzzing that had filled her ears, she heard Yang's surprised gasp and the rest of the world once more phased into focus as a staggering man off to the side entered her vision.

It was their uncle… and he was inside the barrier, as absurd as that very thought was. Even Banesaw appeared surprised as he finally released Jaune who crumpled to the ground and ceased movement. "How… did you get in here?"

Qrow stumbled to a stop, just several feet from Banesaw before beginning to look around as if he suddenly realized he had no idea where he was. "I walked… hic. Do I look sober enough to drive?"

The faunus' fists curled and uncurled as he appeared to try and size up her uncle. The fact that he had gotten inside at all must have surely been sending off warning bells, yet the smell of alcohol wafting off him alone was a solid indicator of how drunk he was. And apparently that was enough for the tall man to decide her uncle would go down easily.

That was the last mistake he ever made.

Banesaw closed the distance in only a second, swinging his fist in the same manner he had started the last engagement with Jaune. And like the blonde, Qrow tilted his head out of the way at the last second and leaned forward, ducking around the attack. Unlike Jaune, when Qrow slid his sword off his back, he aimed to kill and cleaved the faunus clear in half with but a single swing.

In just that split second, the fight was over before it had even truly begun.

And as if mocking her, the moment he fell so did the barrier. Ruby stumbled forward and nearly flipped over the wall as the force field that had been keeping her from Jaune gave way. With a hum and a flurry of roses she was by his side in an instant.

"Jaune!" She dropped to her knees and lifted his head, placing it in her lap as she leaned an ear close to him. It was faint… but she could hear the sound of breathing. He was alive. Jaune was still alive.

"...What a mess." Her uncle grumbled as he stumbled towards her, swinging his blade back and forth in a vain attempt to shake loose the blood that stained its edges.

"Thank you, Uncle Qrow. Thank you." Ruby held Jaune up closer to her as she cradled him in her arms, tears once more flowing down her cheeks, this time in relief. "You… you saved Jaune's life. Thank you."

"...Yeah." Qrow ran a hand through his hair and gave a tired sigh before mumbling under his breath. "Although really, it might have been more kind to just let him die." At the time, Ruby didn't understand the meaning of his words. The only thing she cared about was that Jaune was alive. Because that surely had to be a good thing.

Right?

Chapter End

AN: Bad day to be Jaune. Then again, with my stories, when isn't it?

I'm actually pretty disgusted with the lines I gave the villain through this chapter, but he served his purpose. And that purpose was breaking Jaune's back. The scene was actually loosely based off something that happened in The Flash, for those that watch it. Most of y'all are more likely to compare this to the scene from The Dark Knight Rises. I mean, c'mon, "Bane"saw. However, while there are certainly similarities to that too, my inspiration for that whole scene was the Barry/Zoom fight.

Anyways, don't know exactly when I'll publish the next chapter. I got two other projects going so it's kind of nuts for me to even consider starting a third. But the idea was there and Jefardi was willing to help out by doing a beta for it, so it happened.