Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose, and I know I haven't been posting lately because work and school has been consuming most of my time. Though, did you guys think I wasn't going to do a Halloween chapter?

So, I won't do reviews from the last chapter like previous Halloween chapters despite this taking a while to come out. Other things that are important, simply put: this is a continuation of the mini AU with the last chapter being 65 which was a continuation of chapter 31. So, crazy magic powers aren't as developed, White Rose hasn't happened yet, and Pyrrha isn't here. Also, I'm still calling it All Grimm's Eve despite the holiday is called Halloween in canon apparently, so I will die on this rock for the next how many years I do this story.

Enjoy

Jaune, Ren, and Nora dashed through the dark forest until they managed to reach a small clearing with a nearby cave. Jaune ran over to the entrance and leaned against the adjacent rock wall while Ren and Nora made their way to him.

"What, the hell?" he nearly shouted in between deep breaths. "That… thing killed Ruby and probably the others as well. What are we going to do?" He reached up and placed a hand over his chest feeling the increased heartbeat.

Ren looked over to Nora, seeing the shorter girl look visibly disturbed at the situation. "We could try to find our way back to the camp," she suggested to them, pacing around the area, looking over to the tree line. "If we get our weapons, then we can probably hold out until daytime. That should work, right?"

"I believe that it will work," Ren answered her. "Spirits and demons have a special connection to All Grimm's Eve, and the connection between our world and theirs thins. So, theoretically, when the sun rises, we should be safe. However, I don't know the way back to the camp and I don't know if you guys mapped a way back."

"No, but we need to come up with some kind of plan," Jaune told him. "I don't want to wait out in the open for those monsters to attack."

Ren looked to the east and then around the sky before glancing into the tree line, seeing a glint of metal reflecting moonlight. He simply smirked and looked to the others. "What about the cave? We could hold out there for the rest of the night. It's maybe three more hours before dawn, so it's not the worst plan."

"And what if there are more monsters down in the cave?"

"Then we'll have to fight against them, unless you have a better plan."

"No, no I don't," Jaune told them as he got off the wall and begrudgingly started walking into the cave. "I just want to say that this is a terrible idea."

"Are they seriously walking into the cave?" Yang asked the group as they watched the others from the tree line. "Is that safe?"

Blake focused on the cave before looking back to the direction of the shrine. "Probably," she said as she turned back to watch the group disappear into the cave, "we shouldn't be too far from the shrine, so I think there aren't any grimm in the area."

"Should we just leave them alone in there?" Weiss asked them, working on adjusting her ponytail to make it look messed up, getting annoyed at the amount of dirt and twigs the sisters put in her hair. "Honestly, at this point, is it worth scaring the others if the sun's about to rise in a couple of hours."

"Of course, it's an All Grimm's Eve tradition to scare others," Ruby told her as she took a bite from a cookie that confused Blake and Weiss of its origin. "Anyway, this whole test of courage thing was Nora's fault, so it only makes sense to scare her back."

"I don't know how much about this holiday your family let you experience, but it is holiday tradition to prank those who prank you," Yang explained to her.

"Blake, you aren't really going on with this, right?" Weiss asked the faunus, turning to look at her, noticing a slight smirk on her usually stoic face. "Blake?"

"While I haven't played a lot of pranks in the past on this day, I do like the holiday," she answered her. "Also, this is much more fun than sitting up in trees snagging people off trails, and I've already done plenty of that."

Weiss was silent for a moment, trying to comprehend what Blake had just said. "Please don't tell me you're a bandit. I knew there was something off about you, but please don't tell me you are a bandit."

"I'm not a bandit," she reassured her. "However, I am not unfamiliar with surprise attacks."

Weiss simply squinted her eyes at the faunus while the sisters began to stand up. "So, how should we handle this?" Yang asked Ruby, picking up the carved pumpkin and throwing the tattered black cloak around her shoulders. "I charge in, jack-o-lantern blazing, followed by my zombie followers or should we go with the more… stealthy approach."

The inside of the cave had no light, but Ren eventually was able to make a torch using a stick and Jaune's ripped off sleeve. The three made it deep into the cave, following down a single path down to a room with two connecting paths. Jaune walked further into the room and sat down on a small boulder while holding his torch. Nora followed the group now, cautiously looking over her shoulder while keeping close to Ren.

"So, what now?" Jaune asked the others. "We're pretty deep underground, and I don't think that Headless Soldier has found us."

"I think we should split up," Ren told him, walking over to the open paths. "We could stay here, but we should probably scout the area and make sure that no dangerous creatures are in here."

"But we don't have our weapons," Nora interjected. "Even if there are dangerous creatures here, we can't exactly fight them."

"That is true, however," he said walking over to a group of stalagmites, "we can find weapons almost anywhere." With a quick pull, the tips of the rock broke off into small dagger-like weapons. "I can use these for the time being."

"I have this torch, so I guess it can be used as a weapon," Jaune told them while looking at the stick. "Nora, I guess you could use that large rock over there to hit things." He pointed at the rock just a few paces away.

"This should work, but should we really split up?" Nora asked them, picking up the large rock in her hands. "If we get attacked, then it would make more sense to stick together."

"But there are two paths," Jaune interjected. "So, if all three of us were to be down one path and the monsters show up, then we could be ambushed instead of the other way around. As much as I don't like it, splitting up is the better option. Should I go? I do have the torch."

"You and Nora should probably head down one of the paths," Ren said looking down the tunnel they came from. "My eyes will adjust to the dark, but if I get attacked, I don't think two people will fight here effectively."

"Alright, but if anything happens, call us back," Nora told him, getting a nod in response as Jaune began walking down the tunnel directly in front of them. "Stay safe."

"Naturally," he said with a comforting smile before Nora ran after Jaune. Waiting for a moment so his eyes could adjust to the darkness, Ren waited for Jaune and Nora to be out of earshot before tilting his head upwards, seeing Blake clutching the higher walls staring right at him. "So, I'm guessing that this was all Yang's idea?"

"Yang and Ruby's," she answered him, hopping down to the floor. "So, how did you figure it out?"

"It was easy to figure out after calming down, and I can calm down faster than the others," he explained to her looking down the tunnel to the outside. "So, Jaune and Nora are down the front tunnel. I have a decent plan to get back at those two. So, if you want to get the others, I'll scout down this other tunnel."

"Do you mind if I asked why you're suddenly helping us?" Blake asked him while moving to the exit. "I mean, Nora is your good friend. Why are you pranking her?"

"She is a really good friend, however, tonight I really wanted to get some reading done," he said before starting to walk to the unexplored tunnel. "Once the others are here, I'll explain my plan."

Jaune cautiously held his torch in front of himself with both hands as if he was wielding a sword while Nora followed behind him carrying the large rock preparing to hit anything that came close. A small group of bats flew directly at them, forcing Jaune to wildly swing the torch in the air before everything seemed quiet again.

"I hate caves, I hate the underground, I hate bats. Why did we have to come in here?" Jaune nearly shouted as he ran one hand through his hair making sure no bats had flown in it.

"We just need to go a bit further in," Nora told him, trying her hardest to stay somewhat calm. "Then we can get back to Ren."

"R-right," he said watching the illuminated floor suddenly stop and slope into a stone wall. "Well, it seems like this is the end of the tunnel. We should head back." Almost immediately, Nora turned around and began running down the tunnel. Jaune barely had enough time to turn around and chase after her. "Hey, wait! Don't leave me here!" With each step he took, the torch in his hands was hit by the wind nearly extinguishing the flames with every step, but the flimsily made torch somehow stayed lit.

Just as he neared the small room, he slammed into Nora who still seemed to be adjusting to the sudden darkness, forcing them both to drop their respective items. The torch remained lit for just a moment but died out as soon as it hit a small pool of water in the room. From the impact, Jaune stumbled forward and tried to regain his balance only to trip on Nora's small boulder and landed face first in a pool of strange liquid.

Taking a moment, both Jaune and Nora's eyes somewhat adjusted to the dark seeing four shadowy figures on the other side of the room. Before they could make out who they were, the figure in the middle's head lit on fire for a brief moment before the flames subsided showing the carved jack-o-lantern smile of the Headless Soldier. The flames then illuminated the room enough to let both of them see the dirty and damaged forms of their friends.

"Cornering yourself," Yang said, keeping her voice as low as she could without laughing, "a foolish act done by one about to die."

"I-I'm not afraid of you!" Jaune shouted at Yang, grabbing the stick off the ground and holding it in front of himself.

"Then you will not die a coward," Yang said before her attention was drawn towards Nora.

"Where's Ren?" Nora frantically asked, looking for Ren among them. Her attention was then drawn to the pool of strange liquid Jaune landed in, seeing that it was red and was leading down the tunnel they hadn't done down. "I'll kill you!" She then reached down and grabbed the small boulder before throwing it at her full strength towards Yang.

Yang barely had enough time to react, raising a hand to block the boulder, catching it with both hands. She then pressed down with both hands shattering the rock, letting it fall to the ground. "Is that the best you can do?" Yang asked her, turning her pumpkin head to the others. "Bring her to her friend. The bard is mine."

Before Jaune or Nora could react, Weiss took a hobbled step forward, making an effort to make her leg appear as if it were sideways, then placed a hand against the ground. Ice suddenly spread from her hand and suddenly shot out large spiked pillars of ice between the two 'survivors' separating them.

"Nora, RUN!" Jaune shouted to her as he charged Yang with the stick. The brawler simply caught the makeshift weapon before shooting out her other hand catching him by the throat and picking him off the ground. "RUN!" he managed to yell as he struggled against Yang's hand.

"Jaune!" Nora shouted as she was about to chase after him, but before she could get to the barrier, another ice pillar shot from the ground blocking her path. Nora's attention was then drawn to Ruby, Weiss, and Blake slowly staggering towards her. Seeing the small trail of what she assumed was Ren's blood, she bolted down the other tunnel, hoping to run into Ren.

Just as Nora was out of earshot, the three girls straightened themselves up as the ice columns crumbled. "Do you think that was too mean?" Weiss asked the group causing Jaune to look shocked. He seemed like he was going to ask something, but due to Yang's hand, he wasn't able to speak. As soon as she saw this, Weiss bolted to the brawler and smacked the back of the pumpkin head. "Let go of him, you brute, he clearly can't breathe."

"Right, right, sorry," Yang said in her normal voice as she let go of the bard. "I was just playing the part."

Falling to his knees and gasping for air, Jaune asked, "Just what is going on?"

"You've just been pranked?" Ruby told him as she ran over to him with a big grin on her face. "Though the chocking was a bit much."

"You think?" he nearly shouted while standing up. "You guys actually had me scared for a moment there."

"It was more than a moment," Blake interjected.

"Yeah, yeah," he said rubbing his neck.

"Though I will admit, it was very brave of you to fight a me with nothing but a stick," Yang remarked as she walked over and slapped him in the middle of his back. "So, what do you say? Willing to help with the last bit of this prank?"

"What do you have in mind?"

Nora ran down the tunnel, hitting a couple walls, but managed to reach a large open room with a small underground pool of water. Looking around the room, she tried to find some sort of weapon, but found nothing, though, on the other side of the pool of water, she could see the slumped figure of Ren against the wall.

"Ren!" she shouted, immediately jumping into the knee-deep water, trying to reach him. "Don't worry Ren, I'm coming!"

"N-Nora?" she could hear Ren barely ask as he looked up at her. "Get out… of the water…"

Just before she could figure out what he meant, she felt the water get colder for a moment then the pool of water solidified into a single ice sheet. She turned slightly and saw Weiss removing a glowing hand from the ice sheet. Hobbling behind her, Blake and Ruby made their way into the open before Nora heard the heavy footsteps from a creature walking to them.

A few moments later, the cloaked figure of the Headless Soldier walked into the room carrying a large, carved pumpkin under his arm. She then saw that the figure's head was no longer glowing and was now Jaune's.

"No, no," Nora said under her breath.

"I… AM COMPLETE!" Jaune shouted, thrusting his arms outward. "AHAHAHAHA!"

She couldn't help but watch as Jaune took a step on the ice towards her. "No!" she shouted, slamming her hands into the ice, trying to free herself to no avail. "No! No! Please don't kill me!"

"Everything dies, child, some sooner than others," Jaune told her, staying in character as best he could as she struggled to stay on the ice without slipping. "Dying to me is painless, and you get to live forever." Placing a hand on her shoulder, he looked into her eyes before smirking. "However, nobody died tonight."

"What?" Nora asked, looking at him confused.

"Happy All Grimm's Eve, Nora," Jaune said with a smile. "You've just been pranked."

"What?"

"To put it simply, we didn't exactly appreciate your attempt to prank us," Yang told her as she walked into the room. "Weiss, you should probably unfreeze the ice."

"Right now, are you sure?" the secret princess asked her, looking between her and the two people in the middle of the ice. Yang simply smirked before nodding at her.

"Wait, no!" Jaune shouted as soon as he realized what was going to happen, but it was too late. Weiss snapped her fingers and the ice instantly melted into another pool of water causing only Jaune to fall in.

Well, I am tired. Working several 8 hour shifts within this week while doing schoolwork has been keeping me busy and like other Halloween chapters I didn't start writing this until like yesterday. Actually, right now, it is 4 a.m. on the first of November, which technically doesn't make this a Halloween chapter, but whatever, a large portion of this chapter takes place around this time anyway.

Either way, I guess this chapter is what we get when I am extremely tired, rusty, and short on time. So, yeah, the quality isn't the greatest, but whatever, I enjoyed it.

About this chapter, it is the last part of the mini AU, which means next year I will hopefully write a Halloween AU involving more current information from this story.

Anyway, I hope that the next chapter comes out in less than three months. I swear guys, I'm not doing this on purpose, I've just been incredibly busy.

Now then, I'm exhausted so Imma get some sleep.

Have a nice day,

-J. Van A