"The desire to survive, endure and protect those for whom you care is a power unrivalled." – Anonymous

Ruby felt her lungs burn and her legs ache more and more with each step. They had been running flat out for the best part of the night without a moment's pause or respite. Night had long since given way to day as the morning sun had begun to rise over the ruined city. They were grateful for the newfound light of day in so far as it helped limit the amount that they stumbled or tripped, but as helpful as it was to them, there was no denying that their pursuers would find it just as useful.

They had first noticed them a mere half hour after the eight of them had fled the military base the night before. It had not taken long for the soldiers to mobilise after dealing with the fires that Ruby and her friends had left as a parting gift. The soldiers had yet to come into view but their harsh shouts were ever present as they ran and perhaps even worse, it seemed that they were closing the distance. The teenagers had quickly realised that this had promptly becoming a race to the finish, with the loser paying with their life.

Yet no matter how hard they pushed themselves, the reality was simple; they had been awake for what was rapidly approaching twenty four hours. Their last meal was at least twelve hours previous and they were only human. Ultimately, they were doomed to flag and fail eventually and with all the factors combined, it seemed a miracle that they hadn't already collapsed from the herculean exertion that they had gone through.

Casting her eyes around to her friends, Ruby didn't have to look hard to notice the signs of exhaustion. Their feet practically dragged with each step and their shoulders hung limply at their sides. The weight of their equipment had only grown with each passing mile until they felt as though they were made of solid lead. Even her beloved Crescent Rose had become such a tremendous burden that she wanted little more than to be rid of.

Yet onwards they pushed, much to Ruby's amazement. Every time she thought that they may have hit their limit, her friends would dig deep and pull another ounce of strength to bring them back into the fight and keep them running. Silver eyes darted to the digital map on her scroll and back to the road ahead. Progress was slow, but they were getting ever closer to the end; the rendezvous point was growing ever closer with each step. Before long, the ordeal would be over. They just had to keep pushing a little longer.

And push they did, all through the morning and well into the afternoon. Sweat coated their limbs and their breaths came as little more than ragged gasps. Conscious effort had long since ceased in all of them, they now ran on instinct alone, allowing their bodies to move without command whilst their waking thoughts turned inwards and away from the hell which they each had come to exist in. Their aura reserves had been reduced to nil to keep their bodies functioning and by now blisters coated their feet and cramps plagued them terribly. Their eyes had taken on the expression of the dead and as they ran, they stared sightlessly ahead as though expecting their salvation to crest the horizon from one of the many side streets that they passed.

It was twelve hours after their attack on the military base that they turned onto the final street. Even as they ran, the sound of turbines began to fill the air. It grew from a subtle hum into a thunderous roar. One last check of the map confirmed their position and all that remained for them to do was wait and pray that the pursuers didn't catch up to them before the extraction craft arrived.

With hands that trembled uncontrollably with fatigue, Ruby sent activated the final signal for the aircraft to home in on. Once done, she saw little more to do but gather what pitiful strength still remained in her tiny body. She unfurled her signature weapon and leant upon its haft for support.

In what little time they had, Weiss made the rounds and passed around the meagre amount that remained of their rations. It was a pathetic supply and it lacked the substance to restore their energy to them in the slightest, but its impact on their spirits was incredible. They were just glad to be able to put some food in their bellies at last after so long going without and for that much at least, they were grateful.

Once the food was gone, they were left with no option other than waiting around for the aircraft to arrive; knowing that if it came to a fight that none of them would last long in their current condition. It was a grim state of affairs but not one which they had the power to resolve. They had burned the candle at both ends and were sure to pay the price for it unless help arrived soon.

Much to their relief, the aircraft came into view just a few minutes later. There were three of them flying low along a wide street straight for them. As they closed to within the final hundred metres, they flared up and drew into a hover. The side doors flew open and one of the aircrew beckoned them over with frantic gestures.

The eight of them didn't need to be told twice as they hobbled over, fast as their exhausted bodies could carry them. The crewman practically hauled them up and into the aircraft by the scruff of their necks, seemingly aware of the dire need for haste. He practically threw them into the various nooks amongst the cargo with a degree of practiced ease.

Ruby truly believed that the bulkhead she sat against was the most comfortable thing that she had ever experienced in her life up until that point. Almost immediately after arriving there, she felt her muscles give out. They trembled uncontrollably but no matter how hard she tried, she simply couldn't move an inch. While this may have instilled a sense of panic in most, all that Ruby felt was a fuzzy sense of calm as the full weight of her exhaustion hit her and swarmed her mind like a thick blanket, slowing her thoughts.

Scanning around her, she saw similar expressions on the faces of her friends. All traces of fear had seemingly vanished from their minds under the thick fog of fatigue. As the turbines roared, and the craft began to lift away from the ground again, Ruby watched through the open doors as the world fell away. It was hard for her to even remember why it was that they were running in the first place.

That was until a particularly sharp reminder brought her flying back into reality. The aircraft jerked violently in a bank to the port side, jolting her against the bulkhead. As it did, her eyes caught sight of a trail of smoke shooting past the doors, followed by a harsh screeching sound. A second passed, before the deafening report of an explosion sounded off away and behind them. The engines of the aircraft roared ever louder as the pilot threw the controls against their stops. Through the doors Ruby saw the other two craft draw level and as they pulled away from the city she allowed herself to believe that they had gotten away.

Then the aircraft to their left exploded. The familiar scream echoed just a split second before the explosion. In the last moment, she could swear that she saw the look on the pilot's face as he cried out in terror. The ball of flame engulfed the whole craft as it broke up and began plummeting back to the ground.

Chunks of torn steel shot out from the destroyed craft in a hail of deadly shrapnel. All around she could hear them striking the hull of their own aircraft, and in some cases she could see where they tore through. She threw her arms up around her head almost instinctively and prayed that they would miss, and leave them unharmed.

She heard a noticeable change in the pitch of the engines as the ringing in her eyes died away again. Where the engines normally gave out a smooth high pitched roar, something had gone very wrong indeed. Off to her left, the very same side that the downed aircraft had been on, the sound of the turbine had become a grating and juddering sound similar to the scraping of steel on steel. The roar had wound down into a mere whimper compared to its former self, and the whole aircraft had taken on a severe list. It didn't take a genius to work out that the engine had taken a hit in the blast and was badly damaged.

"Is everyone okay?" The flight technician cried out, clumsily making his way around to check on the passengers.

Ruby nodded weakly to him as he passed her. She may not have been harmed physically, but she was anything except okay. Her heart was pounding and her adrenaline pumping uncontrollably, her nerves were frayed past the point of no return and she just wanted to go home.

"That should be the last one! We must have moved out of range by now." He shouted again, seemingly to offer them some reassurance. But the look in his eye told Ruby that it was all a front and that they were anything but safe.

Although when no more missiles sailed up and past them, Ruby allowed herself to relax a little. Perhaps that was all that had been salvageable from the ammo dump once Yang had blown it sky high? That was all she could hope for.

They flew on for a fair while with their damaged engine, for how long exactly Ruby couldn't be sure. A minute or an hour, Ruby didn't know. All understanding of time was lost to her now. But when the city had passed them by and been replaced by the sight of rolling green fields, she knew that they were in the clear. That was when the engine finally gave out and coughed its last. It sputtered a few more times but never returned to life. Straining the one remaining engine, the pilot guided them lower and prepared for an emergency landing.

It was rough, and much of the fuselage buckled and bent under the stress, but otherwise they landed intact. The teenagers staggered to their feet and managed to disembark from the aircraft without too much trouble. It was not a graceful process, but they managed. It was only then that the full impact of the craft's damage became apparent.

The port side engine was practically torn to shreds, its casing riddled with holes made by the exploding debris. Thick smoke poured through the holes in the engine and billowed off towards the sky. Looking at the damage, it was a miracle that the engine hadn't broken free or burst into flame. Stepping over to the craft, Ruby placed a hand against its fuselage and offered a silent feeling of gratitude.

It was then that she noticed the grass underneath it stained a bright red. Further investigation identified it as blood dripping from the side door of the craft. It didn't take long to identify the source of it all. Laying there in the cargo compartment slumped against the hull was the flight technician.

Hurriedly, Ruby called out the the remaining crewmen for help and climbed back on board. She dashed over to the technician as fast as her fatigued body could manage, unfeeling as blood covered both her hands and much of her clothes. When she arrived by his side, it quickly became apparent that she needn't have bothered.

His complexion was pallid and his eyes stared sightlessly into the distance. His left hand was clasped weakly around the wound that had killed him. Blood coated his hands, already browning from its exposure to the air. Ruby tried to swallow past the lump in her throat but found her mouth uncomfortably dry. With her hands trembling, she tentatively lifted his hand away from the wound and took a look at it.

Blood stained his flight suit around the site of a perfect tear. Pulling at the fabric, she uncovered a long and clean cut just under where his ribcage began. It seemed like a wound that should have been manageable, but Ruby knew that looks could be deceiving. It appeared that the wound was caused by a piece of flying shrapnel from the explosion.

Her mind flashed back to the moments after as the flight technician had staggered around the compartment of their craft to make sure that the eight teenagers were unharmed. Now that she thought about it, he did have a particularly strained look on his face at the time, although she had simply attributed it to the stresses of the situation at the time. Now she realised that he must have been ignoring his own injury in order to ensure that they were fine. It was his final act to ensure the overall success of the operation, one last piece of heroism by one of the little guys.

Reaching out, Ruby tentatively probed the wound. She didn't know quite why, but a morbid sense of curiosity drove her on. Probing her fingers into the wound, she reached up to the first joint of her fingers before they met with something solid and jagged. Manoeuvring her fingers around she clasped it and gently pulled it out, as though afraid to cause additional pain to the dead hero.

What she pulled out from the wound was a fragment of steel roughly triangular and around three and a half inches in length with jagged and torn edges. She looked at it with unfeeling eyes. It struck her as unfair that something so small could kill a person. She was staring at it so intently that at first, she didn't notice the tears streaming down her cheeks. They dropped from her chin and landed on the ground of the cabin, only to intermingle with the blood pooled there. She reached out and gently closed his eyes before cradling the shard of metal to her chest and weeping silently.

That was how the others found her; kneeling beside the body of a dead man with tears running freely down her cheeks and cradling a piece of shrapnel as though it were the most precious thing in the world. Yang was the first to approach her, wrapping an arm around her younger sister and silently shepherding her away.

"H-he didn't say anything… he didn't tell us he was hurt… he just made sure we were all okay without a word, why didn't he let us help him?" The little rose asked weakly.

"I don't know sis, he probably just didn't want to worry us. Whatever his reasons were, he put our lives above his own. He must have known what was riding on this and thrown his lot in with it." Yang replied, struggling to keep her voice level.

Once gone, the remaining crewmen wrapped their comrade up in a crude shroud made from material scrounged from within the aircraft. Lifting him, they carried him away from the crash site and laid him on the grass beside the others before returning to the craft. The pilot conducted a final check and fired a flare into the compartment of the aircraft. The meagre contents of the craft soon caught and before long the whole craft was engulfed by the hungry flames. As they watched it burn, the last remaining bullhead approached and landed. Its doors were opened and the teenagers ushered inside.

With morose expressions on their faces, the pilot and co-pilot lifted their comrade up and loaded him on-board with the help of Jaune and Pyrrha. Ruby watched the whole process in complete silence until at last the pilot noticed her expression and knelt down beside her even as the craft lifted off.

"We'll get him back to Vale and he'll get a proper burial I promise." He said to her over the sound of the engines. The tone of his voice was harsh and cutting, as though he blamed the eight of them for what had happened, but the tender look in his eyes seemed to suggest otherwise.

"W-what was his name?" Ruby asked as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Kirk. His name was Kirk Harndall." The pilot answered, turning away and making his way over to join his fellow crewman without another word.

The lone bullhead flew onwards into the afternoon sky, pulling an aura of sadness with it. Behind them, the flaming bullhead's fuel reserves caught light and the craft exploded in a brilliant bloom of flames and smoke; almost as though it were a final send off for the flight crew that had been killed as a part of the escape. Ruby played the name she had been given over in her head until it was deeply ingrained in her memory. In the silence of the compartment, she vowed to never forget it no matter what happened. Little did she know that his name would soon be a part of a list much longer than she could possibly have anticipated.

The skies had long since grown dark again when their aircraft touched down at Beacon academy. The flight had been a long one, but Jaune had been unable to close his eyes for more than a few minutes. Every time he tried, he saw the aircraft exploding again and again in vivid detail as if it were burned into his memory irreversibly. Pyrrha had tried her best to comfort him, but she had ultimately fallen asleep beside him with her head resting on his shoulder.

Large screens had been set up around the landing area under the guise of maintenance works being conducted. It was behind those screens that the lone bullhead finally touched down, just a short ways from a welcoming committee comprised of four people.

. The side doors opened just as the final whimper of the engines died away, and from within the compartment emerged the crew carrying their dead. Behind them followed the eight teenagers who paid their final respects to flight technician Kirk Harndall before shuffling over towards the small cluster of individuals waiting to receive them.

"We sent three aircraft to collect you…" a woman stated in a shocked tone as the eight teenagers and the accompanying flight crew approached. She had piercing violet eyes and supported herself on a pair of crutches to keep weight off of a heavily bandaged foot. She was a woman that looked familiar to Jaune, but he didn't recall ever having actually met her.

"I regret to report that we came under rocket fire when we arrived, councilwoman Saunders. Craft three was his and destroyed with all of her crew on-board. Shrapnel from the explosion caused irreparable damage to the port side engine of craft two but we managed to put her down safely, although flight technician Harndall was killed by flying debris also, that's him under the shroud there. Both I and my co-pilot along with the VIPs were transferred to craft three for the remainder of the journey and I am glad to report that all remaining crew as well as VIPs are alive and well and they do have the package intact." The pilot of their original aircraft reported.

"Very good, Captain. You and your men are dismissed, please avail yourselves of the facilities here at Beacon and get some hot food at the dining hall, you have earned it. Do not worry about your comrade. He shall be treated with the utmost respect I can assure you. We shall make arrangements for his remains to be transferred to his family." Ozpin said with a sense of finality. His expression was professional, though his eyes spoke of the regret he felt at having sent those men to their deaths. "One last thing Captain, I would appreciate it if both you and your men never spoke about your mission tonight, at least not until the coming events have resolved themselves. Then, I assure you, the heroism of your comrades will be told for all to hear."

The captain looked at the professor with an unwavering look before he offered a sharp salute and led his men off towards the main school buildings to get some food. Ozpin watched them go with a contemplative expression on his face before turning his attention back to the eight exhausted teenagers in front of him. He noted sympathetically that they were struggling to even stand up.

"Oz, I know you want to hear what they've got to say but they can barely stand. Let's get them inside to your office and get them a proper meal before they tell us what happened." Qrow's said, his gravelly voice catching the whole group unawares from where he stood in the shadows a few feet away.

"I think we can accommodate that request at least, especially after what they have achieved these past few days." Goodwitch replied.

They were led across campus until they stood directly at the foot of Ozpin's tower. Up above them, the giant emerald gleamed in the pale moonlight. They were ushered into the tower and led into the elevator waiting at the end of the foyer. The ride to the top only took a few moments, but to the teenagers it seemed like an eternity. The very mention of the prospect of a proper meal was something that had set their stomachs rumbling away.

Once the elevator reached its stop, the doors slid silently open and revealed the same old office that they knew. It was different to how Ozpin usually had it arranged. The small tables and comfortable chairs had been moved away to the sides in order to allow for a long and sleek looking banquet table to be set up in their place. Places were already laid out and a number of large silverware trays sat in the middle, covered so as to retain their heat.

Both teams hastily took their places at the table, trying to make their headlong dash seem a little more like an eager walk. Once seated, they waited impatiently for the others to take their seats at the table before finally digging in. The spread laid on for them was grand fare indeed, and it was clear that the meal had been especially prepared for them. There was a roasted turkey that seemed almost as big a Ruby, coupled with mountains of roasted vegetables of every form imaginable. Gravy flowed like water from the large serving jug as the eight of them attacked the food set out for them.

The adults in the room plated themselves up a modest amount of food each. They each sat in silence as they ate, not wanting to disturb the teenagers until their hunger was completely sated. At the head of the table, Ozpin forwent food altogether. Instead the old professor simply drank the contents of his ever present coffee mug and assessed each of his students with a calculated look.

Nearly an hour after they had sat down, the last of the students finally set down their knife and fork. Of the feast that had been laid out, only the inedible parts remained. For each of the teenagers, it had been a heaven's bounty that had helped to alleviate the stresses of the last few days. To Jaune, it seemed that there was nothing that couldn't be fixed by the application of a good meal. He felt as if the past couple of days were but a distant memory and that all was right with the world.

When at last the time came for them to recount their mission for the assembled group, it was Jaune who took the lead. He spoke of their landing and regrouping, of their encounter with the Geist in the park and Weiss' deduction of the likely location for the base. The professors, huntsman and councilwoman sat in silence the whole while, listening intently to the whole tale. No-one interrupted the blonde as he spoke, save for on the rare occasion that the others would raise a detail that he had omitted.

When he reached the point at which they had split up, Blake took over the story. She described in-detail the manner in which they had surveyed and infiltrated the base. It was clear that the faunus was far from comfortable in speaking aloud to so many people at once, but she was the only one who could tell the story and as far as Jaune was concerned she did an amicable job of it.

When at last she finished telling of their rapid flight and subsequent escape aboard the bullheads, Blake sat back down again and silence settled over the room. The four adults sat in quiet contemplation for a long while as they digested what they had heard.

"It would seem that you have had quite the adventure over the past few days." The woman with violet eyes said in a voice that seemed to exude admiration. The eight teenagers all looked at her with blank and unrecognising expressions.

"Ah, yes. You haven't yet been introduced. Team RWBY, JNPR, allow me to introduce councilwoman Eliza Saunders. She is my contact within the Vale council and the one responsible for getting us the information on the Vault's location. In a way, you could say that she was the lynchpin of the whole operation." Ozpin explained, introducing his colleague.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you all. Ozpin has spoken very highly of you, both as people as well as in terms of your abilities. I'm glad to say that you have exceeded any expectations I had for you."

She was quite attractive, Jaune thought. Her smile was disarming, and left Jaune feeling inexplicably at ease. He looked at her with soft eyes, until he noticed the daggers that Pyrrha was shooting him out of the corner of her eye. Clearing his throat his turned to Ozpin.

"It was a nightmare and we were lucky to get out in one piece. Others… well, they weren't so lucky. If we have done a good job in holding up our end of the deal then great, but I just hope it was worth the cost." Jaune stated flatly.

"Yes, and I think it's high time that we find out just how successful this mission was, wouldn't you agree? If you could hand over the data drive please Miss Rose?" Ozpin agreed, holding out a hand towards the little rose.

Ruby reached into a pouch at her belt and held out the data drive towards the professor. All eyes in the room were fixed upon the tiny object that she held in her hand, marvelling that something so small could be so important as to mean the future of the world for all living things.

Ozpin seemed to take pause for a moment before reaching out and taking the drive from her. Laying his scroll on the table he plugged the drive in and waited for the system to access the files. The few seconds that it took for the system to work through the data that they had retrieved were agonising, and the impatience of the teenagers was showing. They had the hope that the contents of the drive would spell the end of the nightmare for all of them and show them some kind of miracle fix for the impending doom… But they were wrong.

When the holographic display opened up for all of them to see, there was stunned silence all around. Ruby stared at the writing in complete and utter disbelief. Stammering as she tried to form words that expressed the feeling inside, she uttered only one simple sentence.

"I-It can't be true… why?"

And for you all, the conclusion to the Vault arc but more questions are yet to be answered. Just what is it that surprised the little leader and what will that mean for the whole gang? Did they find the source of the Maidens' power, or their Achilles' heel? We will have to find out next time! I truly hope that you enjoyed the chapter. I do not know when the next one will be but the aim is to have it ready soon(ish). If you enjoyed this and haven't yet, please do follow and favourite to never miss an update. Don't forget to drop a review and let me know what you thought, for better or worse and as always;

I will see you all in the next chapter.