*Crash*

A barrage of people stormed to the arrival of a bullhead landing not so gracefully in front of the Beacon Infirmary. Off to the side, two figures stood over seeing the ordeal. Headmaster Ozpin and his deputy headmistress, Professor Goodwitch watched as the medical staff carried out two unconscious students. Both easily recognizable just by their hair.

One orange. One black with red tips.

Following the medic staff were the respective teams of the injured, JPR(N) and (R)WBY, who looked no worse for wear. Especially Jaune. The boy looked like hell. Ozpin stopped the two teams and started an impromptu briefing.

The students couldn't bring themselves to talk. Not only did they fail their first mission, two members were critically injured. The overwhelming feeling of dread and grief almost overtook the feeling of anger.

Almost

The first person to calm their nerves was Jaune, followed by Ren and Blake. The three of them began to inform the headmaster the events of the mission.

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Flashback:

The mission in of itself was simple, clear out a grimm hunting pack for a village. Playing out in their favor, the village only had land access through a single mountain path. All they had to do was kill the grimm and let none of them pass through the path. Ruby, being better at making impromptu plans, let Jaune plan out the mission. And his plan was working. Yang and Jaune would take the lead and charge the grimm with Pyrrha as ranged support and Weiss as utility with her dust. Ren and Blake would perform 'hit and run' tactics on the flanks. Ruby and Nora would stay on the mountain path. Ruby would provide sniper fire while Nora would act as a mortar with her grenades. Alternatively, they would also act as the last line of defense, as the narrow path gave them an advantage with their melee forms. Nothing would be able to get passed without getting hit in the sweeps the scythe and hammer would make in the enclosed space.

The plan was working like a charm. The grimm turned out to be a massive pack of beowolves led by an alpha. The attacking pair and the support pair took care of most of the pack, while the flankers stopped some of the smarter beowolves from sneaking passed them to attack the village. The rear guard did great in providing cover fire and distracting the alpha from long range. This confused the alpha, having never encountered this, so the elder grimm could not lead the pack. It took a while to start clearing them out. Once more than half of the pack was gone, the offensive pair went for the alpha. That fight didn't take long as the alpha was already weakened by the rear guard. Soon enough the pack was almost wiped out.

That was until a thunderous explosion was heard from the mountain. They tried to call Ruby and Nora on their scrolls, but nothing but the voicemails. Jaune sent Yang, Ren, and Weiss to find out what was going on. The three-remaining huntsman in training finished wiping out the last of the grimm. With no update, the trio made their way up the mountain. What the found shocked them.

The path was collapsed.

They were brought pulled of their shock when Yang came up to Jaune and decked him in the face. A loud crunch was heard. Weather Jaune didn't have enough time to put up his aura or just didn't have enough left to protect him from Yang was unknown. What was known was the fact that the knight now wore a broken and bloody nose. She began to yell at him for his plan, it leading to her younger sister to be buried under rocks. In her fit of rage, she continued to pummel him.

Pyrrha tried to pull Yang off her 'not so secret' secret crush. However, it was Weiss who was preventing her rescue. The icy heiress proclaiming it was rightful justice being served to the blonde dolt. Weiss when as far as to trap the champion in a glyph. Blake knowing, she won't be able to pry Yang off Jaune without help, she tries and put a stop on Weiss first. It was a vain attempt.

In an unexpected turn of events, it was Ren who came to Jaune's rescue. The silent boy went right for the jugular. Using storm flower, Ren threaten to cut Yang's hair. Not a few inches or evenly, but to the scalp and down the middle creating an inverted mohawk. This gave Jaune an opening while Yang was distracted with the threat to her pride and joy. The noodle knight sucker punched Yang. While she was stunned for the audacity of Jaune's action, Jaune ran from her, making his way to the pile of rubble and began to move rocks away. He knew it was pointless to fight each other right now, while two of their friends were buried hopefully still alive.

Jaune POV:

Jaune was really hoping that Nora and Ruby were still alive. He practically saw them as his own little sisters. The two reminded him of two of his younger sisters, the twins. Sotida Sol and Puesta Sol Arc. Since they were born, the twins were wild and hard to control. But they never failed to bring a smile to the knight's face. That's probably why the boy could get along with both naive and hyperactivity incarnate. It was like being at home. Another reason why he sent then to be the rear guard. He didn't want to put them in harm's way. Unfortunately, life has a way to bite him in the ass. Jaune kept moving more rocks out of the way. He had to keep digging. In his blind determination to find the two red heads, he didn't notice the others join in. First Blake then Ren. Weiss and Pyrrha joined soon after. Yang took the longest to calm down from her rage at Jaune and focus on finding her sister. Luckily it didn't take long to find them. Both Nora and Ruby were alive but unconscious. Jaune ordered an emergency evacuation. Leading them to where they were now.

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Being caught up, Ozpin let the students make their way to the infirmary. As the teams disappeared through the halls, the headmaster did feel bad for the two teams. Not that the neutral face he always wore came off. Nor did he go to great lengths to comfort his students. Most likely the reason for this, the old man was numb to pain all around him, and not just from being exposed to it as a teacher then headmaster at Beacon.

Ozpin turned to his right-hand lady. "Well, that settles what happened. Once you finish the report and send the necessary relief aid to the village for compensation, make sure to organize the paperwork on the visiting students and update the budget for the upcoming months. They must be submitted to the council by the end of next week. Thank you Glynda," with that he left to his office.

The professor stood there in mild shock. Not only did her boss just handed her his emergency work, but as well as the rest of HIS work. Of course, this was not the first time he did this. It has become a regular occurrence. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Goodwitch scowled. Justifiably angry at her predicament, she made plans to handle the emergency first then take the night off. She stormed to her office to finish the paperwork for the day.

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Teams RWBY and JNPR made it to the Immediate Care Unit Center within Beacon's Infirmary. The six students stood there in front of the door, hesitant to enter. Silenced reigned among them. Jaune broke that silence. "Let Ren and Yang go in first and the rest of us will go in after a while. They deserve to see them first and have some time alone with them." No one argued. Even though Yang did just for the sake of arguing against the knight, she wanted to see her baby sister first. 'Check on Ruby first, fight Vomit Boy later'. Red nodded his head in thanks to his leader. Both the ninja and brawler went in, leaving the remaining students outside. Between the rest of them, the tense air eased up.

The champion was curious to why did her partner send Nora to the back. His plan was sound and worked flawless till the end. But why endanger himself to begin with. The plan could have worked with him and Nora trading places. The bronze colored student more concerned with keeping her crush out of harm's way. Once Pyrrha collected her courage, she confronted the knight," Jaune?"

The grief struck leader turned his attention to his partner, as did the others. "Yes. Is something wrong?" Pyrrha paused for a moment, a lapse in courage before continuing, "Nothing's wrong, it just. . . why did you place yourself on the front line?" To the girl in was more of an innocent question, but to the other three. Weiss saw this as a victory to his side. The champion was finally seeing the blonde dolt for what he really his and not the fantasy she tries to pass him as. Blake was curious to see where Pyrrha would steer the conversation. Even though the Faunus didn't interact with team JNPR all that much, she observed the red heads affection for the blonde. For now, she'd just watch to see how things unfold.

Jaune on the other hand was saddened by this question. Was his effort not good enough? Was his training not enough? He proved he was capable out on the field and as a leader. Where was this doubt coming from? So, he fell back to the advice his dad gave long ago, 'All you need is confidence and the rest will follow'. "Because that is where I would be per the plan. Please, I know I'm getting better, but I don't think I can take Ren's title of ninja. Ha".

This prompted the black and white themed to cringe at the overconfidence showed. Pyrrha, however, just sighed. "It not that. You have improved a lot. But the front lines are dangerous. If you got hurt-'" "But I didn't! I came out fine. Why are you worrying about a 'could have happened'?" The sudden defensiveness threw Pyrrha off. Jaune took this opportunity to continue.

"Do you think so low of me than even when I succeed, it's a failure?" this stung his partner in her heart. She didn't want to hurt him; she was just concerned for his safety. Jaune waited for a response but got one from the heiress not the champion. "Of course, that's what she is thinking you dolts! We have two team members in critical condition because of your faulty plan! How dare you think so highly of yourself in this situation. This is all your fault!"

The outburst stunned not just Jaune but the other two as well. Jaune could only look at Pyrrha, trying to find some sort of denial of this claim. But his heart sunk further as his partner averted her eyes in what looks like embarrassment, reminiscent of when one of his sisters is caught with their in the cookie jar. "I see. That's how you truly feel then huh."

Pyrrha spun her head, "No! That's not it at all!", "Then what it?!"

She couldn't say, she didn't have the courage and confess to her crush her feeling just yet, and only muttered, "This is a waste of time.", before realizing her mistake.

Jaune ran.

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That was the final straw. His own partner turned her back on him. So, in order to save himself the pain he ran from them, ignoring the calls Pyrrha and Blake made after him. It wasn't until he crashed into something, did he stop.

He looked up to see Professor Goodwitch. His face turned pale. Trying to save face, he offered a hand to the fallen professor. She accepted and asked why he was in a hurry?

"I just need some time away from my team and team RWBY."

Goodwitch understood where he was coming from. She remembered when she would get into heated arguments with her team. In a moment of sympathy, she looked to her student and made up her mind. Paperwork can hold off until tomorrow. "Mr. Arc Follow me to Vale. Perhaps a drink will calm your nerves and take your mind off things." The boy looked at his teacher in shock but agreed in fear of what she might do if he said no. The two boarded the bullhead with no further problem. In the bullhead there weren't that many people. Some Beacon second and third years, and a transfer student with a beanie and a tracksuit. Jaune had calmed down a bit. 'I probably look like such a mess that Goodwitch took pity on me. But she offered to supervise me while I drink my problems away. What could possibly go wrong."