Jaune sprinted after Pyrrha, a red blur in front of him. Inside Jaune all sorts of emotions were fighting for dominance. Relief at being able to go with Pyrrha. Fear of the battle he was about to face. Sorrow for all that had happened today. The school overrun with grim. Penny dead. Ren and Nora still out there. It was agonizing not knowing what had happened to them. They could still be locked in combat. They could be injured. They could be dead. He simply had no way of knowing, and wondering about the endless possibilities wasn't going to help anyone. Nonetheless though, he couldn't stop the worry that boiled in his stomach like acid. He wished they could have stayed together. Jaune felt safest with his team. They gave him strength. He knew he'd need that soon.

Pyrrha had finally reached the base of the CCT tower and was waiting for him in the elevator. Jaune stepped in.

"So, how are we gonna get up there?" He asked, "This elevator isn't exactly going anywhere." Pyrrha just smiled.

"Hold on," she warned. All of a sudden Jaune felt the ground groan, and then the elevator lurched into life, shooting upwards. Jaune latched himself onto one of the railings on the wall even as his body was jerked about. Of course, Pyrrha's semblance. His mind had been too occupied with other thoughts to even remember.

He felt unsteady on his feet, and not just because of the moving floor. But because what he was about to do was finally catching up to him. He was about to take on the woman behind all the destruction at Beacon and Vale. A woman who had killed Ozpin, a trained huntsman with years of experience. A woman who could easily kill them. He let out a shaky breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. He wished he could have seen Ren and Nora one more time.

"Pyrrha, before we do this-" he began.

"Don't," she interrupted, not quite meeting his eye, "don't say it like that. Like this is the last time you'll get to say it. Just... tell me afterwards, ok?" she turned to face him. Jaune didn't feel ok at all. But nonetheless he nodded and tried a weak smile.

"Afterwards then," he agreed.

Finally, the shrieking came to a halt. "Get ready," was all Pyrrha said. The doors jerked open and Pyrrha was out in a flash. Jaune followed suite, when suddenly a bright blaze of fire hurled through the air right at him. He barely had time to register this when it was on him. Out of nowhere Pyrrha screamed "look out!" and shoved Jaune to the side. He sprawled across the ground and slid for a few meters, before coming to an unceremonious stop and looked back. The wall behind where he had previously stood was now a molten dripping mess. Jaune gulped.

Turning around to try to find his target, he had barely raised his eyes when he saw a hand glowing orange pointing directly at him. Faced with sudden death, Jaune froze, all his training going out of his head. Only Pyrrha's quick reflexes saved him yet again. She hurled her shield at the hand, knocking its aim off just enough so that the deadly stream of fire that would have engulfed Jaune hit just a few feet to his left. Nonetheless, Jaune felt the extreme heat of the attack wash over him, and he struggled to get behind some debris before another one of those streams vaporised him.

Jaune realised he had no idea who he was even fighting, or why she was attacking Vale. But it was clear she had some kind of fire semblance. And a powerful one too. Equally clear was that he was completely outmatched. He'd almost died twice already, and if it weren't for Pyrrha he'd have been toast. He just wasn't strong enough. He was weak. A burden to his partner. He hated himself for that.

Jaune poked his head out of cover. He could see just a blur as Pyrrha flew at the attacker, her weapons slicing, blocking and lunging so fast it was hard to keep up with them. He saw Pyrrha get blown back, only to leap straight back in again to continue the fight. The woman just smiled evilly. The same woman who had tried to destroy Beacon. The same woman who had caused the potential deaths of his friends. His home. His family. Crocea Mors sang as he unsheathed his weapon. The who and the why didn't matter at that moment. All that mattered was that this woman needed to be stopped. He'd have to be stronger. For Pyrrha.

With a roar he leapt over his cover and charged at the monster. Jaune saw she had a temporary look of surprise on her face and felt elated, before the look was replaced with a cold distaste and she smacked Jaune away like she was swatting a fly. Jaune rolled once, and leapt back to his feet, hurling himself at her again. This time she didn't even bother to look at him before tossing a fireball his way. He barely brought his shield up in time.

Pyrrha growled and renewed her attack on her, but this time she was ready. As Pyrrha made an overhead slice she grabbed Pyrrha's blade, sacrificing aura as she put her other hand to Pyrrha's chest. A brief look of terror crossed Pyrrha's face before she was blown past Jaune across the room. She slammed into a wall and slid to her knees, gasping in pain. The woman didn't let up for a single second as she flew- Jesus Christ, she could fly too?- straight at Pyrrha. Jaune was fast losing faith in their chances of winning, but right now Pyrrha was down and needed help. Seeing no other alternative, Jaune boldly stepped in front of the woman, shield up and sword swinging. He heard a satisfying thunk as his sword connected and the woman careered off to the side, smashing into Ozpin's desk.

Jaune ran to Pyrrha to find her already back on her feet and retrieving her weapons with her polarity. "That trick never gets old," he said. A brief smile passed over Pyrrha's face, before being killed in an instant and replaced with one of sheer terror. "Jau-!" was all she managed to say before he felt himself get hit by a molten truck. He went down and everything went dark.

Jaune liked the floor, he realised. It was cool and smooth, a wonderful alternative to his blistering skin. He could quite happily have stayed there for hours.

Except...

Pyrrha.

Jaune yanked himself out of his revere, still groggy, and slowly pushed himself up onto his knees. He hurt everywhere, and his skin still felt like it was a million degrees. He looked down and with a shock realised his aura was out. He could feel it. Or more accurately, he could feel the lack of it. He had never felt more vulnerable.

But Pyrrha was still out there, still fighting, now alone. He retrieved Crocea Mors and looked around for her, only for a confusing sight to be revealed. Pyrrha stood in the middle of the room with her arms outstretched, a look of immense concentration on her face. In front of her was a pile of metal gears and cogs. "What is she doing?" Jaune thought. As if in answer to his question, from out of the pile of gears a glowing fire expanded. It paused for a second, and Jaune dared to hope it was about to fade out. Instead, almost taunting his ridiculous hopes, it exploded, hurling gears out like a fragmentation grenade. One such gear slammed into Pyrrha, hurling her into yet another wall. She hit it head first, the blow shattering her aura. Jaune cried out and struggled to his feet. The demon now stood where the gears had once been, a triumphant smile twisting her features as she looked down at Pyrrha. "Come on, come on, move!" he commanded his aching body.

He had to reach Pyrrha.

He had to.

He began to limp over, but it was too late. An obsidian black bow materialised in the woman's hands, her smile never once wavering as she prepared to take the life of a child. Pyrrha lay there dazed, her eyes unfocused and her shield out of view, unable to save herself. "No no no!" he thought. Jaune pushed with everything he had, but the distance was still too great. The woman slowly, almost lazily drew back an arrow, closed one eye, and aimed for Pyrrha's heart. Tears blurred his vision as he realised he was about to watch his best friend die, still too far away to stop the shot. "Too damn slow" he growled. That left one option.

"Pyrrha! Arkos!" He hurled his own shield at Pyrrha, just as the woman let her arrow fly. Recognizing the call sign despite her daze, she snatched Jaune's shield out of the air, just as an arrow thudded into it, sticking out of the shield in the place where her heart had been. Relief and desperation flooded Jaune's system and gave him one final burst of energy. He ran at the woman, sword raised and battle cry escaping from his lips, his only thought being to stop her from getting another shot off at Pyrrha. For the first time the woman looked at him with something other than mild disdain.

Now her entire face was contorted with rage.

Jaune swung down and she neatly sidestepped, kicking his legs out from under him. Jaune rolled out of the way just as a heel slammed into the ground where his left eye had been. He rolled again to give himself space and got back up, attacking again. This time he went for a horizontal sweep, aiming to cleave the witch's head from her body. Her bow met his blade, sparks flying as she then swept it back at him. Jaune's eyes went wide as he fell back, avoiding the counter attack more by luck than anything else. Her next attack had Crocea Mors and her bow locked across his chest, the bladed edge of her weapon slowly but surely being twisted towards his unprotected throat. Jaune strained back with all his might, sweat pouring down his forehead but to no avail. Jaune kicked out in desperation, hit foot connecting with the woman's shin. She grunted and eased off for a second, and in that moment Jaune was able to shove her backwards. He swung again but the woman had had enough of playing games. She dropped her bow and grabbed his wrist instead, yanked his sword arm out of the way with one hand as something that flickered in the light flashed between the two of them.

"That's the last time you get in my way."

Jaune looked down to see a black dagger protruding from his chest.

The armour around it was scorched and warped. Jaune imagined the dagger must be boiling hot, but he didn't feel it. He only felt cold. So cold. Why was he cold? Had it always been that cold?

Jaune didn't remember falling, but the next moment he found himself on the ground. "Strange," he thought, closing his eyes. Dully, he could hear someone screaming, but it was so quiet compared to the ringing in his ears. When had that started?

Then, a brilliant white flash of light shone through his closed eyelids, so bright it hurt. What was that? Did it matter? Probably not. Jaune felt tired. So tired. He couldn't remember what he had been doing, but he didn't really care. He just wanted to sleep.

Out of the darkness, Jaune was aware of someone calling his name. Who was that? Was that his mother, calling him to wake up for breakfast? No, that wasn't quite it. It was younger, somehow more beautiful. One of his sisters then? No, that wasn't it either. It was... It was…

Pyrrha.

Jaune felt like he was pushing up through layers of concrete. But he had to reach that voice. He had to. Jaune felt like he was fighting his toughest battle yet. But finally, he opened his eyes.

Around him was the ruin that had been the top floor of the CCT tower. But all he saw was Pyrrha's face. Her adorable round face, her flaming red hair, her kind emerald eyes. Those eyes were crying now.

"Jaune, Jaune please, get up. The woman's gone. Ruby came. Jaune, please. Ruby's unconscious, I can't carry you both. Jaune. Jaune. Please." It sounded like she was pleading. She had a lovely voice Jaune realised. How had he never realised that before. And the way she looked. How had he been blind to her beauty for so long?

"Jaune… please. I love you" Jaune could see the edges of his vision becoming black. But that was ok. He only needed to see Pyrrha's face to be content.

Weren't you supposed to say something before you died? Jaune was pretty sure it was supposed to be something funny or ironic. Something people would remember you by. But there was only one thing Jaune wanted to say at that moment.

"P…Pyr…Pyrrha."

And then, with the girl he loved still cradling him, Jaune closed his eyes, and didn't open them again.