Hello, one and all! My name is Anomynous_Nin, and what you're currently reading is my first RWBY fanfic story, and by extension, the first fanfic in general after a very long time. To all of you who followed me and my other stories, I'm happy to announce that I am back, at lest for another good while.

First of all, let me tell you the full summary of my RWBY story, An Arc's Heartache. In this story, Jaune finds out that three girls, Pyrrha, Ruby and Weiss, have feelings for him, and he is unable to have in him to turn any of them away because of his own feelings for them. He tries to find a peaceful solution that would bring all four of them together, at the risk of unintentionally destroying their friendships. It is a love dilemma that will either end in peaceful harmony or in flames of hatred.

Now, this story came about when I have a strong desire to write a Ruby/Jaune story, since I love the pairing to death. Then things got a bit creative when I decided to add in Pyrrha and Weiss into the mix, making the story a Jaune/Ruby/Pyrrha/Weiss one. Why those three girls in particular? Well, for Ruby, it's obvious that I love Ruby/Jaune. For Pyrrha, it's a pretty obvious couple. And for Weiss, it's because Jaune was flirting with her throughout the series until now.

Now, if any of you had been following my other stories involving three or more people, a harem essential, you guys might expect that the three girls are willing to share Jaune easily. Well… Not this time. I'm aiming for a more realistic approach, for the most part, and it will take time for this particular solution to come in fruition. So when you first read the story, you should read with a fresh mind on it.

Another thing, for this chapter in particular, it is labelled as Prologue 1. There will be three parts of the Prologue in the beginning, and my decision to plot the prologue in three was because I realize that the entire prologue is, uh… Very long. It'll be a pain to read the entire prologue in one sitting, so this is why I decided to split it into three.

One last thing before we get started. This is my first chapter after a very long while, so my writing may be rusty. There may be some errors here and there. And since this is my first story in a new series, I tried my best to keep the characters, settings, and basically everything else consistent with the source material. Including the fight choreography, though it is difficult to emulate it. This is a warning for any of you expecting a well-written story from me. Trust me. It won't be that well written.

Anyways, I won't keep you waiting any longer. So let's start the story!

"Speaking"

'Thoughts'

Flashback

Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by the late Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth.

Prologue 1:

Prelude to Heartache: Pyrrha

Night had finally come to the city of Vale, as the dark nightly sky began to display the many small stars accompanied by the full moon, whose radiant light shined over the tranquil land inhabited by humans, faunus, and potential hunters and huntresses. It could be said that, for once in a while, the city of Vale and its citizens were finally given relief by the peaceful night.

Ever since Vale had been suddenly breached by the dark creatures called Grimm, led by a group of faunus extremists named the White Fang, its people had experienced nothing but anxiety and fear over what would happen next for their dear home. Over a month or so, Vale was slowly healing from the damage caused by the incident, and the authorities had given their best to quell the fears of its inhabitants, and that included seeking help from neighbouring cities to restore Vale to its former glory.

A long time had passed since then, and Vale and its citizens were almost fully recovered from the terrible incident, and with the supposed mastermind to the entire thing behind bars, the people's troubles were finally at an end…

… Except for those of a certain clumsy, blond leader of Team JNPR. Only his troubles were not related to the Breach, but a completely different incident that occurred only last week.

Inside of one of the many cafes of Vale, Jaune Arc was found sitting at one of the small, round tables meant for one or two customers, near the large, glass window. The blue-eyed knight's gaze were aiming downwards at the table, his head clutched by his hands while his elbows are resting against the steel sheet of the table. The atmosphere that he was giving was glooming, but thankfully, no one else was around to experience it, as the cafe had become empty of customers at that time.

Jaune knew that he had been sitting inside of the cafe for a very long time already. Yet, he did not have the strength and confidence to leave just yet. His mind, and by extension, his heart, were tormented by the unexpected situation that he trapped himself into, and there was no clear solution for him to act upon. "… What have I gotten myself into…?" he sighed.

His continuously tormented thoughts were then interrupted, when a voice snapped him out of his bubble. "Sir? Is everything alright here?" Jaune looked up from the table to see a formally dressed young man standing right beside the table, complete with a white shirt, black vest, black tie and a pair of black pants.

The blond knight recognized him as one of the waiters of the cafe, the same waiter who took and gave his order and had constantly gave him refills when he needed.

"I'm here to tell you that it is almost closing time for the cafe. You have been sitting here for quite some time already." said the waiter.

Jaune looked up at the clock somewhere in the room and found that it was almost 9 PM already, more than 6 hours had passed since he came to the cafe. "Oh… S-sorry about that…" Jaune apologized, as he rubbed one side of his face with one hand to rid himself of his anxious expression. "I should have just left after an hour, at least. I didn't know that it's this late already…"

"I just had to come and remind you of the fact, sir."

"Yeah, sorry… Can you just… Can you just give me a couple more minutes here? I don't think I'm ready to leave just yet…"

The waiter raised an eyebrow, as he was just been told to give the blond knight more time inside of the cafe. He knew that Jaune was experiencing some issues, but he didn't know that it would be that serious.

"You seemed very troubled, sir. The fact that you want to stay for a while longer, even though it has already been that long already, should tell you at least that much."

"Is it that obvious?" Jaune asked, before letting out a depressed sigh. "I'm sorry… I got a lot on my mind today… I just needed a little more alone time to take in all of those things that happened to me lately…"

The situation surrounding Jaune had become very apparent to the waiter. Normally, he would acknowledge Jaune's request and leave him be for another short time before the cafe closes, but he had a feeling that Jaune might not want to leave at all, not when his troubles were still grasping onto him.

"Well, sir… How about you try and tell me what's troubling you?"

Jaune looked up to the waiter with his eyes widen in surprise. "What? Wait, you want me to tell you what happened?"

"Indeed." The waiter nodded. "I mean, it is very clear that you've encountered quite a large issue, from what I can tell. I thought that if I leave you alone to deal with it, you'll still feel anxious for another good while. It's not in my requirement to reach out for people, but it's the least that I could do for you, at least as a waiter.

"Um… Well…"

"Or, if you are absolutely sure that you want to keep it to yourself, then it is fine by me. I shall respect your privacy either way."

It took Jaune a few seconds to think on it, about if he should explain the waiter what was plaguing in since last week or not. He gave his answer by shaking his head. "No, it's alright. I think I'll be fine keeping it to myself."

The waiter bowed his head in confirmation. "Very well then. I shall give you a few more minutes then." he said.

As the waited turned himself around and started to walk away from the anxious knight, Jaune suddenly called out to him. "Wait just a sec!" The waiter stopped and turned his head towards him. "Um… Maybe I might feel a little bit better if I just tell you what's going on with me. I think that would be for the best."

The waited turned himself around again and bowed his head once more to Jaune. "Very well. It is as you wish." he said, before he walked over to the table and sat down on the second chair reserved to that table. "Well then, what is it that is troubling you, good sir?"

Jaune let out a sign beforehand, as he was about to tell who he believed to be a trustworthy stranger what exactly was going on to him that got him in this mess. "Well… To give a brief explanation, I'm having some… Well, you know… girl troubles?"

"Oh. So you are having difficulties trying to find yourself a lover, huh?" The waiter chuckled.

"No, no, no. It's not that… Well, ok, maybe it is, but that's not the full story." Jaune explained. "I think what I want to explain is… I'm a… subject of a huge love debacle that really doesn't happen just yet, but will happen if I did something stupid that will threaten to destroy everything in the fires of calamity!"

"A bit exaggerated there, sir. So what you're saying is… You're being chased by a lot of girls?"

"Yeah! Well, no… I mean, you can say that… Actually, no, you can't, but… Aaargh!" Jaune furiously scratched his head as he tried to explain what kind of trouble that he ran himself into. "All I'm saying is that I just learned that a girl likes me!"

The waiter raised his eyebrow. "… And that is an issue because…?"

"Well… The thing is…" Jaune sighed once more, as he began to recall what was it that got him down earlier today. "… It's not just one girl who likes me. I learned that… Well, there are THREE girls who like me. And within the span of a single week."

The waiter stared at the blond knight in surprise, as he didn't expect a huge, but civilized problem coming from Jaune. "Oh… This is rather… interesting."

"You think?" Jaune said. The blue-eyed man then let out a sad chuckle, as a hint of irony got into his head. "Heh… When I first came to Beacon back then, I was so busy trying to flirt with girls to get them to score with me. They always gave me the cold shoulder every time I did that… And now? I just learned that three girls had been crushing on me for a while now, not because I was hitting on them, but because I was being myself…"

The waiter could only nod as he listened to Jaune's retelling of his life, starting from when he came to Beacon.

"Well… I don't think I'm getting anywhere just to tell you briefly my troubles. So… You don't mind if I tell you the story from the very start?" Jauned received a shaking of a head as an answer. Nodding to himself, he took a deep breath before he continued on with his situation. "Well… It all started last week, around the same time as now. At first, I didn't realize that something was going on between me and her. But thinking about it now… I think that was where I started to notice that she had a thing for me, but I didn't realize it until later."

"And this 'she' in question… Would you mind telling me who this person is?"

Jaune closed his eyes, as he thought back at what exactly happened a week ago. The first thing that came to his mind was the appearance of a strong woman, his partner. Long, red flowing hair that was tied into a beautiful pony-tail, a pair of emerald green eyes that gave him an impression of giving life to the earth, all he could think about was how that woman essentially helped him become the kind of person that he wanted to be, while he failed to realize that he was doing the same thing to her.

Jaune reopened his eyes and stared at the waiter, readying his answer.

"… Pyrrha Nikos."

Flashback

Jaune's Point of View

Pyrrha Nikos… To a lot of people, she was recognized as the champion of the Mistral Tournament for four years in the row. Embarrassingly, when I first met her, I only recognized her as the cover girl for Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes cereal. And that was after somebody mentioned it to me. I know, it was stupid of me.

But anyway, where to start…? Pyrrha is my partner. I mean, she's the best partner that I could ever have. She's strong, she's intelligent, she's basically helped me out in a lot of things even before I told her about them. After knowing that she won a tournament four times in a row, her strength and audacity definitely shows when we're in a team, in class, and in sparing sessions. So in other words, Pyrrha is a very strong fighter, capable of dealing the situation herself with no problems.

… Which is everything that I'm not.

Even now, I still don't understand why the Headmaster chose me as the leader of Team JNPR. I mean, if you ask me, I think that Pyrrha should be the leader around here. Or Ren. Or even Nora… Actually, scratch that last past. What I'm saying is that I didn't feel like I earn the position of a leader of the team. I can't even recall a single thing I did that got me into leadership. I honestly thought that me being a leader was a mistake…

… But Pyrrha didn't think so. She always believed that I'm a great leader. Even when I messed up during missions, she still holds onto that belief. And to be honest… That made me feel better. It made me want to work as hard as I can to be the leader that I was chosen to be. Which is why I asked Pyrrha to train me to become a better leader, a better hunter, and most of all… A better hero, like my father, my grandfather, and his father before him. I can't explain enough on why Pyrrha is the best partner that I could ever hope for.

Which makes it all the more surprising that it took me this long to find out that Pyrrha had a thing for me…

Last week, around the same time as today, Pyrrha and I were having a training session together up on the rooftop of our dorm, just as it had always been ever since. That night was when I saw that I finally made progress on my fighting skills, so much so that I actually caught up with Pyrrha's skills in battle. At least, that was before I… Well… I'll get to that later. I still remember how the training went.

Pyrrha and I were facing a couple feet away from each other, wearing our regular outfits and wielding our weapons, as we both got into our fighting stance. Pyrrha had her shield, Akouo, in front of her, while she held her weapon, Milo in its sword form, steady at her side. Meanwhile, I also had my shield up in front of me and readying my trusty sword, Crocea Mors, at my own side.

We both stared at each others' eyes for a short while, waiting for the other to make a move. And as if the same thought got into our minds, we both charged ourselves at each other at the same time.

I made the first offensive move, by swinging my sword downward towards her as soon as we got close. Pyrrha easily blocked my attack with her own and pushed it away, before she thrusted it right at me. I blocked it with my shield, and Pyrrha ended up following it up with a couple slashes at different directions.

At that last swing of her sword, I pushed it off my shield and proceeded to thrust myself and my sword forward her. She simply dodged my attack by side-stepping, as if she didn't need to put any effort against it.

Heh… Too bad for her, I've already got an idea of a follow-up attack. Just as she was side-stepping away from my thrust, I suddenly turned myself towards her and carried my sword with me, forming a horizontal strike. For a split second there, Pyrrha looked surprised, right before she blocked my strike with her shield and then jumped back away from me.

I gave chase and swung my sword at her the instance that I got close. Of course, Pyrrha, as soon as she landed back on the floor, blocked my attack with her sword, and what followed was a series of blades clashing against one another in a lot of ways.

Our last weapon clash happened when both Pyrrha and I swung our weapons downward, and we ended up in a power struggle against each other. I could really feel just how far I've gotten since then, so much that I couldn't stop myself from grinning like and idiot. Pyrrha returned my grin with a smile.

I wanted her to go even further against me, as I was confident enough that I could handle Pyrrha when she was at her best. "Come on, Pyrrha! There's no point in holding back on me now!"

"Oh?" She smirked. "Where did that burst of confidence come from, Jaune? Are you positive that you can handle it?"

"You trained me! You should know the answer by now!"

"Heh! In that case…" Suddenly, Pyrrha pushed me off from the power struggle, as I stumbled backwards. "Here I come!" she said, as she jumped off the ground and dived straight at me, transitioning Milo from a sword to a javelin and holding it backwards as she pointed the blade at me.

When I got back on my feet, I noticed her attempting a dive attack and jumped back. Her javelin hit the floor, but little did I know, she used it as a pole to lift herself up and spin right at me.

I quickly had my shield up at my side to block her spinning kicks, though I ended up getting pushed down. I quickly rolled up and stand on my foot and knee just in time to see her holding her spear backwards and pulling her arm back, before throwing her javelin right at me.

I held my shield up to block the javelin throw, as it was sent flying up. Putting my shield down a little, I noticed that Pyrrha was running right at me, caught her javelin when it fell down at her, and did a huge swing with it. I quickly pull my shield back up to block the attack, only to end up stumbling back from the impact.

I regained my balance and retained my fighting stance, panting heavily as I kept my sword and shield up. Pyrrha, on the other hand, looked like she didn't break any sweat, since she smiled at me and I couldn't find any hint of her being tired.

"How's that, Jaune? Do you think it's too much for you?" Pyrrha asked, still smiling. I could tell that she wanted me to back down from it, since she was worried that I might hurt myself at this rate.

But my confidence didn't go away. I wasn't being arrogant or anything. It was just pure confidence. Like hell would I back down from a fight this intense! I let out a large grin, as I gave her my answer. "No way! This suits me just fine!"

Pyrrha looked like she was almost taken aback by my claim. She sighed a little and shook her head a bit, while still retaining her small smile. "I hope that you know what you're doing, leader." she said, right before she charged right at me, changing her javelin into a sword as she was ready to slash upwards.

At that point, I finally got a hang of how Pyrrha fought. Just as she performed an upward slash at me, I took a step back, with the blade barely missing me. When her sword was still up from the attack, I charged myself forward, thrusting my shield at her when she was still vulnerable.

Pyrrha was pushed back, dragging her feet to stop herself from sliding further back. Before she had a chance to recover, I was already running at her, readying my sword for another slash attack.

Once I performed it, Pyrrha quickly moved aside to dodge it. I then followed it up with a few more slash attacks at different directions, and Pyrrha still dodged all of them. But from the look that she gave me, she was surprised at how fast my attacks went. And in all honesty, I was too. It was just another sign of progress.

When I swung my sword vertically downward, Pyrrha blocked it with her shield and pushed it off, before thrusting her sword right at me. I didn't need to block any of them with my shield. I simply dodged each one of her thrust attacks, now that i got her attack pattern down. When she thrusted her sword right at my chest, I deflected it away with my own.

Pyrrha jumped back from me and, as soon as she touched the ground, quickly lunged at me with her spear ready to fiercely thrust forward. Before her attack could even reach me, I took a big step to the side, barely dodging it, just before I bashed my shield against her back.

"Ack!" Pyrrha coughed as her back was struck by my shield, as she fell on her hands and knees. I then stood behind her as she was trying to catch her breath. And just as I was expecting it, she swung Milo at me while she was down, but I deflected it, and ended up disarming her as it was sent flying and sliding across the ground away from us.

She turned herself around as she found herself at my mercy, with my sword pointing at her, as I stood victorious. I couldn't help but let out a huge grin at her, as I finally won against my partner. "Hah…! Yeah….! I did it…!"

Pyrrha smiled. "So is this it? Is this really your victory?"

"You bet it is! I can't believe that I finally caught up to you, Pyrrha! I'm really feeling it now!" I couldn't contain my excitement over my winning over Pyrrha. Unfortunately, it was then that I had my guard down.

Pyrrha kept smiling at me, and before I knew it, she moved and spun her kicks at my legs, as I yelped and felt myself tripping. I fell flat on my back as I let out a pained groan, wincing in pain. The next thing I saw was Pyrrha standing over my fallen body, as she gave me a smile that was sly and apologetic at the same time, it looked like.

"Sorry, Jaune." Pyrrha said. "But always remember. Don't let your guard down. The moment that you get overconfident is when you're at your most vulnerable. That's how you didn't expect me to make a surprise attack on you."

"Ohh…! That really bites…!" I groaned, as I realized that I messed up big time when I had to yap over how I thought that I beat Pyrrha in a sparring match.

Pyrrha lent her hand to me, as I took it and she pulled me off from the ground. Our sparring match was over, so I retracted my shield into its sheath form and slid my sword into it, while Pyrrha walked over to pick up Milo.

As she picked it up and attached both her weapon and shield on her back, she turned towards me as she said, "Again… I'm sorry." At that time, I was a little confused as to why Pyrrha needed to apologize to me the second time. Then she gave me the answer to my question. "You said that I shouldn't hold back on you this time around. But the truth is… I was still holding back."

"Wait, what?"

"I mean, it's true that you've gotten better since last time, but I thought to myself that maybe you weren't ready to take me on at my best. And seeing how our match went, I think I've made the right choice."

Suddenly, my mood pretty much deflated, as my body went limp from the harsh truth coming from Pyrrha. "Urgh… Figures… I guess I was overconfident to think that I finally got up to your level, Pyrrha…"

"Hey, it's not the result of the battle that matters here. It's the progress that you have shown from the match, Jaune."

"Yeah, I guess…" I said, still feeling down that I still wasn't able to keep up with her. But my mood suddenly brightened, when I realized what my progress from our training meant. "Wait, that's a good thing! I really did felt myself improving! I think I might be skilled enough to take on 4 or 5 Beowolves at the same time! I'm one step closer to becoming a better leader…!"

Pyrrha giggled as she watched me get excited over becoming better and better each time. But then, she gasped when she noticed something. "Jaune!"

"Huh?" I looked at her confusingly, not knowing why she called out to me like that. Then, I felt something warm leaking down across my cheek, and when I put my fingers up to wipe it off, I saw that my fingers were stained with blood. I realized that I had a cut on my cheek.

"Jaune, are you alright?" Pyrrha asked as she quickly walked over to my side, worried about my well-being. She started examining the cut on my cheek, not unlike how my mother did back then, and she turned her worried gaze at me. "Jaune, have you ever noticed that your Aura was running low?"

"Oh, uh… Well…" I didn't noticed how much Aura I had left in me today. So I pulled out my scroll, opened it up, and it was displaying the amount of Aura of Team JNPR. My Aura was pretty much empty. "Oh wow… I-I guess it must have ran out during our sparring match…"

"Jaune, I told you that it wasn't a good time for us to spare tonight after we had our sparring session in class!" Pyrrha scolded me, as she glared at me for recklessly wanting to spar with her like that. But then, her expression softened and she looked guilty. "No… No, this is my fault… If I had noticed that you were running out of Aura, I wouldn't have giving you such a rough time… I'm sorry, Jaune…"

"No, no! It's not your fault, Pyrrha!" I exclaimed, as I tried to cheer her up. After all, it was my idea that we should spar that night without ever knowing how much Aura I had left. "I mean, you're right! I shouldn't have convinced you to train me tonight. I was being an idiot for not knowing. And besides! Once my Aura replenishes, my cut will be all healed! So there's no need to worry about me."

Even when I tried my best to cheer her up, Pyrrha still looked ashamed of herself, since she lowered her gaze away from me. "Jaune… I… If anything would ever happen to you, I… I don't know what I would do… I don't want to see you hurt…"

"Pyrrha…" She was really worried about my safety. Whether it was during missions or sparring matches or anything else, Pyrrha would always worry about me, no matter the circumstances. It's always been like this ever since we became a team.

But shouldn't a leader risk his life to protect his teammates? Shouldn't a leader be willing to sacrifice his well-being to ensure that his teammates are safe? At least, that's what I've heard. But I guess Pyrrha didn't believe any of that. She wanted to see me safe and sound. And… I guess she might be right about that.

I didn't want to see her sad like that. So I placed both of my hands on her shoulders and gave her a look of confidence. "Pyrrha… You don't have to worry about it. We're a team now. And it's our job to perform our duties as hunters, and it's also our job to make sure that our teammates are safe. So as long as I'm around, and so long as you, Ren and Nora are around, nothing is going to happen to us. I give you my word."

"Jaune…" Pyrrha moved her gaze up at me and stared right into my eyes. The night was silent, the atmosphere was soothing, and the moon was shining directly onto the school grounds.

If I wasn't a blind idiot back then, I would have noticed something in Pyrrha's behaviour. She slowly had her hands on my chest as she continued to look at me deeply in the eye. It looked as if our face have gotten closer and closer towards one another, as if… And I was still a blind idiot for not noticing what was going on.

Pyrrha blinked and pulled herself away, seemingly blushing, as she turned away from me. "O-oh, that's right! It's late already. And we still have a mission to take care of tomorrow."

"Oh, right! The mission! I completely forgot about it!" I said.

"Well… We better get back to our dorm room, shall we?" Pyrrha asked. I nodded in agreement. Pyrrha then started to walk towards the door, while I still stood where I was. Just before reaching the door, Pyrrha stopped and, without turning to face me, asked, "Jaune… Will you promise me that you won't get hurt no matter what…?"

"Huh? Well, of course I will! I already gave you my word, remember?"

"Hm… Then, I'll keep your word for it, Jaune…" she said, as she turned her head towards me and gave me one of the sweetest smiles that I ever got from her. She then went back to walking towards the door, as she went back inside.

I then followed her suite, as I in turn went back inside of the dorm to join Pyrrha back to our room, where Ren and Nora were most likely already gone to sleep.

The next day would be a very eventful moment for Team JNPR, once we start our mission. It would be especially eventful for both Pyrrha and I….

According to the mission briefing, we were tasked to provide a safe passage between neighbouring villages located in the far east of Vale, when reports indicated that a pack of Grimm were sighted within the passage, making the travel between the two villages pretty difficult.

There was only one path that connects the two villages, and it was located inside of a dense forest, where Grimm are usually found. Before the mission was issued, there wasn't any problems traveling from one village to another. But according to the briefing, the Grimm's behaviour shifted, and they will attack any and all travellers walking down the single path.

It was considered as a pretty hard mission, especially for first-year students like us. I have to agree, since I don't necessarily want to deal with a group of Grimm that large, except during unlucky circumstances. But Pyrrha, Ren and Nora were pretty confident that they could handle it. So in that case, I should be too. And that was how we accepted the mission.

After an… Urgh… agonizing trip on an airship…. because of my motion sickness… And after a bit of rest in one of the neighbouring villages… Again, because of my motion sickness… Team JNPR finally set off down the road inside of the forest, keeping our eyes peeled for Grimm and seek them out when necessary.

… But for Nora's case, she'd rather scream her lungs out for Grimm, trying to get their attention. I was pretty tensed every time she did that…

"Here, Grimmy, Grimmy, Grimmy!" Nora chanted, as we continued to walk down the road while she was trying to bait the Grimm into coming there. "Come here, Grimmy, Grimmy, Grimmy! Look! We're four big, mouth-watering, sweet walking chunks of meat trespassing your home! I know you want us! So come and get us!" Urgh… I still have shivers running down my spine every time Nora was trying to alert the Grimm…

"Nora," Ren spoke, apparently sharing my discomfort about that… I think. "I don't think it's a good idea to bait the Grimm into coming here. It'll be especially unwise if they end up surrounding us on all sides as a result."

"Oh come on, Ren! When did we ever let that stop us? I say we grab their attention quick, split them between us, smash their brains in one by one, and everybody will be happy! No more complaining about the big, scary Grimm!"

"While your strategy is admirable, Nora," Pyrrha said. "I think it's a good idea if we just sneak in quietly and take them down one at the time without alerting them of our presence. And just as Ren said, we won't be able to handle all of them if we're surrounded."

"Y-yeah, they're right, you know!" I said, trying hard not to stutter in fear at our worse case scenario. "I mean, if any of us get cornered by their big numbers, it'll be pretty bad for any of us… Um, especially me…"

I let out a sigh, as I was still feeling startled by the whole thing. Then, a hand was placed on my shoulder and I turned me to see Ren giving me a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Jaune. If we ever get caught up in that situation, we'll just have to give it our best to quell the danger. Besides, I've seen that you made some improvements for the past few weeks. Am I right to assume that you can handle a few Grimm on your own?"

I felt reassured that Ren trusted me to deal with a couple of monsters myself. Of course I've gotten better than last time! I've had Pyrrha to thank for, after all! "Yeah… You're right, Ren! I'm feeling way more confident than I was before. So you don't have to worry about me." I said to Ren, before I turned my head to look at Pyrrha, who gave me another one of her sweet smiles. I guess that she thought so too.

"Sneaking behind them monsters before they know what's coming? Hmmmmm, sounds boring, but if Ren wants it like this, then I'm a-okay!" Nora exclaimed, without letting up her enthusiasm even once. I guess if you're as hyperactive as she is, then you'll stay positive non-stop too.

So we continued to walk down the road inside of the big forest for another good while. Since we'd been quiet for a good while and were busy trying to fein Grimm in a forest that dense, I decided to speak up. "So, um… I've been meaning to ask, what's up with the Grimm suddenly attacking innocent bystanders just recently? If they're attacking just now, why didn't they do it earlier?"

"Hmm… Perhaps it's the result of the seasonal change." Ren replied, as he was trying to find a logical explanation to that. "It might explain why the Grimm felt the need to attack now instead of earlier in the year. As the season progresses, animals tend to adapt to the change of time, such as hibernation. I guess the same thing can be applied to Grimm. Or perhaps it's because the villages have become more advanced in technology, which might result in their behaving aggressively. Though, it doesn't explain why they didn't focus their attack on…"

Ren's hypothesis was halted when Pyrrha suddenly moved her arm right in front of us, signalling us to stop right there. "Shh. Can you hear that?" Pyrrha whispered loud enough for us to hear.

I raised an eyebrow, as I got confused as to why Pyrrha was asking us that. When I looked at the other two, I noticed that both Ren and Nora were also alerted. My confusion quickly died down, when I heard the rustling of bushes from a distance, as I got startled and scanned the area around quickly.

"… Grimm?" I asked Pyrrha, and she gave me a nod as a reply. Now knowing that at least one of the monsters were around, my hand grasped the hilt of Crocea Mors, as my eyes continued to search for Grimm. Pyrrha had Milo pulled out from her back, while Ren and Nora were still searching for the enemy with their eyes.

Another rustling of the bushes was heard, and this time, it was near. I couldn't exactly identify where the sound came from. My eyes were solely focused on finding even a small glimpse of a dark furred creature within the deep woods. The suspense was agonizing, as I had no way of knowing exactly when they would strike.

I heard another rustling of the bushes. And this time, it came from behind. When I quickly turned around, a creature in black fur and bonelike spines along its body already jumped out from its hiding place and was already diving straight at the team, its claws ready to strike. It was a Beowolf.

I realized too late that it was aiming at Ren, who still had his back turned and seemingly failed to realize that the Beowolf was already attacking. Just when I thought that I was too late to warn him, as the werewolf monster was about to sink its claws into him, Ren quickly turned around and slay the monster in two with his twin knives, Storm Flower.

"They're here!" Ren alerted us, as the sounds of bushes rustling came from all directions. I knew what it meant. I pulled out my sword in my hand and pulled out my shield, while Pyrrha took out Akouo as well. Nora took out her weapon, Magnhild, in its grenade launcher mode as she took aim.

One by one, a pair of red eyes appeared in the shadows of the woods, and as the sound got closer and closer, more Beowolves started to come out of hiding. And I realized that we'd just entered our worse case scenario: we were surrounded.

"Yay! They all come here to play! This is gonna be good!" Nora cheered.

"So much for our stealth strategy, huh, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked me, though she didn't look worried in the slightest, if her smirk was any indication.

Honestly, I got a bit intimidated by the amount of Beowolves that surrounded us in a huge pack. But I then took a deep breath, as I tried to compose myself. We'd just entered a bad situation, but that didn't mean that we would back down from a fight. "Alright, here's the plan. Ren, Nora. You two deal with half of the group on your side, while Pyrrha and I deal with the other half on our side. Don't let any of them corner you, got it?" I gave the order to the team.

"Gotcha, leader!" Nora exclaimed.

"Understood!" Ren replied.

"Got it, Jaune." Pyrrha said.

We all got into our fighting stances, as we kept out eyes peeled from any sudden movements from the Beowolves. We kept our stances steady, as we prepared ourselves to charge in at any given opening.

One brisk movement from a Beowolf was all it took before we began our attack. "Move!" With that, both pairs of the team charged in towards our assigned targets.

I charged at the first Beowolf that I saw and raised my sword up to attack. The Beowolf did the same thing, with its claws ready to strike. When it swiped them towards me, I blocked them with my shield and threw a slash attack at it. I managed to hit it, but the cut was too shallow, and it stumbled back a little before it roared at me.

It took a big step forward and swung its arm horizontally at me. I rolled out of the way from the attack and got back on my feet just in time for me to see that the monster was charging at me with its fangs ready to gnaw at me.

I thrusted my shield against its face, stopping it from its tracks, pushed it off and went for the kill, as I made a diagonal slash attack and cut the beast in two.

Just behind the fallen Beowolf, two more came running at me with their claws up. I moved back a little before I proceeded to just barely dodge and block their barrages of claw attacks. I wasn't used to evading attacks from two opponents at the same time, so I was surprised that I barely got out of there without a scratch.

When a small window of opening was shown to me, I lunged forward and tried to strike either one of the two monsters. They both jumped to the opposite sides as I swung at nothing. Looking to my right, one of the Beowolves lunged right at me with its jaws opened, threaten to chomp on my head. I ducked down to avoid the lunge attack and, once the beast was directly above me, swung my sword high, slashing the beast in two.

When I turned to my left, the second Beowolf was already close to me, and was about to swing its claws down. I jumped back to dodge it, and once my feet touch the ground, I charged right at it, while it prepared to intercept me with another of its claw attack.

I didn't stop running at it, blocked its attack with my shield, and skewered it right through with my sword. I pulled it out by twisting and slashing through its side, as the beast collapsed to the ground.

A growl from behind got my attention, as I turned myself around and noticed that yet another Beowolf was already throwing its fangs at my face. I blocked them with my sword, and soon found myself in a power struggle with my sword still in the jaws of the monster.

I was slowly losing the power struggle when the Beowolf had both of its paws pushing against my sword. It took me just a few short seconds before I found something that hopefully might work. I took a big step back, pulled my sword off of its mouth as it stumbled forward, and decapitated its head clean as quickly as possible.

As the body of my latest opponent fell to the ground, I was already panting from exhaustion, but I could still hold my weapons up to fight on. When I turned to see how Pyrrha was doing, I found that, of course, she did way better than me.

She already took down at least three Beowolves more than I did. When I first saw her, she was already diving down at one of the Beowolves and impaled it to the ground with Milo. Using her javelin as a pole, she spun around and kicked the three surrounding Beowolves before she touched the ground and took her weapon out of the monster's corpse.

One of the three Beowolves got up and tried to sink its claws into her. But Pyrrha quickly swiped its paw off before stabbing it right in the chest. She sliced through it to the side and continued her swing to slay the other unsuspecting beast behind her.

She turned her head to the side and saw that the third beast was running at her to attack. She walked backwards as she dodged and blocked every single one of its attacks, and when the monster threw its attack at her legs, she did a somersault kick to its chin, causing it to stumble back. She then moved forward and shoved the beast to the ground with her shield, before she jumped and impaled it right there.

Pulling Milo out of it, she quickly turned and noticed that another Beowolf was diving at her, its paws ready to slam her down. She dodged its fierce attack by back flipping and landing at a distance away from it, right in front of yet another one of those beasts who was about to gnaw at her back.

She held her javelin up, its bottom facing the beast coming from the rear, and shot out a bullet right in its face, while she propelled herself forward from the recoil. Her javelin then plunged through the beast in front of her, as she dragged both herself and her fallen opponent forward, right into another small crowd of those monsters.

She let out a yell, as she lifted the corpse still impaled in her javelin up, and slammed it down against a Beowolf behind her like a hammer, then did the same with another in front. Then, she swung the corpse around, hitting all the other surrounding beasts, before she threw it high in the air, with her javelin pulled out of it.

When the corpse fell to the same level as her, she pushed it off with Akouo and sent it flying at the other group of those beasts, sending them tumbling across the ground.

A roar got her to turn around to see three Beowolves jumping in the air, as they were preparing to dive down and strike at her. She turned Milo from a javelin to a rifle as she took aim, shooting down two of the attacking beasts from the air.

Just as the remaining Beowolf was about to slam its paws down at her, she moved her shield up as she blocked the powerful attack. The strength of the attack pushed her down to one knee, but she quickly gained more strength, as she pushed the beast off of her. And just before the beast could recover, Pyrrha pressed the barrel against the underside of its head and shot its skull right through, as its body collapsed.

All the while, I was just standing there, watching in awe at how she fought against say that Pyrrha was better than me in every way would be an understatement. She took down dozens of enemies in one fell swoop while I struggled to every beat only four of them. But even so, I was lucky to have her as my partner. I just wished that I could have done better so I wouldn't be much of a burden to her.

She stood up from the ground as she turned her head to look at me. A smile appeared on her face, but it was quickly dropped when she adopted a worried expression. "Jaune!" she called out to me, as she threw her shield right at me… Or so I thought.

"Whoa!" I yelped as I ducked down to dodge the shield throw. When her shield missed me, a sound of impact was heard and a dazed growl came from behind. I turned my head back to see that there was a Beowolf creeping behind me before it got stunned by the shield throw.

I quickly moved in the attack and slashed the beast across its I turned around to thank Pyrrha for the help, I noticed that she also had a Beowolf creeping behind her. I ran as fast as I can towards the two, as I shouted out, "Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha nodded and she crouched down, as she already understood what was going on. I jumped over her and blocked the rear Beowolf's claw attack just in time, and pushed the beast away from the both of us with my shield.

As I walked towards the stumbling beast, it regained its ground and tried to claw at me from the side. I blocked it with my shield again and slashed through one of its legs, causing it to fall on its knee. When the beast tried to attack the second time, I sliced off its attacking arm. The Beowolf howled in pain, trying to collect itself.

I was about to take it down there, and I even had my sword up to strike. But then, a javelin suddenly came from the sky and pierced through its mouth and pinned it down to the ground. I got a bit disappointed that Pyrrha got the kill before I could, but who am I to complain?

Pyrrha landed right next to the fallen monster, as she pulled Milo out of it. She then turned to me as she flashed another one of her sweet smiles at me. "Looks like we're even now." she said.

"Hah…! It sure does look like it…" I said, still a bit out of breath from the battle. I turned to see the other side of the battle where Ren and Nora were, and it looked like they fared as well as Pyrrha did.

Their body count was just as big as Pyrrha's. Ren was shooting bullets at the group with Storm Flower, and performed a quick slash with them when one or two of them got close before resuming his shooting. When one of them appeared behind him to sneak in a strike, Nora came in and bashed it down with Magnhild, now in its hammer form. It got Ren's attention as he turned to see what happened.

Once Nora was done with the beast attacking Ren, she gave him a huge grin, as he returned it with a small smile. If you're anywhere near them, you can definitely feel the strong bond between them without them even doing anything to show it.

"It doesn't look like Ren and Nora need our help right now." I said while smiling at the two.

"It seems so." Pyrrha replied.

A single growl got our attention, as we both turned and got back into our fighting stances. A lone Beowolf, presumably the last one on our side, stood menacingly, roaring at its two opponents.

Heh! Only one? Pyrrha and I can take it down no problem! That was what I thought. And before Pyrrha and I could move in to the attack, something big suddenly appeared behind the beast, which made us hesitated.

It looked like the Beowolf also felt something behind it. When it turned its head to look, it was suddenly sent flying to an even deeper part of the forest. We watched it as it happened, before our gazes were shifted back at the large being.

What stood before us was a huge, hulking beast in black fur, with more bone-like spines popping along its body than the Beowolves themselves. Its claws were larger and sharper, its spines were also strikingly sharp, and its skull looked a lot more menacing. In other words, it looked a like a bigger, badder Beowolf.

"W-whoa…!" I gasped, a bit intimidated by the newly-appeared monster's looks. "That Grimm…! I-is that…?"

"The leader of the pack?" Pyrrha finished my sentence for me before nodding. "Yeah, definitely."

The larger Beowolf, whom I like to call Chief Wolf, since… Well, I haven't look it up yet… The monster let out a huge howl to the sky, and the power of its shout was enough to create a gust of wind pushing against us, but we maintained our positions. When it was down with its howl, it stared down at us with its big, scary red eyes, trying to freeze us in fear.

I got a bit affected by it, but remembering my training, I felt like I could handle that hulking beast. "Ok, this is it! Let's take it down, Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha looked at me with a worried expression on her face. "What? Jaune, are you sure that you can…?"

"It's fine! I trained me for this, remember? I'm sure the both of us together can beat this Chief Wolf! And besides, once we beat it, all the other Beowolves will back off for sure!"

"Jaune…" Pyrrha was still worried about me. I couldn't blame her for that, of course. "This isn't an ordinary Grimm that we're facing… If anything should happen to you…"

"It won't, Pyrrha. If you're with me, there's nothing that can harm us. Trust me on this." I gave Pyrrha a reassuring smile, as I felt confident that we could take down the boss together with no strings attached.

Pyrrha still looked worried, but I was still able to convince her to go on with it. "If you're sure, Jaune…" she said, before turning her gaze back at the beast. I did the same too, as the both of us were facing the leader of the pack head on.

With a short roar at us, the Chief Wolf plunged its claws into the ground. It took me a while to realize what it was actually doing, as I watched it trying to pull against the earth. A large chunk of the ground started to break itself apart, and with a forceful pull, the chief sent the chunk flying at us.

Both Pyrrha and I already anticipated the attack, and we dodged out of the way in opposite sides. As I rolled out and got back on my feet, the large monster was already charging at me with its gaping mouth. I once again rolled out of the way before it could take a bite out of me, and as I was just about to stand my ground again, the beast flung its huge arm at me, which I barely blocked with my shield.

The impact sent me stumbling back, almost tripping myself in the process. The big monster moved forward and swung its other arm at me, in which I barely evaded it by jumping to the side before I could recover from the previous attack.

I fell to my hands and knees in the process, and I turned my head to look at the beast just in time to see that it was about to slam its huge paw down at me. I rolled my own body out of the way, got moved slightly further away from the shockwave created the slamming of the paw, and I quickly got up with my sword supporting me on the way up.

When I thought that I found a chance to attack, I ran towards the beast's arm that is still on the ground, and I lunged at it while preparing a downward slash. However, the Chief Wolf pulled its arm back just in time, as I only struck the earth, and it rammed into me with its head.

I was sent flying and rolling across the ground before stopping with my front on the ground. As I struggled to get back up, my head moved up to look at the beast, as it was ready to charge at me once more. But then, three subsequent bullets hit the beast by the arm, as it and I turned our heads to see where the bullets came from.

Just a few feet away from us, Pyrrha stood there with her rifle aimed at the chief, as smoke came out of the barrel. "Over here!" she yelled at the beast, grabbing its attention.

The Chief Wolf growled as it set its sights on Pyrrha, charging at it with its claws ready to strike. As she switched her rifle into a sword, she jumped back from the initial attack, and when the beast tried to slam its other paw down at her, she slightly side-stepped out of the way, and plunged her sword into its arm and sliced across.

As the large monster moved back from her, she answered by charging in. It tried to halt her movement by swinging its arm at her, but she evaded it by jumping, and ended up resuming her dash on its arm, slashing across the arm a couple of times.

When she stopped near its head and was about to shove her blade right into its skull, the beast shook its body, causing her to lose her balance. It then grabbed her by the legs and threw her aside, where she stopped herself from dragging further into the ground by pressing her feet into it and stabbing it with her sword.

I continued to watch her battle against the huge beast until I finally got up from the ground, ready to fight back. "Pyrrha, hang on!" I yelled out to her, as I was about to dash into battle.

"No, stay back!" Pyrrha's warning stopped my movement, as I looked at her incredulously. "Don't go anywhere near that thing, Jaune!"

"But, Pyrrha, I can't let you fight it alone!"

"It's still too dangerous for you to fight it! I can't risk it! Just stay back and find some cover!"

"But…!" Before I could argue with her demands, the beast was already running at her with a fearsome roar. "Pyrrha!" I ended up having to watch her fight the monster alone, worrying.

As the beast got close to her, I tried to do another arm swing at her, and she backflipped out of the way. It moved in once more with another swinging of the arm, and Pyrrha blocked it with her shield. Pyrrha then charged in, just as the beast tried to grab her with both of its paws, but failed when she slid right under its belly.

When she got behind it, she hacked into its tail, earning her a pained growl from the beast. It turned itself around and tried to skewer her with its claws, but Pyrrha merely blocked it with her shield, even though her feet was sliding back the force of its arm.

She managed to stop herself from sliding further, as she matched her strength with that of the beast and locked themselves in a struggle. The Chief Wolf had its paws grasping the whole shield, but Pyrrha turned Milo into a javelin and stabbed its paw through the upper concave hole of her shield.

The beast stumbled back in pain, waving its injured paw. Pyrrha took it as her chance to deal a fatal blow, as she held her javelin backwards and pulled it back. She took aim and threw Milo at the beast's open spot, shooting a bullet from the bottom to give the javelin more momentum.

Seeing her reacting with surprise, she probably didn't expect the beast to recover and swiftly deflect Milo from its trajectory. It gave Pyrrha a menacing and pissed-off glare, before it rammed its head against her.

Pyrrha blocked its ram attack with her shield, while she was being pushed back from the force. She had yet another look of surprise, when the chief lifted its head up and launched her in the air.

I watched in horror as Pyrrha was launched up and started to fall back towards the ground. I was really hoping that she had something else planned to get back at the beast, but nothing happened. Instead, when Pyrrha fell to the beast's height, it slammed its paw against her and sent her crashing into the ground, creating a cloud of smoke.

"Pyrrha!" I cried out for her, as the dust cleared. Pyrrha was laying on her side, on top of a small crater made from the crash. She tried to get up from the ground, but failed when her arm gave out and she fell back on the ground.

I looked in horror as Pyrrha laid weakened, as the large beast slowly walked over to her fallen body. When i turned my head to look at where Ren and Nora were, I saw that they were still dealing with a handful of Beowolves on their side, not knowing what was going on over on our own side.

The Chief Wolf grabbed Pyrrha by her legs and lifted her up from the ground while she was still barely conscious. It lifted her close to its snout, as it took a whiff of her scent before opening its jaws, as if to take a bite out of her.

"Ngh!" I gritted my teeth, as I couldn't bear to stand still and wait any longer. I charged in behind the huge beast and stabbed it from the back. The chief let out a pained growl, as it inadvertently let go of Pyrrha and sent her sliding a distance away from it. It turned its head back to look at me, as I pulled Crocea Mors out. It swung its arm at me as I was sent back with my shield up just in time.

Stopping myself from moving back even further, I looked at the huge beast, as it turned to face me. I took up my combat stance as I try to battle the beast myself.

"Jaune…!" I heard Pyrrha calling out to me, as I moved my gaze to where Pyrrha was and saw that she just recovered from her crash and had her head lifted up to me.

There was no way that I could take down the beast alone. We needed the entire team to beat it. So I shouted my order out to her. "Pyrrha! Go and get Ren and Nora! I'll stall that thing for you!"

"Jaune, no…!" she protested. "You'll be in danger…! You can't fight it like this…!"

"Trust me! I'll be fine! Just go get the others!"

Pyrrha still gave me worried expression, before she reluctantly nodded in understanding. She got herself up from the ground and ran towards where Ren and Nora were.

Seeing that Pyrrha was at least safe from harm, I shifted my gaze back at the beast, as it growled in anger. "Alright…! It's just you and me now!"

The Chief Wolf roared in response, and ran straight at me. I took a moment to move back, with my shield up to block any attacks that it would give me. The beast went for a series of claw attacks, all of which I blocked, though I was pushed back each time from their power.

When the monster went for a big horizontal slash at me, I ducked down from the attack, then charged in to slice into one of its legs. It retaliated by kicking me away with the same leg.

I fell flat on my back, complete with a groan, as I winced in pain. When I looked up, I found that the beast was standing right above me, as it pulled its arm back to stab me with its claws. I rolled out of the way and continued to do so when it continually tried to impale my body.

When the attack stopped and I finally got up on a foot and knee, the beast still had its claws plunged into the ground with one paw. And then, it pulled out a chunk of the earth in its hold, and threw it right at me.

I jumped out of the way of the rock throw, did it again when the beast threw another one at me, and once more the third time.

The three rock throws created a cloud of dust that surrounded the area, obscuring my vision just a bit. A silhouette of the beast was charging at me through the dust cloud, and I had my shield up in preparation of its next move.

As the dust slowly cleared, the Chief Wolf threw an upward claw slash at me. Despite me blocking the attack, I was suddenly been pushed back and I lost grip of my shield, as it flew off of my arm and away from me.

I crashed on my back, groaned in response, and quickly got up on my feet. Facing the beast once more, I held my sword in front of me with my two hands, as I panted heavily from exhaustion. The beast, despite receiving several injuries, acted like it was perfectly fine.

I could feel my arms shaking as I struggled to keep my sword up. A combination of exhaustion and fear took over my whole body, as it was very clear to me that I didn't stand a chance against the Chief Wolf.

But I didn't let it stop me. I still held my ground, and I was determined to keep fighting the beast no matter what, at least until I got help. I needed to keep holding it off for a little while longer.

I took a deep breath, as I tried to stop myself from shaking any more. In my mind, I told myself to calm down and stay focus. To let your exhaustion and fear get the better of you is to lose a battle. Remember what Pyrrha taught you. Stay calm and focus. Analyze your enemy's movements. And once an opening is presented to you, strike forward.

I kept recalling how our training went, and what Pyrrha taught me. I continued to stare at the beast while paying attention to how it moved. I gripped the hilt of Crocea Mors tight, as I waited for an opportunity to move forward.

The Chief Wolf roared at me, as it charged in. I still stood my ground, not doing anything until the last second. When it got closer and closer, I saw that it had its arm pulled back to skewer me.

Now is my chance! The moment that it threw its claws forward, I instinctively tilted my body to evade the attack. At that single instance, I let out a battle cry and swung my sword upward at its arm, slicing it off clean.

The beast howled in pain, as it had its arm sliced off of it. Seeing the result of my actions, I couldn't help but let out a smile. I did it! I actually did it! My training finally paid off! I actually have a chance to beat this thing! If I keep this up, I won't need any help! I can do this!

… My overconfidence turned out to be my fatal mistake, as I let my guard down.

I failed to realize that the large beast threw its other claws at me, as my eyes noticed them too late.

The next thing I knew, I was sent flying back. Pain was surging throughout my entire body. And blood was spewing out of my fresh wounds.

"JAUNE!" I heard Pyrrha's cry of anguish. I couldn't even imagine how horrified she was. To see me gravely injured. Right before her very eyes…

My body rolled out across the ground before stopping with my back laid flat on the dirt. My strength was rapidly fading. I could no longer lift my sword up to protect myself. All I could do was turning my head towards the beast as I watch it come closer to my fallen body.

The Chief Wolf gave me an intense death glare. It was no wonder, since I cut its arm off. I couldn't do anything else to keep on fighting. I was at the beast's mercy.

I thought that that was how I die. My only thoughts were regrets. How stupid I was to let down my guard because of my overconfidence. How I basically let my team down. How I let my family down. How I let everyone down… How I let Pyrrha down because of my stupidity…

The big monster jumped off from the air and was diving straight at me, with its only claws ready to impale me right through. I continued to watch, as I faced my inevitable death at its claws…

… But it never came.

What happened next was that Akouo was thrown right at the diving beast, effectively shoving it off of its path and away from where I was. I felt a pair of arms sliding under me, as someone cradled my body into their arms. I turned my head and saw that it was Pyrrha.

"Jaune…! Jaune…! Can you hear me…?" Pyrrha desperately called out to me, as tears formed in her eyes. It broke my heart to see her sad like that…

"Pyr… rha….!" I struggled to say her name, before I coughed out blood from my mouth.

"Don't speak…! Please…! Just hang on…! Please…!" she tearfully begged.

I struggled to keep my eyes open. The pain from my clawed wounds became too much for me to bear. Then, a blur of green and a combination of grey, pink and orange went past my sight, as I followed it with my eyes and saw that Ren and Nora were dashing straight at the big boss itself, with their weapons ready to strike it down.

The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Pyrrha's tearful face, as she continually begged me to not leave her…

I thought that I was dead at that point. I felt that my injuries were too deep for me to handle. But Lady Luck was very forgiving, as my consciousness was returned to me.

My eyes slowly opened, and my vision was blurred for a moment. When my vision got adjusted, the first thing I saw was Pyrrha's distressed face, before her expression changed from that of sweet relief. "Jaune…!"

"… Pyrrha…?" Her name was the first thing that came out of my lips. Pyrrha had her body leaned over mine, as I was laying on something soft.

"Wakey wakey, sleepyhead!" I heard Nora's voice calling out to me. I looked over and saw that Ren and Nora were standing right besides Pyrrha, as they each gave me a relieved smile.

"Ren… Nora…" I said their names. When I looked at my surroundings, I noticed that I was laying on a bench inside of a wide metal hallway complete with windows, and I felt that the whole thing was moving. I realized that we were inside of the airship.

When I looked down at myself, I was topless, with only bandages to cover most of my body.

"… What happened…? Did we… win…?" I asked the team.

"Yep! We did!" Nora nodded enthusiastically. "We got the Grimm's attention quick, split them between us, smashed their brains in one by one, and everyone is happy! No more complaining about the big, scary Grimm!"

"Nora and I took down the leader of the group, while Pyrrha tended to your wounds." Ren explained. "The other remaining Beowolves ran away afterwards. I think it's safe to say that the mission was a success."

"So… We finished the mission…" A smile slowly appeared on my face, knowing that we did it.

"It was a close call, though. If we hadn't came as soon as we did, I couldn't imagine what would happen afterwards. We thought that we lost you for sure…"

"Well… Good thing I'm still in one piece…" I tried to lift myself off the bench, until I groaned in pain when my bandaged wounds started acting up. Pyrrha gently pushed me back down on the bench.

"Don't get up just yet, Jaune." Ren told me. "You're still recovering from your injuries. Until we get back to Beacon, it's better if you rest there for a little while longer."

"Yeah! So don't move a muscle, or else, I'll break your legs!" Nora threatened while still keeping her enthusiastic tone. I chuckled as I knew that meant that she was worried about my wellbeing.

"Alright, you guys… I'll stay put until then…"

Pyrrha turned to the others as she told them, "I'll stay here with Jaune. Someone needs to tend to him while he's like this."

Both Ren and Nora nodded in response, and they both walked away, leaving both Pyrrha and I alone.

I was happy that I was still alive. I was especially happy that everyone made it out okay. No wonder it was considered a pretty difficult mission for us first-year students. But we did it. We actually completed the mission.

But then, I thought back at what happened back there. How the mission went. How the battle went. How I basically screwed up… How Pyrrha was worried about me to death…

"… Pyrrha?" I called out her name, as she turned her head back to me. "I… screwed up big time, didn't I?"

"Jaune?"

"I thought that I could handle it… I thought that I could take down that big monster… We've been training together for so many months, and I thought that I was finally acting like the leader that I was chosen to be… But I let my overconfidence get the better of me… And here am I, wrapped in bandages, while you guys are worried sick about me… I really screwed up this time…"

"No, don't blame yourself for that!" Pyrrha said. "It's not your fault that everything happened as it did. In fact, there was never any fault to be had. You've shown that you're capable of fighting against Grimm. You were brave enough to fight against a powerful enemy. You even saved my life regardless of the danger…"

"But still, I…" I trailed off, as something else came into my mind. Something very important that I made with Pyrrha on the previous night. Regret filled my thoughts, as I turned my head away in shame. "I… I'm sorry, Pyrrha…"

"For what?"

"For… For not being able to keep my promise… I gave you my word that I won't get hurt no matter what… I promised you that I'll come out unscathed… And now, look at me… You were worried about my safety, and I just threw it out of the window carelessly… I… I broke our promise… And I can't forgive myself for that…"

"It doesn't matter!" Pyrrha yelled, as she grasped my hand in both of hers, and moved it close to her. "It's true that I was worried about you… It's true that I feared the worst of what will happen to you… I truly didn't want to see you hurt…! But…!" My head slowly turned towards Pyrrha, and I could see that tears were already forming in her eyes, as she expressed her feelings about everything that happened. "… But none of this matters! It doesn't matter if you broke your promise! It doesn't matter if you get hurt! If you're still alive… If you're still here with us… With me… That's all that matters…! That's all I ever wanted…!"

"Pyrrha…?" It never occurred to me then that Pyrrha was basically spilling out her feelings to me.

"Jaune…! I don't know what I would do if you're gone…! You mean everything to me…! You gave me hope…! If I lose you, I… I…!" With each and every sentence, she held my hand closer and closer to her body, as she leaned closer and closer to me, her tears falling freely from her face, and onto my own. "Oh Jaune…!"

What she did next was very shocking to me, and came out of my expectations.

She kissed me.

My eyes widened in shock as Pyrrha fully kissed me on the lips. I felt that my heart was bursting like mad, and my stomach had butterflies fluttering about. And subconsciously, I returned the kiss.

We stayed like that for a whole minute, and Pyrrha was the one to break the kiss. I looked up to her and saw that her tears were still falling, but her sweetest smile shined through them.

"Jaune… I love you…"

End of flashback

Third-person Point of View

"… At that point, I finally realized that Pyrrha actually loves me. All of the signs back then were crystal clear to me. That night on the rooftop, the training sessions, the dance… All of them were right there. I just couldn't see it because of I never expect it to happen. I mean, she's Pyrrha! The champion of the Mistral Tournament! One of the greatest fighters the school has ever had! There was no way that she would be interested in a weak and pathetic guy like me! No way, no how!"

As Jaune explained the story of how he came to learn that Pyrrha loved him, right in the end, he smiled as he thought back about the event, and how it made him feel like the luckiest man ever on the planet. "… And yet, it happened. Pyrrha loves me. She loves little old me. Not because I was flirty or boasting about my good looks or anything. But because I was being myself. I gave her hope. I treated her like a friend she never had. And it made me feel good."

The waiter was listening attentively to Jaune's story, as a smile crept up in his face. "Incredible. To think that the champion of the Mistral Tournament would be a very soft and kind girl, especially around you, good sir. I guess that, despite appearances, everyone is the same inside. They just never had the courage to approach it like this, unlike you."

"I guess it's true that things came in naturally, without me ever realizing it." Jaune chuckled, as he scratched the back of his head.

"So I take it that, after this whole thing, you two became a couple, correct?"

The blond swordsman, instead of confirming the waiter's claims, shifted his gaze as he smiled nervously. "Ehh… Heh heh… About that…"

The waiter raised his eye brow. "Wait… You had yet to acknowledge her love?"

"It's… embarrassing, really." Jaune drooped his head. "Even though she made very clear that she loves me, even so far as to say it herself and kissing me… I thought that there was no way that it was ever true, and that all of it was just my imagination. So, for a day or two, things got… awkward between us…"

"Oh dear. I can't imagine how that would look like."

"But because of that, I felt guilty. Every time I traded looks with her, she would always look sad. And each and every time, I convinced myself that it wasn't all in my head. That she really did confessed her love to me. I wanted to apologize to her in some way, find a way to return her feelings for me." Jaune then started to frown, as he reached the start of the main issue of his story. "But then… Things got complicated."

"… The other two girls." The waiter replied.

The blue-eyed knight nodded. "Just as I was trying to find a way to make up to her, one of them came to me, and… Well… Here's where the second part of my dilemma started. To me, it was more unlikely that she has feelings for me. In fact, all of the discussions between us were friendly and supportive. I never realized that underneath all of that, there was hint of her affection towards me."

"And this second girl… Who is she, if I may ask so boldly?"

Jaune took a deep breath, as he closed his eyes and thought back at the second girl, at the event that brought them together. The appearance of a young, confident and independent girl was the first thing to come in mind. She had short black hair with tinges of red, and she also sported a pair of unique silver eyes. She was the first person who befriended him when he first came to Beacon many months ago, and since then, she had been supportive of him and inspired him to keep going as the leader of Team JNPR. And as he grew stronger and more confident, so were her feelings for him as the result.

Jaune reopened his eyes as he was about to reveal the name to the waiter.

"… Ruby Rose."

End of Prologue 1

Well, guys, there you have it! The first part of the prologue is now done! So what do you guys think? Is it to your liking? Was there any errors that I made in respect of the writing and characters and setting? Trust me, I was afraid that I might have ruined the characterization, but I'm unsure if that's the case. It is my first chapter after a long while, after all. There will be some edits to the chapter in the future, when needed.

But anyways, I hope that the ideas that I presented to you in this story interested you. The next part of Prologue will focus on Ruby, and after that, Weiss. So if you plan on following the story, stay tune for the next two prologues.

Well then, I've said my part. So see you guys later! And reviews are very appreciated, thank you!