A/N: Hello! This was a challenge by my friend that calls me a heretic. The idea ironically was not made by me, but made by another one of my friends when I told him of said challenge. This will be set before season 3. I now present the Renora Tragedy. This is for you Matau!

A Tunnel of Love?

It was supposed to be an easy mission. Simple. There was an increase of grimm in the tunnels that lead from Mountain Glenn into Vale's underground. Go down there, clear out some of the grimm until the level of grimm gets to manageable, non-threatening levels. Ever since the 'Breach incident' the council of Vale had been calling on Beacon to fix it. Even though most of the normal citizens of Vale blamed Torchwick for the increased grimm threat, the council blamed Beacon for 'pushing Torchwick into a large scale attack'. Purely political.

It was seen as necessary. Beacon was not at fault, but it didn't stop the council from demanding the team responsible be personally assigned to the mission. Ozpin knew RWBY would accept. They would need support though. With teams being sent back out due to growing unrest, there was not many people to choose from. Add the council breathing down Ozpin's back and the choice was clear, even if a little risky.

Team RWBY was sent, along with the only team they have shown good team coordination with, team JNPR. While both were first year teams, Ozpin was sure they would cover each others backs. It was just a normal search and destroy grimm mission anyway

What could possibly go wrong?

-0-

Jaune's POV

You can do this, you can do this, you can do this. Just like training with Pyrrha! I ran into the fray blocking the Beowolf paw on my shield. With my ancestral sword in my hand I cut the arm off, following with a slash to its mask. I heard a growl turn gurgle as it slid off my blade, already starting to smoke. "I am on fire today! That's gotta be like my tenth one in a row!"

"That's great Jaune, I knew you could do it" I hear my glorious partner say as she cut the head off an alpha beowolf, spun around and threw her shield. It bounced off several creeps, knocking them back before coming back to her arm.

See that is why she is amazing. She is holding her own. Sure I've killed some low level stuff, but for every one I killed she has killed a dozen. What do I expect though? Its the difference between a boy with no training and a champion. Between those that have snuck their way in, and someone whose actually earned it…. But that's in the past! She's taught me, molded me into a fine killing machine. And time will only make me stronger-

"Heads up fearless leader!" Nora said jumping next to me, hammer swinging at another beowolf that managed to get next to me without me noticing. "Here take this, Renny says yours is dim again"

She hands me the only thing keeping us going in this darkened tunnel: Fire dust sticks. Each can last hours at a time, but even with that they seem to be dwindling. I take one and crack it, shaking it to make the fire dust glow before pulling off the old one hanging on my belt and replacing it with the new one. I had been keeping track of how many I used, and it wasn't good. This was my fourth one. I knew we were exhausted, but I just thought it was because of the constant grimm fighting. We've been here for at least six hours.

I wondered what time it actually was. My joy from before mitigated by the aching muscles that made my body feel heavy. It was probably close to night. That was not good, expecially with the grimm as they were.

Creatures of grimm. He always thought it ironic that the fights he had been in, well at least most of them, had been in the day. You would think that with their black bodies and bone armour that they would do better at night hunting. Turns out there's a reason for that. Grimm get more active in the dark, more fierce. Night held darkness and fears, all of which the grimm fed on. Gorged on.

"Nora, do you know the time?"

Nora smashed her hammer into a creep that tried to jump on her before spinning, throwing the creep into the darkness. Though Jaune couldn't see it, he knew the creep must have hit another grimm since their was a fearsome growl shortly after. "Been too busy to check, probably around seven-ish?"

Suddenly those extra 'leader' classes that Jaune had to take were going to come in handy. Jaune looked up, noticing Pyrrha dancing through some beowolfs that were coming up from the tunnel."Nora, get to Pyrrha and tell her we are pulling back. We need to regroup with team RWBY and set up a camp"

"Yes sir, fearless leader!" she said saluting and smiling before running off towards Pyrrha, dead grimm being left in her wake.

I didn't have time to make sure she made it, or that the hammer-wielder gave the message before a creep slammed into my shield, knocking me back. I slowly gave ground, killing a few grimm in the process. The rest of my team fell in beside me. Pyrrha looked the best of all of us, even though she killed the most grimm. That's Pyrrha for you.

Nora looked tired, but the same as normal besides that. She had an almost maniacal grin as she continued maneuvering through the tunnel. She would smash grimm and jab at them with the end of her handle. Her favorite thing to do was to hit them back into other grimm. As if it was some messed up version of bowling.

Ren was the worst looking, but he wasn't too bad off. He used his agility to slide in, around, and under the grimm. He made it to where the rest of us stood, slowely falling back into the larger tunnels we cleared out earlier. "Ren are you okay?"

He looked at me with his unchanged expression, "Yes, some scratches a bruises. Nothing too troubling"

I had to take him at his word. The grimm were coming en-mass. As time went on I realized they were starting to get more aggressive. Attacks they usually dodged or blocked were easier to land. Their attacks seemed to come faster though. Attacks that used to push now knocked back or down.

"This is crazy! Jaune what do we do!?" Nora yelled

"We need to get to team RWBY and get out of here!" I yell….well more like screamed as I barely dodge an ursa strike.

"Can I do the thing?"

"I told you Nora! No grenades! The tunnel is unstable already, we don't want it collapsing on us!"

"Fine but you, Ah!" She was cut short when an ursa major barreled into her, knocking her back into the wall behind us. Ren quickly swapped with Pyrrha, firing his guns into the darkness. He hit the ursa before Pyrrha finished it off, an must have hit more behind it if the snarling and howling was anything to go by. Nora must have been fine. She looked pale at first, but as soon as Ren helped her up she ran back up to the line, her signature grin of destruction on her face.

We kept sliding back. I noticed that where the grimm used to come in waves, with breaks in the middle it was now almost an endless stream. You could kill on grimm, but by the time you pull your weapon back some other grimm is already trampling over the corpse to get to you.

I looked over the tunnel we were in, recognizing it from earlier in the day. Behind us was the large 'central chamber' of this tunnel that split into two smaller ones. The central chamber lead out to the old underground city. If we wanted out, that was the only way.

"Ren! Use your semblance! Get down the other tunnel and get team RWBY as fast as you can!"

"Got it. Can you hold?" he said concern in his face.

"Just go!" We did not have time. The grimm problem was too big. We had been here since this morning and the grimm were manageable, but now I can understand the worry. Something was wrong here. What was an occasional fight this morning that was easy even for a single year one team now was descending into pure chaos. When you can look at a tunnel and see more grimm than tunnel, that's bad. Even if the tunnel was too dark to see anything past the grimm in front of you.

I heard Ren run behind me, skirting behind the team as he broke to the left tunnel. I saw Pyrrha take a hit, knocking her back into the large room before sprinting back up to the line, cutting down the grimm that broke through the gap. I got an idea. It was crazy, probably going to get us all killed. If we stayed like this though, we were going to get overrun.

"Nora! Still want to use your grenades?!" I yelled, glancing out of the corner of my eyes as I kept a beowolf between me and an ursa.

"You just told me not to!"

"I know what I said! The tunnel is unstable! Aim for the roof!"

Her grin got larger. "Gotcha!" She sent a creep flying into the dark and switched to her launcher, firing at the top of the small tunnel. When the first grenade hit, it was like an earthquake started. The ground shook. I saw pieces of the tunnel roof start to collapse, crushing any grimm unlucky enough to be standing underneath.

"Break and Run!" I yelled before turning around and running into the large room. I almost tripped, but something hit me from behind, practically throwing me into the larger piece of the tunnel.

I saw the room, then the floor, then a jutting rock.

Everything went black.

-0-

Jaune's POV

I felt pain. I hurt all over. Still, my head was on something soft. Maybe someone had a pillow? No, we left our stuff in the small camp we made in one of the underground city buildings. It was on the second floor of the building, with a large hole in the wall for an easy vantage point and possible escape route if needed, but it was also easily defensible. The perfect base.

I opened my eyes and saw the roof of the cave. It was barely visible from the fire dust sticks we had due to the height, but I could still make out a few cracks. The good thing was I was not dead. Good thing too, because if I hurt this much after death I don't think the afterlife would be worth it. Panning my eyes up a little more, I saw something surprising. Closed eyes and a face hanging just behind my head. It took me a second to realize that that head was covered by red hair, freed from its ponytail so it fell down until it rested just above my own hair.

This was super embarrassing. I know I was blushing like a school child, my pain being overwritten by the rising heat in my cheeks. It didn't help when I heard a noise from my right. I swiveled my eyes over, careful not to move my head as to not wake Pyrrha.

Nora noticed I was awake. As soon as I looked over I saw a flash of her scroll, followed by several chuckles. She had a grin. Not the maniac grin that she had in battle, but more of a 'this is prime blackmail material' grin. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, that every man back in Beacon would kill me, and every girl shun me, it got much worse. Pyrrha started drooling. Every drop that hit my face pulled even larger waves of stunted laughter from the fully charged human battery. Stunted laughter went to laughter and snorts, then to full blown laughter, not even caring about being contained.

"Nora!" I said semi-quietly, be quieter, you'll wake up-" I looked up to Pyrrha's now open green eyes "-Pyrrha" Said girl went a dark red crimson color before throwing me, via semblance around my breastplate, onto the wall in front of us. I swear I almost blacked out again. If I wasn't already in this much pain I now would be.

"I'm sorry" I heard behind me.

"It's fine" I say picking myself slowly off the ground before brushing myself off. Pyrrha had retied her hair back into her ponytail, but she refused to meet my eyes. Her face was as red as her hair, and if it weren't for the fact that she looked bruised and cut from the battle, she would be adorable.

"What happened? Why was I on your lap?"

"Well….umm…." Nora came over and put an arm around Pyrrha, grin still intact.

"When I fired the tunnel collapsed, but you were hit by an ursa and thrown in here. Pyrrha was so worried about you that she immediately grabbed you and checked you over. You should have seen her. 'Swear you were dying" The more she spoke the lower Pyrrha's eyes went and the more her face shown like a tomato. She was fiddling with her hands and it looked like she was shaking.

"Well, thank you Pyrrha" I said blushing myself.

She spoke low, "I was just trying to help" She looked up at me "What are partners for, right?" Screw it, she is adorable. In this moment she surpassed even Ruby levels of adorable, even if she was battle worn, tired, and dirty, one look made my heart fly.

Nora still looked at Pyrrha almost with disbelief, then disappointment as Pyrrha pulled away from her.

"How long have I been out? Where is Ren and team RWBY?" I looked around. The smaller tunnel we came in was sealed by rock. Every now and then you could hear things on the other side. A few small rocks would fall from the pile. Then a rumble went through the cave. The sounds from the rock pile suddenly became more pained before disappearing altogether.

Nora answered, "Ten minutes, maybe fifteen. Ren isn't back yet" Their tunnel was not quiet by any means, but it sounded like growls and gunshots, followed by whimpers and more growls. "I'm not too worried. Renny can handle himself. I just wish he wouldn't keep me waiting….Always waiting"

I looked at Pyrrha, then backed at Nora. "We are still talking about him coming back with team RWBY right?"

Nora smiled and looked at me, "What else would I be talking about silly?"

I was not touching that. The together, but not together-together was like a taboo subject. Only she could bring it up, and only in front of Ren. Mostly to push the subject. The silence was telling.

Wait. Silence? Team RWBY's tunnel was silent.

Suddenly Weiss ran out of the tunnel, sped up by her glifs underneath her feet, followed by Yang, hair glowing with a knocked out Blake over her shoulder. Behind them came Ren carrying a hurt Ruby in his arms.

"RUN!" Was the general consensus of everyone coming out of the tunnel. There was a hissing. The black head of the largest King Taiju I'd ever seen pushed through the tunnel opening before letting out a large roar. It shook the tunnel.

The ceiling started to crack more, not helped by the sudden explosions coming from a certain pink heart cannon against the giant snake. The ceiling started to become floor and I believe team RWBY called it.

The giant head did not like getting hit with the rocks or the grenades and attacked. I threw a reloading Nora out of the way as the giant head came towards her. It was easy four times bigger than I was. I was thrown, but my aura, what was left of it, took most of the hit.

A large rock hit the snake in the head, making it squeal. "Everyone out! It will bury itself, and us with it! Back to the base!"

I scrambled out of the tunnel, most of team RWBY in front of me, Pyrrha beside me, and Nora behind me. We dodged rocks and cracks, the occasional grimm that came out from the tunnel beside the snake, all running towards the opening into the old subway.

There was crashing. There was dirt flying into the air along with the rocks, making it hard to see where to go in the darkness. I looked up and saw fiery hair running in one direction. I followed diligently. When tunnel gave way to pavement, the earth started to shake more. The snake screamed in pain, then there was silence.

I was able to pull Nora into the subway tunnel before she got crushed under the tunnel entrance. I looked around. "Everyone Okay?"

"Blake and I are alright"

"Of course I am"

"I'm here Jaune"

"And I have Nora. Ren, where are you? Nora's shaking"

There was no response

"Ren, not kidding here. I need an answer" Nora started shaking more. I felt water hit my arm.

Yang looked over pale "No, he had Ruby"

"Ren seriously! Get out here!"

"DON'T YOU GET IT!" The sudden outburst from Nora in my arms surprised me. The anger but sadness in it prevalent, "HE WAS IN THERE! WE LEFT HIM!" She dropped to the ground suddenly quiet, "We….left him. I left him"

She suddenly dropped over, as if all the wear caught up to her at once. Ren being her final straw.

The most important straw

A/N: The start of something new. As I said, the main points of this story is actually given to me by Matau, one of my college friends, tweaked for writing precedent. I hope people like it. This took me forever to write, as if my own body did not want me to write this. Oh well.

Til next time Read and review/comment (Please. Every review for me is like writing fuel, even critical ones)