It was supposed to be a simple search and destroy mission.
In, out, done, home.
That was how it was supposed to go, but in the years Jaune had spent at Beacon he had learned there was an infinite number of things that could go wrong. Intel could go bad, details could be missed, but as was the job of a Huntsman he just had to adapt and fight whatever the challenge was as it came.
This was no different. It was supposed to be a simple search and destroy mission, they'd purged Grimm nests a dozen times over in the years past, they'd fallen into an effective routine, set fire bombs and demo-charges in one entrance to force the grim out then kill them as they fled the tunnel.
It wasn't always easy but it was never particularly dangerous. Beowolves went exactly a harrowing enemy even on the worst of days, just keep your wits up and you'd be fine. Their true advantage lay in numbers and even then, a horde of the things was hardly a harrowing experience for the team.
He'd fought hordes of them before and he'd seen it through, he just kept breathing and killed anything that got too close, always careful to be aware of his surroundings so he didn't get flanked or attack a team mate by mistake.
It was a battle of attrition, once the Beowolves had lost enough numbers they usually fled, the problem Jaune and Pyrrha faced was exactly that.
There was just no end to the monsters that came streaming out of the cave's entrance.
Ren and Nora had gone in with professor Port to set he chargers, everything had gone fine, but when the charges went off another entrance opened up, and the others had been forced to cover it as the Grimm came charging away from the fire.
It was another thing that set Jaune on edge as he dispatched another Beowolf, he and Pyrrha were currently fighting only half of the nest give or take. He had no idea how many of them he had killed or how much time had passed, he knew it had been day time when the fighting started but now it was dark and the only light was that of the broken moon.
His armour had been ripped a dozen times but none of the wounds were lethal. His arm felt heavy and the clearing in front of the cave was all but paved in bodies and blood.
Port had sent for reinforcements shortly after the fighting started it becoming clear to all involved that the nest was well beyond the size that he intel had provided.
He tapped the scroll with a finger as he leapt over a dead Beowolf to Pyrrha's side as a dozen of the of the beasts swarmed in on her.
"How we doing?!" He shouted to both Pyrrha and the rest of his team.
The sound of grenades went off in his scrolls speaker echoing in the distance a moment later.
"We're getting there." Ren's voice gasped over the link. "Nora and port are doing some…" The bark and howled of a Beowolf drowned Ren out as a frenzy of fire crackled over the scrolls com.
"Ren?!" Jaune shouted as he and Pyrrha hacked left and right.
"…I'm good." Ren breathed a few seconds later. "We just got word from Ruby, She's with Goodwitch and Sun they're on their way with a few teams of paladins. They're three minutes out."
"Well that's not so bad." Jaune said. He would have said something more but a Beowolves claw took the scroll off his shield and shattered it.
He stepped back from the creature slashing at its gut, only to have another two leap in, a rifle round took them both in the head, but Jaune had no time to offer his saviour a smile or even a nod as yet more swarmed them.
He stood back to back with Pyrrha as they hacked left and right, severing heads and limbs by the score as they danced across the ever mounting land of corpses.
A Beowolf managed a slash in on Pyrrha's leg, with a cry of pain the red headed Amazon fell to her knees, but kept fighting all the same. Jaune wasted no time, he vaulted over her with a strength and grace that came from years of fighting and cut the Grimm in half. Pyrrha was bleeding badly and her face was already pale as she switched Miló into its rifle from and began gunning down what grim she could with what little ammo she had left.
Jaune danced around her a whirlwind of death and steel as he nimbly cut down any grim who dared get to close to her.
Had he not been so exhausted he might have been able to keep the dance up longer, but he was tired and injured, a large Beowolf came in bowling the boy over; he hit the ground hard rolling to his feet as he killed yet another Beowolf that tried to kill him.
The large Grimm stood over Pyrrha, she twisted to try and shoot it but the pain in her leg was too intense and she lost her window. The Grimm slapped her to the side with a savage blow that sent the young Huntress hurtling over the crowds of Grimm.
Jaune screamed as he channelled what little Aura he had left to reach the girl before she hit the ground.
He caught her just in time, the two hit the tree hard and Jaune cried out in pain, he had a few seconds of blissful respite to gather in his surroundings.
He was at the edge of the clearing the Grimm were closing in and Pyrrha was unconscious. With a sigh he set the girl down against the tree and took Miló into his hand, deafly flicking it into hit's sword form.
He felt his Aura well up inside of him as he stood over her. By his honour and his word and an Arch not one more Grimm would lay a hand on her.
He stood before the tide, glowing like the light at the end of the tunnel, both his blade and Pyrrha's in hand, all pretence of defence gone.
"You wanna fight?" He asked them. "Then come and get it." He snarled as the first Grimm charged.
The airship came in low and fast, hovering only a few feet above the tree tops. Ruby gripped the handle hanging above her tightly as she deftly examined her scythe making sure it was in perfect working order.
"Relax," Weiss whispered in her ear above the roar of the wind.
"I'm fine." Ruby muttered.
Weiss raised an eyebrow, "You've been checking that non-stop since we left." She answered evenly. "They're going to pull through. Port got the call out early, and they're smart enough to give ground when they need to. All we need to do is find them. They're going to be fine." She said reassuringly.
Ruby nodded and compacted her scythe back into its smaller form.
"Were, reaching drop sight one." The pilot said over the intercom.
"Alright, SSSN, you and Goodwitch drop here." Ozpin told them.
The five hunters only nodded before diving out the aircraft. Neptune giving Weiss one last cocky grin before he disappeared.
"Drop sight 2 in thirty seconds." The piolet said again.
Ozpin and the other members of team RWBY all shared a glance as they readied to drop.
"Go." The piolet said.
Ruby was out the door a split seconds later, crescent rose already in hand as she fell on the grim horde.
It seemed oddly still of a grim horde and it wasn't until she landed that she realised she was standing on nothing but corpses.
It was a scene of carnage that none of them had ever seen before, Body upon body, dismembered and left to rot.
It made Ruby shudder as she swept her eyes over the carnage before her.
Then she saw him.
He stood tall, a beacon lighting the darkness, his Aura enveloping him in a pristine white glow.
"Jaune!" Ruby screamed as she ran over to him.
He smiled at her, as she approached, his Aura beginning to fade. He held Miló in one hand and Corcea Mors in the other, both weapons and his arms were bathed in blood and gore, His breathing seemed an odd balance between ragged and calm.
As the team came closer they finally spotted Pyrrha on the ground behind him.
Ruby threw Crescent Rose to the side just barely managing to catch Jaune before he fell. She fell to her knees as the boys Aura finally failed entirely and his wounds began to re-open.
Jaune offered the girl his usual smile.
"Hey Ruby." He said, like nothing was happening.
"H-hey," Ruby managed to choke out through the welling tears.
"Glade you made it," Jaune breathed as his weapons fell from his hands.
"You know I'd never leave you hanging." Ruby said as the tears began to fall. Ozpin knelt down beside them and checked Jaune's pulse.
None of them needed to see the look in his eyes to know what was happening, the wounds were too sever, there was nothing they could do.
Beside them Pyrrha stirred.
With an amount of energy that seemed impossible in his current state Jaune moved to Pyrrha's side as the girl woke up.
"Hey," Jaune said as he gently brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes.
"Jaune," She gasped with a mixture of wiriness and relief. "You're okay," She said as she reached for him.
"I'm, here," He assured her as he took her hand in his own. "Just go back to sleep honey, Ruby and the others are here, you'll be fine."
Pyrrha looked like she wanted to say more but she was still weak and passed out a few seconds later.
Jaune gave her one last kiss before he slumped to the ground next to here.
Ruby just sat there in shock, her mind unable to fully comprehend it all. She was only vaguely aware of someone's hand on her shoulder as she was led away.
When Pyrrha woke up next her entire body felt like it was on fire. She woke up with a groan, trying to move, but her body wouldn't obey her.
She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was a head of orange hair she managed a smile as she recognised Nora, weakly she rolled her head to the side and spotted Ren on the chair next to her also asleep. She looked up, trying to spot Jaune but he wasn't in the room.
She felt sad that he wasn't there, but her mind, as exhausted as it was reasoned that he was likely in another room, or possibly behind the next curtain similarly immobilised.
Nora woke up first out of the two, roused by Pyrrha's constant moans. She sleepily looked at Ren for a few seconds before she looked up at Pyrrha, for a moment she seemed confused that Pyrrha was awake, confusion gave way to surprise and barely a second late pure and utter joy as the Girl threw her arms around her.
"Pyrrha," She shrieked in a tone so unlike her usual bubbly self.
Before Pyrrha could even cry out in pain, Ren was awake and to the rescue gently prying the energetic red head off of her.
"Nora, be gentle." Ren said calmly.
Nora calmed down a moment later and sat down on the chair next to the bed, stretching her back.
"Where are we?" Pyrrha asked.
"Vale, hospital," Ren told her. "It was touch and go for a while but you pulled through, you'll even make a full recovery."
"What happened?" She asked again as she tried to sit up.
Nora gently held her down. "Take it easy." She said softly. "You were banged up pretty bad and your leg is in pretty bad shape. A Beowolf got a lucky shot in and tore through most of the muscle on your calf."
"And Jaune?" She asked.
Ren and Nora fell silent for a moment looking at each other before dropping their gaze entirely, which Pyrrha thought was odd, but her mind was too clouded and hazy to put much more thought than that behind it.
The silence between the three stretched out for a long time before Nora managed to say anything.
"He was brought back with you." She told her, not able to look her team mate in the eye as she delivered the news. "They tried to resuscitate him but he'd lost too much blood. He…He didn't make it back to Vale…He's dead."
Sup friendlies.
I've been wanting to do this for a while after I realised just how dark Red Like Roses part 2 really is, and of all the characters to kill off Jaune is the most heart wrenching, along side Ruby of course before you all start trying to kill me in comments.
not sure how long this will take start to finish but I've got solid entries for, Pyrrha, Ruby, Neptune & Weiss as well as Ren and Nora.
all in all hope you enjoyed it at least a little bit.
Until next time I wish you all the best.
Yours truly.
Nicolai Grey.