Chapter 2 -From the Ashes

The blood from Jaune's shoulder continues to drip onto the floor of an underground cellar he found shelter in. He collapses onto the cold stone floor clutching to his wound, eyes bloodshot from a trauma he couldn't bring himself to believe. Jaune's hand fell to the ground cold and numb as warm blood begins to puddle underneath him. His body felt cold as numbness began spreading through his body. His vision begins to fade, "Pyrrha… please forgive me… I'm so weak… I just…" He murmurs as he slips off into the empty abyss.

The cold embrace that blankets Jaune disperses as something light thumps him on the head. He opens his eyes as a familiar looking orange haired girl rolls over on her bed crumbling up another paper ball. "Nora is that you?"

A puzzling look washes over Nora's face as she throws another paper ball at Jaune. "Were you having a nightmare Jaune? You were tossing and turning in your sleep, and you kept mumbling to yourself"

Picking up the two paper balls Jaune sits up on his bed inspecting his new surroundings, or should he say old surroundings: it was his dorm room. Jaune looks down at himself, his blood-soaked armor was replaced with his blue onesie pajamas. "A nightmare… is that all it was?"

Nora sits up on her bed as she begins sniffing the air in anticipation looking over at the rooms door, as a dark-haired boy walks in with two platters of his renowned pancakes. He was wearing his trademark apron looking just like he did back during their days in the academy. "PANCAKES!" Nora yells jumping towards the food with her mouth practically drooling. Anticipating the trajectory of Nora, he reacts with a swift side step leaving Nora with a healthy helping of floorboard.

Ren smiles at Jaune placing one of the platters on the nightstand next to him. "Why it's about time you woke up, breakfast is ready and if you don't hurry I can guarantee that Nora will steal your plate."

Jaune slides off his bed letting out a sigh. "I guess it really was a nightmare after all." He whispers under his breath.

The door opens back up as a red-haired girl enters the room. "You really outdid yourself this time Ren. The pancakes smell amazing!"

Jaune freezes in place as he sees her. "Pyrrha is that really you?"

Pyrrha smiles over at Jaune. "Who else could I possibly be silly?"

Jaunes rubs the back of his neck, "Oh it's nothing I just had a really bad nightmare that's all."

Pyrrha grabs a plate of pancakes from Ren and sits down with next to Jaune. "Hey Jaune… I wanted to ask you something."

Jaune sits back down on his bed placing his pancakes on his nightstand. "Sure, what is it?"

She looks up at Jaune slightly blushing with a smile. "Why did you let me die?" She asks placings a small piece of pancake in her mouth.

Jaune freezing in place as his worst fears begin to wash over him, "What did you say?" He asks as if he didn't hear the words that left her lips.

Pyrrha giggles at Jaune as blood begins running from her eyes. "You're so silly Jaune. I asked why you let me die?" she asks cracking her head to the side as a large metal rods materializes in her gut, causing blood to stream down onto the hardwood floors.

Jaune collapses to the ground in shock as the nightmare of a reality was returning to him. The blood from Pyrrha's wounds begin to puddle on the floor as both Ren and Nora went on as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Jaune's memory floods with the mangled image of Pyrrha dying, over and over again in his head. "I'm so sorry Pyrrha I tried I really tried I…"

Pyrrha stands up from the bed moving over to Jaune grabbing him by the neck, pulling him off the ground up into the air. "You tried what? All you accomplished was getting your sword broken." She says in a soft concerned voice. She grabs onto the metal rod out of her stomach tearing it out. Blood spatters across the room, from the wall, to the floors, even covering Nora and Ren as they obliviously went on eating their now blood-soaked pancakes. Pyrrha raises the rod drenched in her own blood pressing it against Jaune's face. "Hey Jaune, wouldn't it be an amazing idea if you were to have this rod run through your pretty little head? You won't have to feel any more pain, all you have to do is give up. Stop struggling with your pointless existence. You are a failure of a hero, and nothing will ever change that!"

Tears begin running down Jaune's face as he grabs Pyrrha's arm in a desperate attempt to free himself. "Stop… It… Pyrrha… I can't… Breathe."

Ren walks up to Jaune taking off his apron and dropping it on the ground. "Hey Jaune, that reminds me I almost forgot to thank you. Thanks, Jaune for letting me burn." He calmly says grinning as flames begin to spark up over his face spreading across his whole body.

Jaune closes his eyes as Pyrrha tightens her grip on his neck. "It's all my fault as team leader, and I am sorry, I am so sorry that I let you get hurt Ren." He mutters as he looks down at Pyrrha with tears streaming down his face. "Pyrrha, you are the bravest and most beautiful women I have ever met, and without you I wouldn't be the hunter that I am today. If you want to kill me than by all means do it, but I will never betray the way I felt… no… the way I still feel for you. Pyrrha… I love you!"

Pyrrha smiles up at Jaune "Thanks Jaune…" she says as her body and the rest of the room dissipate into dust leaving Jaune alone in an endless expanse of white.

Jaune opens his eyes as the warm touch of someone's hand ran across his shoulder. He glances to his side realizing he was in lush green field, with grass as far as the eye could see, and a young beautiful woman in a red dress above him. "Pyrrha is that…"

She nods placing his head on her lap. "What do you think?"

Jaune frowns as he looks down at the grass next to his head. "So, you're not real either, just another part of this endless nightmare."

Pyrrha looks up at the blue partly cloudy sky. "Do you remember all the times we would go out and watch the clouds?"

Jaune sighs in remorse as he looks up at Pyrrha. "What does it matter this isn't real. You died back saving me, and now I have to carry that pain for as long as I live."

Pyrrha points up at the clouds "Look up at that one it kind of looks like a pony, oh and that one looks like a rook!"

Jaune's begins to tear up as he abruptly stands up throwing his hands in the air. "How the HELL does this matter! You are still DEAD, and nothing will change that! I killed you! I let you die, and you saved me after I failed you!" Jaune's tears begin to stream down his face as Pyrrha stands up.

She moves closer to Jaune looking him in the eyes. "Jaune, you are not responsible for my death. My choices were my own, and in reality, you are the one who saved me Jaune. All of my life I was treated as being perfect. No one knew who I really was until you came along, Jaune. You were the first person who treated me like a normal person. That's one of the wonderful qualities I love about you."

Jaune looks into Pyrrha's eyes trying to force a smile. "I guess that still makes me the lovable idiot doesn't it?"

Pyrrha chuckles under her breath. "Well you're in luck, as I find myself in need of one lovable idiot."

Jaune walks up to Pyrrha clenching his fist in frustration. "Don't you get it? I don't want to be the lovable idiot that people carry as a mascot! I want to be a great leader, a strong warrior, I want to be a hero like you Pyrrha…" Jaune's words trail off as tears begin flowing back down his cheeks.

Pyrrha places her hand on his cheek. "Jaune that's the thing, you still can fulfill your dream."

Jaune wipes the tears off his face. "What do you mean?"

Pyrrha takes a step back, placing her hands on both Jaune's shoulder and his scabbard. "Do you believe in me?"

Jaune nods closing his eyes. "Always."

Pyrrha's red aura begins to radiate around her as she moves in kissing Jaune on the forehead. "Then believe in the Jaune that I chose to place my love, as he is truly a man that will raise above the ashes."

Jaune frowns as he takes in the moment. "I only wish this dream was real…"

Pyrrha embraces Jaune holding him close. "Who says it isn't real?".

Jaune attempts respond finding himself speechless.

Pyrrha lets go of Jaune, taking a step back. "It's time for you to wake up Jaune, but I'll wait for you in the garden when the time is right."

Jaune opens his eyes throwing himself up from the blood-soaked stone floor. He was back in the cellar. The fields of grass were gone, and so was Pyrrha, "It was a dream after all." He grabs onto his shoulder remembering the wound he had suffered. However, his shoulder didn't hurt and there didn't seem to be any blood. He takes a closer examination of where his shoulder was punctured to find it cauterized shut. "Did my aura do this?"

The sound of an alarm goes off in his back pocket sidetracking his focus to his Scroll. Pulling it out he sees a warning message covering the screen: low power. "That's weird scrolls should last up to a week on a single charge." he says to himself in confusion. He scrolls though the Scroll's menu selecting the activity log, last activity: Mission log retrieved - five days ago. "Five days! How long was I out?" He looks over at the message crosses the top of the screen: No signal. "Of course, there's no signal. I need to find a way to call for help". He pulls up a pre-downloaded map of the settlement from his mission logs. "Okay according to this map if I can reach the police station I should be able to use their communications center and call back to Beacon."

Jaune slowly stands up as his foot bumps into the hilt of his blade. He picks it up, but instead of sheathing the blade he stopped and examined it. There was something off about it, as the broken sword seems to hum in his hand. "It's probably nothing." He reassures himself immediately sheathing his weapon to focus on the direness of the two situations. Considering at this moment his life could very well depend on his Scrolls battery life.

Jaune creeps towards the wooden hatch on the other side of the cellar bracing himself for the horrors that should await him outside. Opening the hatch Jaune is overwhelmed with the smell of burnt and rotting flesh. Fighting the urge to vomit Jaune moves his way out of the cellar into what remains of the street.

Evasively moving throughout the streets Jaune slowly made his way across the corpse of a settlement when a low growl echoes in his direction. He dives behind a large rock for cover pulling out his Scroll as several Grimm pass unaware to his presence. Jaune swipes his finger across the scroll. "According to the map the police station should be located around here." He whispers to himself as he peeks around his cover. "Ah there it is."

He gets up looking towards the remains of the police station as his Scroll's battery dies. "Here's hoping they have a phone".

The buildings lights were flickering, and half of the structure was demolished by the Grimm. A small barricade was erected where the front door used to stand, and behind it the rotting remains of the police force. However, all wasn't lost as on the roof of the building stood an intact long-range transmitter.

Jaune steps over the makeshift barricade, as the stench of rotting flesh overwhelms him. He staggers over to a nearby wall vomiting what little he had left in his stomach. He wipes the vomit from his face gathering himself. "This must have been their last stand…". He mumbles to himself as he clenches his fist. "I will not die here… She wanted me to live… Her efforts will not be in vain!"

Jaune makes his way through the shattered glass door into the blood-soaked lobby. Climbing over rotting corpses he slowly walks up to the glass door labeled as Transmissions. The door was covered in construction tape and had a small note pasted onto its glass.

Transmission controls out of commission and awaiting repairs.

Jaune opens the door to the room to find things were just as bad as the note entailed. The machinery around the room was blackened from what appears to have been an electrical fire, and none of the video screens were powered. "Well isn't this just great!"

The room falls silent as Jaune is interrupted by the sound of static pouring in from a nearby closest. Jaune darts his attention towards the sound, as he moves over opening the door. The closet was cluttered with an assortment of miscellaneous cleaning supplies and coat rack full of jackets. The static grew louder as Jaune moved towards the coats. He reaches into one of the coat pockets pulling out a small short-range radio earpiece which appeared to still have a charge. "This gives me an idea."

Jaunes makes his way out of the Transmissions room towards the stairwell. Climbing the stairs with the radio earpiece in tow he opens the door to the roof. The roof was empty for the most part aside from a large long-range transmitter which appeared to still be in the one piece. He moves over and sits down next to the transmitter. "Now assuming I don't die of electrocution, this should work." He mutters to himself as he opens the transmitters access panel. The panel is littered with small switches and ports all labeled in a technical language unknown to Jaune. Regardless he pulls out a small chip from the earpiece attempting to match it to one of the interface ports. "Well this one looks promising." He remarks to himself sliding the chip into one of the small ports, shutting the access panel while placing the earpiece in her ear.

The earpiece static hum began to fade as garbled voices could be made out on the other end. One of the access panels above him began to flash a a small signal icon indicating full signal. "Yes! Now I should be able to make a call from the panel." He presses the screen as a number pad appeared. "Who do I call?

With his Scroll dead there was only one number he could remember, and that was Ruby's. Back when Ruby helped him with his Cardin problem, she gave him her number just in case he was ever in any trouble. "I wonder if she ever had this kind of trouble in mind when she gave it to me?"

Jaune punches the numbers into the access panels causing the earpiece to ring. It rang for several seconds until Jaune hears the line connect with several voices in the background.

"Yang is it one of those dumb prank calls?" A all too familiar voice asks.

"Give me a minute Ruby, let me figure out who it is first", whispers Yang. She waits for a response, as Jaune remains speechless at the sound of his friends.

"Whoever you are, you choose the wrong person to mess with buddy, because I am going to… going to…" Yang impatiently says as Jaune interjects.

" Hey Yang, it's so nice to hear your voice…" Jaune's voice trails off as tears begin to well up in his eyes.

"Who is this, is this your idea of a sick joke?!", Yang's words sour as she yells back into the Scroll. " Do you find it funny to disrespect the dead!?"

" Yang it's really me… ask Ruby about my trouble with Cardin problem, and the advice she gave me."

The sound of sobbing grew louder, as the Ruby began to speak up. "Your still… alive. Jaune, it's really you." The tears grow louder as Yang speaks back up. " But how? Ren and Nora told us…" Her voice trails off , as she catches herself. " If you're still alive does that mean Pyrrha is with you?! Don't worry we can tell the headmaster the news , and maybe we can get the two of you guys back home!" Yang says trying to collect herself.

"Yang…" Jaune's voice cracked as tears began to roll down his cheeks. " She gave her life to same me…'

All Jaune could hear was the sound of tears from Yang and Ruby. Yang's voice breaks through the tears as she cleared throat. " Jaune, we will get you off that island even if I have to do it myself!" The determination of her voice brought some comfort to Jaune, as Yang speaks back up. " We are not losing another friend. Do you understand me? You are not allowed to die! I am going to bring the Scroll to the headmaster, hold on." Yang's voice moves into the background. " Ruby tell Nora and Ren what's going on and tell them to meet me in the headmaster's office."

A massive roar echoes throughout the island as Jaune turns back toward the massive Grimm that emerged from the hill. " Not again…"

The sound of Yang running breaks stops as Yang speaks up. " What's going on Jaune! Jaune answer me dammit!"

The ground begins to shake beneath Jaune as several smaller Grimm scale the walls of the police station. " Their back Yang! The Grimm are here!"

Jaune pulls out his broken sword from its sheathe parrying an attack from one of the Grimm who charged him. " Yang the Grim are everywhere! There are at least ten no a dozen of them, and I don't see a way out!"

Understanding the dire situation Jaune was in being outnumbered by the Grimm she yells out into the background. " Get the hell out of the way I need to get to the headmaster now! Jaune don't give up!"

Jaune lunges at the closest Grimm stabbing into it as another rips it's claws into Jaune's armor. " Agh dammit! I will not die here!" Jaune kicks at the Grimm staggering it backwards. " I will not let her death be in vain!" He side-steps pulling his broken blade out of the Grimm and into another as he repeatedly stabs into it. " You hear me! I will not die… I will not die… I WILL NOT DIE!". Having very little effect one of the Grimm hits Jaune across the rooftop into the transmission tower, where he falls to the ground in pain.

The sound of a door being slammed open rings out over the earpiece. An older man's voice speaks up over the transmission " Jaune this is the headmaster! What is the situation? What is going on over there?"

Jaune listens to the headmaster and looks back towards the Grimm moving in closer. Jaune braces himself as he accepts his hopeless moment.

The headmaster's yells begin to fade away as a familiar voice fills Jaune's ears.

"Do you believe in me?"

"Always."

"Then believe in the Jaune that I chose to place my love, as he is truly a man that will raise above the ashes."

Jaune pushes himself off the ground as he recalls the memory. " That's right… even if it was just a dream… I will not fail her… I will believe in her!" He yells out as his broken sword begins to softly glow red and white. " I will believe in the person that she believed in!" He slams his foot down as both his body and fragmented blade begin to glow brightly in a blend of white and red.

The multicolored aura consumes Jaune's body. " Is this my semblance? If so why is my aura two colors? Regardless it feels so comforting, almost like I'm not alone in this nightmare."

Jaune lunges towards one of the Grimm in front of him. " I will believe in myself!" the broken blade burns into the Grimm causing it to glow a bright red. Jaune throws the beast towards several other Grimm beside him. The Grimm explodes incantating several of them nearby. One of them thrusts its claws into Jaune's back, which immediately incinerates as it came into contact with the radiating aura surrounding him.

The roar of the massive Grimm sends another shockwave through the ground, as it slowly moves from the hills of rock and lava. The massive Grimm marches into the rubble of settlement casting a shadow over Jaune as the lumps on its back begins to change. The fiery cannons start to merge together into a pitch-black cylinder which begins to glow red.

Jaune plunges his sword into the last nearby Grimm dispersing it into ash. Jaune looks back at the beast as his aura breaks around him falling to one knee drained of aura. " What… was… that?"

The headmasters voice speaks up " Jaune if you can hear me we will come and get you, were going to bring you home."

The sound of papers shuffle in the background. " First things first, we need to understand the nature of this massive Grim that Ms. Nora report mentioned."

Jaune picks himself up looking towards the massive Grimm before him. "It came from the hill, and it is engulfed in flames, but besides that I don't know what to say."

The headmaster curses under his breath. "My god's… Jaune whatever you do, please don't provoke it! This is far worse than we could have anticipated."

Jaune is taken back. " How could this situation possibly be worse?"

The headmaster pauses as if the idea made him shutter. " That Grimm is known as Skyfall. I didn't want to believe her report, but it seems fate has its own plans. History tells us that it took the might or several armies to defeat this Grimm, and all they could do was put it to sleep. Jaune if that beast finds its way to Vale we could be talking global catastrophe! I need you to find a place to hide until I we can come together with a counter strategy. I'll call you bad as soon as we can. Stay safe Jaune!"

The line disconnects as the headmaster hangs up on his end. Jaune looks over at the beast shadowing over where the walls used to stand. " If you're really this Skyfall Grimm I should try to find a somewhere to hide. I don't stand a chance against this beast."

Jaune walks down to the Transmission room looking around the broken computers and machinery trying to find anything useful before he went into hiding when he spots the rotting corpse of an officer in the hallway. Only the top half of the rotting corpse remained as it appears a Grimm chewed off his legs. However, he was in luck as the officer was holding onto a small box of flares. Jaune moves over peeling the box off the corpse ever so carefully. " I'm sorry about this but this just might save my life."

He moves back outside of the station where he first came in through stashing several flares in his equipment bag. " Now I better find somewhere to hide."

Jaune makes moves over to the edge of the wall near the station catching a pack of Grimm making their way through the streets. " Well I guess the streets are out of the option."

The ground near Jaune cracks open as one of the large turtle Grimm breaks through to the surface tearing through several buildings near the police station as it turns it gaze towards Jaune.

The moment their eyes meet Jaune darts over to the neighboring building's fire escape as smaller Grimm break through the windows on his way up to the roof. The tutle Grimm begins to charge into the building causing it's supports to crumble as smaller Grimm scaled the walls leaving only one route left, and that was down. Jaune starts to sprint across the roof as the Grimm close in on him with extreme haste. He takes his last step on the edge of the roof leaping off the building. The Grimm stumble and fall on the edge of the building as Jaune lands into the burnt remains of a merchant's cart.

Throwing broken boards off of himself, Jaune gets up realizing the Grimm where right behind him. He grabs onto a large piece of plank wood and smashes it across the face of an approaching Grimm. Startling the Grimm, Jaune darts down the street as he felt the ground begins to rubble. The large turtle Grimm was galloping in his direction with furry in its eyes. He bolts down a nearby ally where he finds himself before a stone wall blocking any hope of escape. The large turtle Grimm closes in on Jaune boxing him in as it's back begins to glow a bright fiery red. Jaune turns and does the only illogical thing he could think of: a direct attack.

Jaune pulls his broken blade out from its sheath focusing in on the blade. The weapon begins to glow white as he looks at it in surprise. Jaune grip tightens on his blade's handle as he looks up at the beast. "It feels like my weapon is feeding off my aura or am I giving it my aura? Whatever is happening I couldn't have asked for better timing".

"Get out of my way!" Jaune exclaims as he lunges his blade towards the opposing Grimm.

Then in his moment of desperation, his aura shatters causing him to collapse. He looks at the blade in front of him, there was no aura surrounding it. "I guess I used too much aura, and of course it is at a time like this." He mutters seeing how grim his situation was becoming.

The large Grimm closes in blocking his escape arching its' back towards Jaune as the inferno the Grimm was about to fire a point-blank range was bursting at the seams. Jaune looks back at the wall behind him seeing it was far too high to scale he looks back up at the Grimm with determination in his eyes. " You will not kill me! I will survive because of …"

The explosion rips through the buildings surrounding Jaune, as everything in the immediate area including the Grimm went up in flames. The leveled area begins to dissipate as a figure shrouded in red remains at the heart of the explosion.

Jaune looks down at his hands as the red aura radiates from his body. " What is this? My aura is white, it's so comforting as if someone is holding onto me… could this be…". He closes his eyes thinking back as one though ran through his mind.

" I only wish this dream was real…"

" Who says it isn't real?"

The sound of his earpiece snapping him out of the captivating thought he was in. Jaune opens his eyes seeing the red aura was gone. He taps on the earpiece allowing the call to go through.

" Jaune are you there? This is Headmaster Ozpin, and I am afraid that I have grave news."

Jaune stands back up looking surveying his surroundings. " Yes, I'm here, but what could be graver than what has already happened?"

The headmaster stops for a moment taking in a breath of air. " Jaune the Grimm known as Skyfall is what caused the near extinction the human and faunus races so many years ago. It has the terrifying ability to rain fire from the heavens and nobody can stop it from happening."

The Headmaster kept talking as the gravity of the situation settles on Jaune. "What would Pyrrha do in a situation like this?"

The roar of the massive Grimm echoes throughout the island shaking Jaune to his very core.

"Do you believe in me?"

"Always."

Jaune sheaths his broken weapon taping his earpiece. " Pardon me Headmaster, but I know what I must do."

Hello and salutations fellow readers of the inter webs. Thank you for taking the time to read my RWBY fan fiction . This is part two of three so don't get two upset at the cliffhanger. All comments and feedback are welcome, as I want to become a better writer to give you (the reader) the best content possible. Thank you again for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter!

P.S - I am sorry for the long wait, as life kind of hit me in the face every time I tried to finish working on this chapter. I will try my best to finish the third chapter with haste, while bringing you readers the quality you deserve.