-0- Location Jump

… Time Jump

"All students and faculty, both Beacon and otherwise, report to the auditorium immediately!" The intercom system blared loudly, startling everyone within Beacon with the urgency of Glynda's voice. "There will be a safety briefing held shortly due to… recent events," that got everyone's attention and sent a wave of worry through the whole school.

"What do you think happened?" Yang wondered as she looked around the class while students began filing out as Port directed them, an anxious frown on his face that he did his best to hide. "Something with the students from the other kingdoms maybe?"

"No idea, but whatever it is it sounds serious," Blake answered with worry as she shut her book, briefly hoping her recently made friend Sun wasn't involved somehow. "We'd better hurry."

"Ruby, come on, we have to go," both girls turned to Weiss shaking their leader's shoulder gently as the little red reaper lay face first on the desk and a noticeable wince went through them at the sight.

"I'm up, I'm up," the girl grumbled and sat up slowly, but her appearance did nothing to ease the worry of her team however and sent another wince through them when they saw the ugly bags under her eyes.

"Trouble sleeping last night?" Yang asked, sympathy practically leaking from her voice.

"Every night," Ruby answered with a small smile that didn't reach her eyes. "You know that."

"Ruby…" Weiss began but the red girl hopped to her feet before she could continue.

"Well come on then guys!" She stretched her body almost like she'd do normally, but the others noticed the obvious lack of enthusiasm in her movements. "It sounds like we've got something really important to talk about today, so let's go!" She skipped across the desks and made her way out the door while her team lingered, each of their eyes tinged with sadness and regret.

She'd been like that ever since the mission they'd taken with JNPR, the one that Jaune… didn't come back from. She acted like it was ok, like she was still the happy-go-lucky girl full of innocence, but anyone that bothered to look could see she'd been eaten alive by her thoughts ever since that day. Yang had never forgotten the look of utter devastation in her sister's eyes when she had woken up in the infirmary and received the news that Jaune had disappeared, nor the one a week later when Ozpin declared he had no other choice but to announce his death, and seeing the result every single day ensured the older sister never would. This grim reminder of the most unforgivable mistake she'd ever made, or ever will make, whittled her down day by day and slowly consumed the once fun loving exterior she gave off as she watched her sister suffer.

"Come on," the fiery warrior got up solemnly as did the remainder of the team. "Let's go see what the big deal is," she vaulted over the decks and walked out the door after her sister, hoping she'd make it to the auditorium by herself ok. "Hopefully it gives me something to punch…"

-0-

Pyrrha Nikos and her team were not in the mood for human contact right now, so being forced to cram themselves into the auditorium had left the Spartan and her friends with understandable scowls on their faces and an aura that carved a wide berth out of the sea of students around them. One however didn't seem to care or notice this mood and bumped into the redheaded Spartan from behind then fell back with a startled yelp. The three members of JNPR glanced behind them angrily but it evaporated instantly into concern when they saw who'd run into them: Little Ruby Rose.

"Ruby! Are you alright?" One could have easily seen the old Pyrrha Nikos then and there as she knelt to help the reaper up, but it had become quite a rare sight within Beacon, reserved only for the closest of her friends which were few and far between.

"Oh hey guys," Ruby visibly brightened a bit as she took the help with a genuine smile. "How you doing?"

"Ok, all things considered," Pyrrha then sighed as the girl dusted herself off. "Someone badmouthed Jaune again today."

Ruby's hands stopped as she looked up slowly. "What?" Her eyes hardened. "Who?"

"Don't worry, I took care of them," Pyrrha scowl was mirrored by the three around her as the memories of the others who'd made that same mistake passed through them. "Just another pathetic human being that couldn't take being rejected and then just had to say something stupid to try and hurt me."

"Should have let me break his legs," Nora growled, her knuckles white from how tight she clenched her fists as the group resumed their walk with their new addition.

"I'll let you have the next fool that says something Nora," Pyrrha promised, knowing without a doubt that someone else was bound to open their mouth before the month was even up, people just loved disrespecting those that couldn't do anything to defend themselves.

The grenadier just grunted in response and scowled at someone who got too close with an almost animalistic growl, sending the poor student stumbling back with their hands up defensively. "Nora, that's enough," Ren placed a hand on her shoulder and the color slowly bled from her body as did her anger as the boy activated his Semblance. He hated what Jaune's death had done to all of them, but Nora's change had by far been the worst in his opinion. She'd become so much less active and yet she always seemed ready to lash out at the slightest provocation, it had taken everything he had to keep her calm as she stood ready to destroy anything that even remotely got on her nerves. "You're not going to break anyone's legs if someone says anything," he nodded to Pyrrha then. "We've got Pyrrha for that."

"But it isn't fair," the girl whined weakly in response as her color slowly returned. "I want to break those jerks too."

"But you can't do it without causing property damage," Ruby smirked a little while the bomber looked up in thought before giving a sigh, reluctantly conceding that fact. "So… what do you think this is about?" She asked, looking between the three as they finally entered the auditorium. "Did something happen with the festival?"

"No idea on specifics, but I've heard it has something to do with something hitting the Headmaster's tower," Ren shrugged as the others turned to him with interest. "Apparently, some students are saying they saw it ram into the tower then fly off," he looked around to make sure no one else could hear, afraid he could start a panic. "According to them it was a Grimm," the others blinked in surprise. "And it supposedly left something behind too."

"What was it?" Pyrrha wondered only to get a baffled shrug as they took a seat.

"Nobody knows for sure, or if it's even true," Ren shook his head. "I suppose we'll find out soon enough though," he stated and nodded to the platform where Ozpin stood while Glynda coordinated with teachers passing by the foot of the stage.

"Does he have something on his back?" Ruby asked with a frown and tried to shift herself to get a better view of the unknown object she saw peaking over the Headmaster's shoulder.

"It looks like it," Pyrrha nodded as she too attempted to see what it could be. "Is that what this mystery Grimm left? Why would it do that…" She pondered aloud until the sound of rumbling and a cough brought her attention to Glynda standing beside him, a microphone in her hand that she handed off to the man next to her as the light of the room dimmed.

"Hello everyone," he began then sighed. "I realize that this sudden meeting may be inconvenient for some of you, but please believe me when I say that this is of the upmost importance for all of your safety," a ripple of murmurs passed through the room until Ozpin raised a hand, silencing it. "Thank you, now I'm sure some of you have no doubt heard a rumor passing through the school about something ramming into my office window today," Another ripple went through and the man nodded, allowing it to happen. "And that this something was a Grimm…" the murmuring silenced as eyes collectively widened. "That is true," a mass of gasps rang through the auditorium as people wondered how that was even possible. "But a Grimm is not the only thing that hit my tower today," he began, capturing everyone's attention once more. "In fact the beast had been carrying it and had rammed itself into my window in order to plant it there," he continued as he reached for the object on his back while the whispering started up again.

Confusion passed through the auditorium as Ozpin took the filthy thing from his back but it all went quiet when he revealed what it was… all except for a single red reaper, who blinked as a horrifying weight suddenly hit her and those around her. "… What?"

There in his hands was Crocea Mors, sullied by whatever black mess it was that covered its once beautiful white face. "Today we had a weapon from one of our fallen, once thought lost forever, returned to us," Ozpin began as Ruby and the three around her began to tremble in their seats with a mass of emotions. "But not without an addition which has led to this briefing," Glynda hit a button on her Scroll and a close-up image of the shield and sword were displayed on the wall along with the words printed on them which sent another startled gasp through the students. "Earlier today, just minutes after we received this weapon, we also received a message from a man that had just murdered fifteen people and claimed responsibility for the delivery," Ruby barely heard it or the newest spike in horrified whispers as she reread the three lines of text repeatedly, not understanding why she was seeing what she did. "This killer then blatantly threatened members of our school and promised he'd be coming after wiping out Vale's criminal underworld before claiming a sixteenth life and ending the call."

"We've coordinated with the Vale police department on the matter but when they arrived to the scene he was nowhere to be found," Glynda stepped forward as the lights returned, a grim expression on her face as she spoke. "As such we are issuing an order that grants all students and faculty from each kingdom the right to carry their weaponry on them at all times, both on and off campus, until this situation is resolved," she instantly slammed her heel into the stage the second people had even begun to talk. "But do not, even a second, believe this gives you the right to act irresponsibly," she glared over the room, cowing any that had even the slightest thought of going against the order. "You will use your weapons if and only if you have no other choice, are we understood?" She got an adequate enough response from the room to satisfy her, even despite all the looks she was getting as people whispered her name. "Very well then, as of now classes are canceled for the week, everyone please return to your dorms in an orderly fashion and do your best to remain safe."

"Teams RWBY and JNPR, please report to my office," Ozpin spoke over the crowd as the students began leaving with a roar of confusion and fear while certain people in the vicinity gave passing glances at the four and no doubt the rest of RWBY wherever they were. "I believe we have much to discuss…"

"That and more," Pyrrha growled through a bit lip, her eyes never leaving the shield in his arms as they burned and watered.

Ruby shared that sentiment entirely as she looked through the crowd in an attempt to spot her team, her body trembling as she tried her best to understand why they were being targeted by a killer all of a sudden. "This can't be real…" she whimpered. "I-I can't lose more people! I-I can't-" a hand on her shoulder followed by the feeling of a soothing sensation passed through her as her words faded into a sigh.

"It's going to be alright Ruby, we'll figure this out," Ren promised, giving the girl's shoulder a supportive squeeze while Nora jumped to her feet.

"Yeah! Let's go! We need to hurry up and find out how that guy got Jaune's stuff!" She bounced in place, yet her face wasn't alight with excitement but rather pure fury as the others followed her to their feet. "I'm gonna rip his legs off after what he did to it!" She snarled, and this time nobody in the group tried to calm her, they'd be hypocrites with no right to talk if they did.

"How could someone do this?" Pyrrha whispered, hate filled tears dripping out the corner of her eyes as they made their way towards the retreating form of Ozpin and Glynda. "Hasn't he been through enough? Can't he just have peace for once?"

Could any of them have peace?

…

Ozpin sat behind his desk, fingers steepled in front of him as he looked over the seven standing before him. "I'm sorry we have to be meeting under such unfortunate circumstances today," he began, noting the range of emotions passing through each student as their gaze remained locked on the sword and shield on his desk. "But seeing that you appear to be at the center of this we have little other choice."

"Who is this guy?" Yang growled, eyes tinted red and fists clenched. "What's he want with us?"

"We're not sure who he is yet, but as for what he wants…" Ozpin took a breath and sighed, barely believing he was saying it. "Your deaths, for whatever reason," his answer sent a shiver down their spines. "I was hoping one of you could have an inkling as to what that reason could be," his eyes turned to Ruby who was looking between her friends with an anxious stare. "Or why miss Rose is the only one among team RWBY that appears free from this killer's threat."

"Sir I assure you we have no idea," Weiss stepped forward, but even her normally confident stance appeared shaken. "We weren't very close to Arc, and… and that was especially true after the truth of his transcripts came out…" A momentary twitch went through her eyes, a look of guilt for words of the past as the gaze of team JNPR hardened. "But we never did anything to harm him," she assured as NPR got a hold of their emotions. "Especially not alongside miss Goodwitch! We, and I'm positive that she, never would."

"Yet for some reason this killer blames you four directly for whatever fate befell mister Arc," Ozpin frowned, pondering this. "Are you all absolutely positive that you hadn't missed something in your reports from that day?" You could see the weight press down on the room as he asked the question. "Anything at all, no matter how small or insignificant? From either team?"

"We told you everything sir," Blake's eyes fell to the floor, and a look that matched Weiss' passed through her. "We failed Arc that night, but we would never go out of our way to hurt him, to… to kill-" her face scrunched up with disgust as she found herself unable to continue.

Ozpin stared for a long while before letting out a sigh. "I hate to do this to you all, but we have to be sure of things," he flicked a switch and a screen popped up presenting something the students were not prepared for: A minimized image of Jaune Arc's goofy smiling face beside several columns listing various vitals. "I'm going to play the last record we have regarding mister Arc, the one gathered from the Scroll you recovered that night in the Emerald Forest, so that we can go over it for anything we could have missed," he then turned to NPR who were looking at the image with longing. "You three were split up from him during the… incident, and as such if you don't want to watch this, I understand completely."

Jaws tightened all around the room and Yang's eyes instantly went to Ruby who was shaking slightly. "Sis…" the little reaper chewed on her lip and refused to meet her sister's gaze as the older girl went to hold her. "You were out cold that night when it happened, there was nothing you could have seen so you don't have-"

The girl raised a hand and shook her head quickly, stopping Yang's advance. "No!" She took a deep breath to steady herself. "I-I'll be fine," she hugged herself and didn't take her eyes off the screen. "I can deal with this, I have to," she finally looked at her sister, determination in her eyes. "If it keeps me from losing anyone else I'll do anything to help," Yang felt a pang go through her heart and she stepped back, feeling awful.

"And we won't stop until we find the person who did this to Jaune's weapon," Pyrrha stepped forward, her tone allowing for no argument as her team nodded, equally resolved. "If it gives us any chance to find a clue, we'll do it."

Ozpin looked into each pair of eyes, each with their own doubts and fears bellow the surface before turning to Glynda who gave a stiff nod. "Very well," he hit a switch on the console and sat back as Jaune's vital signs began to adjust.

There were not at a healthy status when a video tab opened beside them and expanded to show a shaky view of a forest. "Ok," Pyrrha crossed her arms and held a fist to her mouth, eyes steeled at the sound of Jaune's voice while her friends went through similar reactions. "You got this Jaune, you found it," the boy stabilized his scroll and finally settled the shot onto what looked like a giant pool of black in the middle of a clearing. "At least I hope you did…" He mumbled to himself nervously. "I don't think this is a tar-pit, seems kind of out of place," he chuckled to himself as he got closer while everyone present searched every inch of the screen for something, anything. "Gotta get as much of it as possible…" the Scroll's image distorted as it was flipped between hands and a wince went through all but Ozpin as it settled on the boy with the pool behind him before a twitch went through the image and the boy looked around as a branch snapped in the distance. "This has got to be enough right?" The boy mumbled anxiously before groaning. "No… crap she said I had to bring back solid proof!" He stomped his foot on the ground while glancing behind him nervously. "Oh I can already hear it: 'A real Huntsmen would have brought back adequate evidence, not an amateur video,'" he said in a mocking version of Glynda's voice while the woman in question had turned to face the dimmed window, a hand over her mouth as she trembled slightly.

She was prepared for what happened next as another twitch suddenly passed through Jaune along with a confused frown. "What the…" he looked down only for the Scroll's image to rapidly shift from being dropped as his feet were taken out from under him with a yelp. "What the hell?! What's-GAH-WHY IS IT BURNING?!" Came his startled yell as the Scroll settled facing up into the night sky as the vitals beside the image steadily began ticking away. "Oh no, no-no-no," the others struggled to face the screen but kept their eyes on it, hoping to make it worth it. "Nonononono! Stop sinking…"

Ozpin took the time to watch the reactions of the students around him as they listened to the desperate yelling and struggles the Headmaster had heard dozens of times before, and all he found was regret and shame among everyone present, aside from Ruby that is, no she was instead struggling to see due to the constant stream of tears she tried to blink away while biting her lip to the point of bleeding.

"Please just let me get out of this…" Jaune's voice began to fade out. "Let me get out and fix this!" He screamed in frustration. "I'm so close! I'M SO CLOSE TO GETTING THEM ALL BACK!" He cried and the sounds of struggling got dimmer and dimmer as the vitals continued to fall. "Blake… Weiss… Yang… I was supposed to prove you and that whole school wrong damn it!" He laughed desperately to himself as the girls in question clenched their fists, their eyes misting over as they trembled in place. "I-I was supposed to get to gloat! I was supposed to laugh it up and get punched in the stomach whenever Yang got pissed that I kept bringing this up!" His painfully cheerful voice was so difficult to make out but it was enough. "I wasn't supposed to fail… I WASN'T SUPPOSED TO SCREW THIS UP TOO! I WASN'T SUP-burgh!"

A sound that Ozpin knew he'd never forget sounded through the office, the sound of a man coughing, gasping and then the ever-fading muffled screaming as they tried to get air until the sound ultimately vanished. The Headmaster had to admit he admired the dedication of the people before him as they continued to watch through tear-filled eyes even as Jaune's vitals flatlined, but it was dwarfed by his interest in the looks of utter despair in a certain three of the seven before him, they knew what was coming next.

"Jaune…" A faint call in the distance echoed through the forest, Yang's to be exact. "Come on man… I get it! You're angry about what happened with Ruby but don't go bleeding out on us!" It was getting louder, and slightly more urgent as her voice closed in.

"Where are you?!" The slightly more panicked voice of Weiss echoed soon after. "This isn't the time or place to be joking you dolt! I already have enough trouble carrying Ruby, I don't need you half dead too!"

"Jaune?" Grass could be heard rustling close by, quickly followed by Blake's horrified: "Oh no…" Before the Scroll was finally picked up and it settled on the face of shadow-user. "GUYS?! I found his Scroll! It's over…" Her words cut out as the camera's view fell to a sideways shot of the forest beside the girl. "What is that?"

"Oh Oum, did he fall in there?!" Yang's hip appeared in the shot, her voice panicked. "JAUNE?!" She twirled on the spot as she called out. "OK this is really starting to piss me off! You'd better come out right now!" She almost sounded like she was begging. "This isn't funny!"

"She's right Arc, stop messing around this instant!" Weiss called outside the shot, sounding equally afraid. "Arc? Jaune?! We're sorry ok-" A rumbling cut her off as the Scroll's image began to shake and showed Yang backing away from the pool while Blake had to have been doing the same. "What?"

"What the hell is- OH CRAP!" Yang cocked her gauntlets and the sound of two shots went off. "BACK! BACK-BACK-BACK!" She yelled and fired off more shots as howls and roars began sounding off one after the other while Blake had to have turned and ran based on the display of the shot.

"Where are they all coming from?!" The ninja screamed as the image made out the distorted form of Weiss struggling to carry Ruby while running from the ever-growing sound of Grimm. "Is there a tunnel under that pool or something?!" The sound of her own weapon went off as well as a near endless stream of shells from Yang's.

"We'll find out later!" The blonde screamed back. "Call the others! We need to get out of here now!"

"But the noise will draw the Grimm right to them!" Weiss cried out. "That's why we agreed on no calls until we got a signal-"

"There's no time!" Yang roared while firing. "We've got a horde coming down on us and if we don't call them they'll either get swarmed too or left behind!"

"But what about Jaune-" A vicious snarl followed by Blake's pained yelp echoed through the office as the image of the Scroll danced everywhere before going dark.

Ozpin let out a sigh as the students before him each gasped in a breath, finally aware that they had each stopped breathing at some point. "And that's it, that's the last thing we have before the recording app shut down and you all grouped up before returning," he spread his arms and gestured to three quarters of RWBY. "Care to fill in what happened afterwards, see if you remember anything different?"

"There…" Yang swallowed and swiped at her eye. "There was just a hell of a lot of Grimm chasing us."

"I got hit, but I was able to pick the Scroll up again to call JNPR," Blake continued, her eyes hard as she stared at the floor. "I told them to run for extraction because we had a horde of Grimm after us."

"We met up right as the transport was strafing the ground and then…" Weiss shook her head and gave a bewildered shrug. "There was a roar, something very loud let out a roar and the Grimm just stopped chasing us right as we all jumped onboard and the pilot took back off, they never started moving again while we left..."

"And then you came back," Ozpin continued as the girls nodded. It had been the exact same story as before which JNPR had no way of denying, but the looks of shame and regret in the eyes of (R)WBY seemed so much more pronounced than it had the first time… they were hiding something, but what? "We arranged a Search and Rescue, went to the exact coordinates of Jaune's last known position and found…" The image on screen shifted back to the forest. "Nothing," specifically a clearing deep within it where a large empty pit lay at its center, no tunnel to be seen within it.

Glynda finally turned from the wall, her eyes noticeably redder as she took a calming breath. "We'd just like to say again how sorry we are," she managed to keep her tone level. "We promised you we'd find him, we told you to relax and just wait for us to bring him back…" Her eyes fell as everyone present did as well. "And instead we just wasted an entire week on nothing… I'm sorry…"

"Whatever you found out there," Ozpin began again as the others gave conflicted but understanding looks to his assistant. "Whether it was some unknown type of Grimm capable of spawning them or something else entirely, it disappeared along with the entire horde you and the pilot assigned to you described," the Headmaster sighed. "Taking all traces of mister Arc with it… until now that is," all eyes drifted to the sword and shield on his desk.

It was quiet then for a good long while as everyone looked down upon the set with sadness. "Sir?" Before Pyrrha spoke up that is, and the man waved for her to speak. "If I may, do you still need his weapon?"

A genuine smile tugged at the corner of his mouth at the question. "We've already gotten all the forensic evidence to be found from it," he gently slid the weapon towards the edge of the desk. "As such we have no more need to keep it, you as his partner may do with it as you wish miss Nikos."

"T-Thank you sir," her hands hesitated, shaking in the air for a moment as she stepped towards the set before she felt someone's palm on each shoulder and she looked to both sides to see Ren and Nora, solemn smiles on their faces. She swallowed the lump in her throat then nodded to herself and picked up the weapon. "S-Sir? May we please be excused?"

"Of course," Ozpin nodded. "Thank you for coming today, I know this couldn't have been easy for you."

"It wasn't," the Spartan replied and turned around, but not before her gaze lingered on team RWBY for a moment, her stare hardening before she shook herself and managed to give a genuine smile to them. "Thank you for trying," she whispered and her team followed her out while the three girls she'd spoken to each felt like someone had punched them in the gut even after the elevator had shut and descended.

"… Sir…" Yang finally managed to choke out. "May we be excused as well?" She glanced to her teammates. "Watching all of that again…" She shook her head. "I-I'm feeling a bit sick sir."

"I understand, you girls are dismissed as well, thank you for coming and giving your assistance," Ozpin gave them all a sympathetic look. "And please, try and stay safe while we do our best to handle this matter," he brought up a new tab on his screen while taking his attention off them. "I'd appreciate it if you kept from leaving the campus in general, there's been word that several White Fang members have spoken out recently, claiming to have been targeted by this 'Amend,' so the streets may not be the safest place right now," a quick, unnoticeable glance up revealed the slight twitch that went through Blake as the team walked towards the elevator.

Glynda noticed it as well, but waited until the doors shut before speaking up. "What was that just now Ozpin?" She asked sharply. "Why did you just bring that up out of the blue?"

Ozpin stared at the social-media feeds of one of the aforementioned White Fang supporters, fingers steepled once again as a buzz went off in his pocket. "A risk Glynda," he replied as he pulled out his Scroll. "OnCat'sTail," he read the jumbled text to himself. "One that I hope pays off…"

"And if it doesn't?" The Huntress almost snapped. "Don't you think they've earned a rest after all this today?"

Ozpin glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "They need to learn at some point Glynda," she bristled at the response. "Sometimes life doesn't allow us to rest."

"Unbelievable," Glynda stormed past his desk towards the elevator before turning back to give him a scathing look. "I hope you're not making another mistake Ozpin, we've made far too many recently!" And with that she stormed off.

He prayed for the exact same thing.

Alrighty, Chapter-Two down, hope it's enough to keep you all interested until next weekend. I'll see if I can't get some work done on this story if I get some free time during the week, but I'll definitely do my best to have something out by at least 6/18/17.

See you then hopefully.