A/N: Hey Everyone! Thanks for all your reviews!

And woo! Over 100 favorites and followers! More people to let down!

I'm also beginning to think everyone really just enjoys Jaune dying XD.

For everyone else don't worry. Jaune will eventually grow into the role he's been given. It'll take time though. Immortal he may be, but genius he is not. It's going to take a lot of training, struggling, and chicanery before Jaune's ready to face the big dogs of the world.

For all you blood thirsty people though, Jaune will probably still end up dying an unhealthy amount :P

Ozpin massaged his temples as he sat at his desk, his coffee lying untouched in front of him. Really he should have seen this specific headache coming.

It was supposed to be simple. One General James Ironwood had told him that there were some dangerous murmurs going on about a secret Atlas military installation that even he didn't know about.

Despite Qrow's… drinking habits, the man was still an extremely capable hunter and one of Ozpin's most trusted men. So with a mission like this of possibly high importance and possibly high danger it seemed natural to send Qrow.

That was his first mistake.

Deciding that since Qrow had already undertaken and succeeded at many similar solo missions, Ozpin had let Qrow go on his own.

That was his second mistake.

Ozpin trusted Qrow.

That was his third mistake.

And as a result, Ozpin was stuck with a headache the likes of which hadn't been seen since the last time that Glynda had gotten drunk and had tried to lift the whole of Beacon Academy and turn it into the Flying Beacon Fortress Academy of Glynda.

The cause of said headache was currently standing in front of him, taking a swig of whatever the hell was in his flask.

"So let me get this straight," Ozpin began. "You infiltrated a secret military installation suspected of committing illegal experiments on human subjects. Inside, you found one human subject named Jaune Arc."

Ozpin paused as Qrow nodded in affirmation.

"This Jaune Arc displayed possibly sociopathic tendencies, specifically a disregard towards the sanctity of human life, and also displayed a disconcerting ability to survive things any mortal wound he received."

This time Qrow took a swig of his silver flask before nodding once more.

"And then after blowing your cover and destroying a part of said facility, causing an international incident I might add, you accidentally lost a possibly mentally deranged and definitely immortal teenage boy?!"

This time, Qrow had the decency to look at least a little bit abashed at Ozpin's words.

"Well you see it's a funny story…"

-Two weeks ago-

Qrow had wanted to hide out in the nearest town, but that plan had quickly been abandoned once he had seen that entire town was literally overflowing with Atlas soldiers. Not of the secret black ops variety that he had been smacking around earlier, but of actual Atlas soldiers.

That did not bode well.

From the looks of it, despite not being an 'official' Atlas base, it was still important enough that the higher-ups were willing to pull in legitimate soldiers for it.

And the cause of all this was currently shivering next to a fire wearing nothing but bandages and one sock.

They had managed to find a habitable cave in the mountains surrounding the village after Qrow had decided not to push his luck fighting an entire battalion of soldiers. The snow-covered peaks had been far enough away, and treacherous enough for the average soldier that Qrow was certain they wouldn't be found.

Jaune had quickly set about starting a fire, grumbling the whole time about a distinct lack of pants.

"I can't even feel my giblets anymore," Jaune grumbled as he briefly contemplated throwing himself into the fire. It's not like it would leave any permanent damage.

"Please stop talking about your giblets Jaune. No one cares," Qrow said as he also sat himself closer to the fire.

"Now I believe after busting you out of there I deserve some answers."

"Shoot," Jaune said as he shrugged at Qrow. Qrow's gaze grew sharp.

"Are you immortal?" Qrow asked, deciding not to beat around the bushes.

Jaune adopted a thoughtful look as he tapped a finger to his chin.

"No idea," Jaune said with a shrug as Qrow frowned.

"Honest! All I know is that whenever I uh… kick the bucket so to speak… I wake up with everything back to where it should be."

"Well it sounds like immortality," Qrow pressed, trying to get a straight answer from Jaune.

"I guess? I can't really explain how it works. I personally thought they might have been the ones to be bringing me back to life all the time. Or at least for a little while."

Jaune shrugged again, apparently unperturbed by the lack of knowledge about his apparent immortality.

"You'd have to ask all those scientist guys you beat up."

Qrow sighed, as he doubted he'd be able to get back into the base. It had been hard enough sneaking into the base in the first place. They had only managed to get out because at that point they were just running as fast as they possibly could. A tactical retreat was one of Qrow's specialties when the going got rough.

Qrow continued to pepper Jaune with various questions about his immortality, with each answer being as equally unhelpful as the first.

By the end of it, Qrow had more questions that he had in the beginning. That and a mild headache.

"So..." Qrow said as he tried to sort out his thoughts a little bit more. "You have no idea if you're actually immortal, you have no idea how things keep on growing back, and you actually are a kid instead of some sort of ageless monster who has been observing Remnant since time immemorial. Do I have that about right?"

Jaune just nodded along sympathetically. If he was in Qrow's position he'd probably be just as frustrated. Truthfully Jaune was kind of frustrated too, but he had more pressing matters to deal with.

Even more important than finally finding a pair of pants.

"I want to find my family," Jaune said seemingly out of the blue. Well out of the blue for Qrow at least. Jaune had been thinking about his family ever since they had finally gotten some down time and he hadn't been puking his guts out.

He didn't know where his family were, if they were looking for him, even if they were still alive. Jaune did not know what sort of twist of fate had landed him strapped to a metal table, but it was certainly not a peaceful one.

For a little while Jaune had even blamed them for not being able to find him. That had started around his fiftieth death. He had been angry at them for so long, thinking that they had abandoned him to his fate. That they were responsible somehow.

That had been so many deaths ago however, and facing one's mortality or lack thereof helped put things in perspective.

In the end, as cliche as it might sound, the memories of his family had helped him through his constant torture. It sounded like something out of a story book, but those memories, while not managing to make the torture any easier to bear, certainly helped with the lonely nights.

It had helped keep him mostly sane instead of totally insane. Probably.

Jaune honestly didn't know what he'd feel when he saw them. The only thing that he did know was that he wanted to see them.

Looking expectantly at Qrow for his answer, his mood quickly soured when he saw Qrow shake his head.

"Sorry, no can do kid. I need to get you to see Ozpin. He'll know what to do with you."

Jaune bristled at Qrow's statement. " 'What to do with me'?! I know exactly what to 'do with me'. Send me home! Let me see my family!"

"I don't like it either Jaune," Qrow said, trying his best to keep his voice calm and level, "but you have to understand. The Atlas military is looking for you! You'd be safer at Beacon under its protection! Ozpin could help you out, figure out what's going on with you."

This time Jaune stood as he spoke back at Qrow, his voice firm and showing a strength that Jaune personally didn't think he had.

"Listen Qrow. I'm really grateful for your help, but I need to let them know that I'm okay. That I'm still alive! My parents are probably devastated, and I've already missed enough of my sister's birthdays. I refuse to miss anymore. "

Jaune took a breath, doing his best to keep his courage up as he talked back to a man who had just picked apart a giant robot.

"I'll go to Beacon, especially if you think it's a good idea. It's the least I could do. But I'm going home first."

Qrow sighed. He understood where Jaune was coming from. He missed his sister and would do anything to see her again. That didn't mean that Jaune was right though. A part of life was putting aside what you wanted in order to make sure things didn't end up on fire.

He did admire the boy for being able to talk back to him though. Even if he did look like new born baby deer with its legs knocking together so hard they might fall off.

"And if they follow you there? If they attack you and your family? What then?"

That shut Jaune up, as the boy looked down at the ground, fists clenched in frustration.

"My dad's a pretty strong huntsman…" Jaune said, but the conviction was gone. Qrow knew he had won. He just needed one more push.

"Strong enough to take on the Atlas military?" Qrow said with a raised eyebrow.

"No…" Jaune said with a defeated sigh. Qrow was right. He couldn't risk putting his family in danger.

Jaune sat back down with a huff, visibly peeved.

"Can I at least give them a call?" Something was better than nothing at least.

"As soon as we get back to Beacon." Qrow said as he pulled out his empty flask and looked at it distastefully.

"Wait. Dammit! You wouldn't happen to know my family's number would you?" Jaune asked as panic settled on his face.

"How do you not know your own families number?! Are you five?!" Qrow couldn't believe it. This guy couldn't be an immortal! He refused to believe it. No one this hopeless could possibly be immortal.

"Well excuuuuuuuse me for not remembering the scroll number for my own house! I was busy being dissected like a giant frog if you forgot!"

Qrow was about to respond with what he hoped was a witty remark, but the words got caught in his throat. Something was wrong. Over the years, Qrow had learned to trust his gut feeling and right now his gut feeling was telling him to turn around.

Apparently for good reason, as Jaune's eyes had widened to the size of dinner plates as he stared at the entrance of their cave.

Slowly turning around, Qrow's red eyes met with glowing red lights staring at him from out of the darkness. The red orbs drew closer as the light of the fire finally illuminated its form.

Big, burly, and covered in bone, the beringel cut an imposing figure with its gargantuan body similar in shape to a gorilla. It walked slowly, crouched over on all fours in some twisted homage to its ape-like visage. It's skull-like face stared balefully at the two inhabiting the cave.

Cursing underneath his breath, Qrow wondered what sort of deity he had done to deserve this. They were stuck inside of a narrow cave, with a beringel blocking the only way out. The tight and confined space left little room for dodging, and getting hit by the Grimm ape was never a good idea.

Qrow slowly stood up and turned around, draw his sword from his back as he did so. The gears in his weapon began to turn as it shifted and extended the sword. There wasn't enough room in here to use his scythe, placing yet another handicap upon Qrow.

The odds were stacked in favor of the Grimm staring him down. As if it needed more help.

All of a sudden a gunshot rang out. The beringel didn't even seem to notice as the bullet seemingly bounced off of its bony pectorals with no effect.

"Well shit…" Qrow heard from behind him as Jaune lowered his increasingly useless pistol.

The entire situation having been summed up in two words, the beringel let out a beastial roar and charged forwards.

Qrow ducked underneath its first powerful swing, letting his sword trail behind him and scoring a deep cut on the beringel's side. Coming out of a roll, Qrow' sword shifted once more , the blade flipping down to reveal a gun barrel.

He fired off several quick shots at the beast's back, hoping to deal some more damage before its next charge.

Qrow needn't have bothered however, for the beringel had quickly focused its maiming efforts on Jaune. It barreled over the fire, sending sparks flying as its powerful arms tried to take Jaune's head off.

Jaune ducked underneath the beast's first swing, before being grabbed by the beringel's other hand. It's fingers managed to wrap around Jaune's rib cage in a crushing grip. Ignoring the sensation of his ribs caving in upon themselves, Jaune raised his pistol one last time as he tried to steady his aim.

The beast raised Jaune up to eye-level as it roared in his face, assaulting Jaune with spittle and halitosis.

The horrific stench firmed Jaune's resolve. Anyone that assaulted his nose like that needed to pay, and at this range Jaune couldn't miss.

Judging from how Jaune's pistol rounds bounced off of everything else, there was one soft and vulnerable target he could aim for. His pistol drew level with the beast's sole glowing red eye and bucked as Jaune drew the trigger.

This time Jaune hit pay dirt as the gorilla Grimm reared back with a roar, it's only eye blinded. Unfortunately that's all it seemed the round managed to do, as the beringel roared again in anger.

Blinded and confused, the ape did what came naturally in this situation. Namely crushing whatever it was holding in its hand.

Unfortunately for Jaune, that meant all of the Grimm's impressive grip strength came to bear upon his weak and fragile meatbag.

Jaune still had many things he wanted to do in life, so many things he wanted to experience. Never did he expect however, that the first living thing to take his breath away was a giant demonic gorilla.

Having literally had his breath squeezed out of him, Jaune felt his ribs give in with nary a bit of resistance. Blood shot out of his mouth as Jaune's insides were crushed and he felt like this time he actually was going to vomit out his insides.

Qrow could only watch in horror as the Grimm treated Jaune like fresh tube of toothpaste. There was no way for him to get past the ape to free Jaune, and by the time he even got close enough the damage was done.

The ape wound up its arm to throw away the used tube of Jaune-paste, as it turned to face Qrow. The beast flung Jaune straight at him, Qrow ducking under the flying bag of squished guts before bringing his sword up in a mighty swing.

Blinded, the beringel's neck was an easy target as Qrow's sword bit into its target. Shadowy muscle gave way to Qrow's steel, digging deep into the beast's neck but going no more. It's thick body managed to stop Qrow's blow before it could be decapitated, and Qrow found himself unable to get his sword out of the beast's deep hide.

Somehow the beast managed to stay alive despite the giant sword lodged in its neck, taking a swing at Qrow with one of its mighty arms. Qrow let out a short curse as he was forced to let go of his sword in order to jump back away from the blow.

Landing on his feet, Qrow settled into a fighting stance and raised his arms up into a guard. Fighting a giant ape with fisticuffs was not exactly ideal for Qrow, but he was sure having to fight with a giant sword in its neck wasn't ideal for it either.

'Jaune should be back on his feet by now,' Qrow thought as he noticed the teenage immortal had not yet joined him in the fight. Say what you would about Jaune, but he wasn't one to just stand around and do nothing. And he was good bait.

"Jaune! Could use some help up here!"

Looking back however, Qrow saw no sign of Jaune. Confusion marred his features he tried to find some sign of Jaune. All he saw was a trail of blood left by Jaune's crushed, flying body.

"Jaune?"

A trail of blood that showed Jaune's body flying right through the cave's entrance and out into the night.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me, " Qrow said as he stared out into the darkness leading to the outside world. Not only had the beringel managed to throw Jaune at him, but it had also miraculously thrown Jaune outside of the cave.

As Qrow got ready to chase after Jaune, the beast behind him roared. Qrow cursed at his lapse in judgement. You should never turn your back to an enemy. He doubted this thing would let him do as he wanted. Which meant that he needed to finish this thing off first.

Qrow readied his fists as stared down the blind beast. The beast sniffed the air in order to track Qrow down. Neither of them were at their best but both had the will to survive.

The beast gave a roar as Qrow darted forward, about to engage in a titanic battle between man and beast.

"And then-"

"Qrow I don't care about you fighting a beringel with your bare fists," Ozpin interrupted as he continued to massage his temples.

"But I-"

"Yes yes, I'm sure it was quite impressive Qrow, and something to brag about at another time, but can we please focus on what happened to Jaune?"

Qrow pouted as his story was cut short by Ozpin. He really wanted to tell that story! Oh well. He could always tell it at a bar later. Ladies loved stories of wrestling giant Grimm right? At least that's what Port had always told him.

"Ugh fine. Anyways, after I handled the Grimm, I went out to look for him and well…"

"You couldn't find him…" Ozpin sighed as he felt his headache growing in intensity.

Qrow nodded grimly. " I couldn't even find where his body landed. It's like he up and disappeared."

He went for another swig of his flask only to find his hand empty.

"Hey Oz have you seen-"

When Qrow looked up at Ozpin, he saw his precious silver flask in the headmaster's hand. Ozpin himself was taking a looong swig of the flask.

When Ozpin finished he looked at Qrow and said, " I need this. This is mine now."

Qrow just growled as he stalked up to Ozpin and snatched his flask back out of Ozpin's hands. Cradling his precious flask to his chest, Qrow stalked back to where he was standing.

"Either way I have no idea where he is, but if we find his family I'm sure he'll show up eventually."

Ozpin nodded, sighing as he took a folder filled with paper.

"We'll find him. Right now though I need you to find someone else first."

Qrow raised an eyebrow as he took the folder, opening it up to find a picture of a young woman.

"Who's she?" He said as he pointed at the picture. "And how is she more important than a newly discovered immortal being?"

"The Fall Maiden."

Almost dropping the papers in shock, Qrow quickly collected himself as he closed the folder. A serious expression settled over his face as he turned to leave.

"I'll get right on it Oz." He called back as he stepped into the elevator. He wanted to get out there and look for Jaune, but the Fall Maiden took top priority. If her power were to fall into the wrong hands…

Qrow suppressed a shudder as the elevator descended. 'Sorry Jaune, but I'm sure you'll be fine for a little while.'

-Fourteen Days Prior-

Jaune woke to the feeling of flying through the air. For a moment he thought he was in a dream. Then his memories came crashing back. Then the ground came crashing back.

"Gah! Ugh! Ow!" Jaune cried out as he proceed to bounce along the frozen earth. He found sweet relief when the bouncing finally stopped.

Jaune's relief was quickly crushed however as he realized that despite there being a distinct lack of bouncing he wasn't resting on the cold hard ground.

Instead the steady 'whoosh' of cold air was intensifying. Jaune looked up and saw a cliff. A cliff that he had just fallen off of into a ravine.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Jaune's increasingly girly screamed echoed off the cliffs as he plummeted to yet another death.

Eventually a soft *ploop* was from the bottom of the ravine, as Jaune fell into deep river at its bottom.

It is hard to say what actually killed Jaune this time. The falling, the impact, or the subsequent drowning. It all blurred together for Jaune as everything turned to darkness and he entered the sweet embrace of death. Again.

Qrow nodded to himself as the elevator finally stopped.

"Yep! I'm sure he's fine."