Jaune was scared. Terrified even. When he came to, he found himself face to face with a Grimm unlike anything he had seen before. It had pointed ears and a lengthy mane. A Panthera Leo. The fear he felt was new, yet familiar. Instinctively, Jaune got on his feet and drew out his sword and shield. Facing the monster, Jaune readied a fighting stance. Okay, I can do this. I can *gulp I can beat this thing. He prepared for an attack from the Panthera Leo. Unfortunately, Jaune prepared too soon and the Grimm clawed at Jaune's exposed leg, causing him to limp forward. Jaune glanced at his scroll and at his surprise his aura was already depleted. Jaune, thankful that he wasn't unconscious for any longer, albeit suffering immense pain from the blows. Ow, it hurts. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts. Jaune held his leg in pain when he noticed something red and sticky stainwhere he was gripping it. Uh oh. He fell on is back attempting to reer the monster with all the remaining strength he had but it was too strong. The Grimm continuously slashed at Jaune, piercing his armor, allowing no time for Jaune to fight back. Jaune noticed that the ear-piercing sound of claw against steel was replaced by rip sounds of soft fabric. Ripping apart his hoodie and eventually his skin.
"What was that?" Said Ruby, turning her attention to the general direction where the noise came from. "Where's Jaune?"
"Jaune!" Exclaimed a concerned Pyrrha, realising what may have happened.
"Pyrrha." Ren called. "You go find Jaune and I'll go get help. We shouldn't be too far from a village."
"Right."Pyrrha was already on her way.
"Ruby, if Pyrrha doesn't come after 10 minutes, take Weiss with you and find the both of them."
"Got it." Said RW in unison.
Pyrrha was never, in her entire life, more overcome with worry. One of her greatest fears could very well be true. She couldn't bear to even consider the possibility of her leader getting severely injured, or even killed. It sickened her. Pyrrha quickened the pace of her steps only to hear a faint scream. Jaune. She ran towards the source of the sound with her heart pounding like a hammer to her chest. But when she came, all her doubts, all her uncertainties, her suspicions. All of all the said things was proven true, all on the sight of her leader's limp body. Pyrrha felt like everything that she wanted, everything that she had lived for, had vanished. That everything that she could hope to achieve, to gain, all of that was just gone. All of these different, yet similar feelings came down to one thing. She loved Jaune. She loved how he would joke casually with her, how he can be so melo-dramatic, and all of the moments Jaune had shown her genuine care. Pyrrha was smiling at the thoughts, only to turn back into a frown upon realizing that she may never have the chance to re-experience these said moments. She cursed herself for not arriving sooner, to not preventing something like this from happening. There was only one thing for her to do. Placing her hand on Jaune's fully exposed chest, the stab wounds underneath her hand stopped bleeding and was beginning to crust up. Pyrrha was starting to glow black, which was slowly getting dimmer as Jaune's white aura was growing steadily brighter. Pyrrha fully understood the consequence of aura conversion and was fully willing to do so, at the chance of saving her leader's life. Overtime, the dissipating black aura became the emanating white aura. She could feel her body slowly losing strength and was beginning to get weary. Eventually, she used up all her aura and Jaune's was glowing vigorously.
Ren was walking to where he remembered a town by the name of Virtue was located. Mind adrift, Ren didn't really pay attention to much of the atmosphere around him. Except for an odd inconsistency with his footsteps. Every time he stopped, he always heard an extra footstep. Giving his theoretical pursuer the benefit of the doubt, he continued on the same pace. Ren then sprinted ahead, only to briefly stop.
"Ooomph!"
Ren, absent of surprise discovered Nora, on the ground.
"I said that I was going alone." Ren scolded.
"There's no way I'm letting you go by yourself, Renny-Pancake." Nora protested. "There could be Grimm lurking around here with no one to protect you!"
"Nora, I'm fine. It doesn't seem like the Grimm that Ozpin informed us about would reside in this area."
Almost immediately, a bush was rustling, revealing a massive ape-like creature who then blocked their way. A large Macrosimien.
"You spoke too soon, Ren. Luckily you have Nora to protect you!" Said Nora in third-person.
"This is bad. If we don't get to the village soon, Jaune will-
Ren was interrupted when the Macrosimien made a terrifying growl, charging towards them with fists dragging on the ground.
Ruby noticed a bright white light illuminating the forest as she dashed through. To her discovery, she found Pyrrha lying faint on Jaune, who seemed to also be unconscious. She was horrified when she saw the wounds Jaune had that caused this.
"Wait up Ruby! I can't keep up with your speed!" Shouted Weiss. "Not everyone is as eager and excite- Oh… Oh my…" Was all she said as she saw Ruby pelted over, crying streams. To the right was Pyrrha, who seemed to be clinging on to Jaune who had a stab wound-
Oh god.
"Ruby, please calm down. I can assure you that Jaune's not dead." Said Weiss with a hint of uncertainty, yet of confidence.
"How, *sniff how can you be so sure?" Sniffed Ruby.
"Take a look at his body. Note how it is emanating with aura. Do you know what that means?"
"N', no."
"Pyrrha must've used the last of her aura to save Jaune."
"Then, I guess we'll have to inform Ren." Said Ruby, who had calmed down.
"That's not too bad of an idea. Hopefully we can get to them in time-
As if this was a comedic prompt of an author, the same Panthera Leo as before came out towards them from behind a tree.
"You spoke too-
"Soon. I know.
Man. I am BAD at keeping promises. Make a mental note not to trust me whenever I announce a deadline. That being said, the next chapter will be uploaded tomorrow.