I saw some reviews and comments talking about the seriousness of chapter Seven, and how out-of-place it felt in the context of the entire story (cough cough The Nobody and d Roy on tvTropes.) I do apologize, and looking back, it does seem a bit odd, but I have already thrown myself into the deep end and starting over that ending could change many things, some not even in this story. With those things in mind, I am going to warn you all right here, right now.

This chapter is going to be dark.

Not rape-threats kind of dark, but dark nonetheless.

Please know, I am not doing what I do in this chapter for no reason. I am building up to a very big, very important event in this timeline, and I apologize in advance for what I have to do to get to this event.

To those who would like to know why I am doing, what I am doing, pm me and I will explain, but I would have to spoil some important things in the process of explaining.

You all ready?

Here we go.

There was complete chaos. Scattered rubble tumbled across the ground as Ren attempted to gain his bearings and work out just what the hell happened.

Taking deep breaths, he forced himself to think clearly and make a list of priorities.

1. What was his status?

2. Inventory check, was anything of importance damaged, and if so, how badly?

3. What was the situation around him.

Number one was relatively simple, nothing was broken, which was surprising. There were some definite bruises on his arms from the rough landing, but no part of him was out of commission.

That couldn't be right, even with his aura healing him there was no way he wouldn't be feeling the affects of serious injuries…

Hadn't he fallen from a mid-flight dust jet?

Something was going on here…

Two was also easy. Both Storm Flowers were functional; a little banged up, but nothing he couldn't fix. The flare gun, however, was completely destroyed. It had fallen away from him and been crushed by stray rubble. Not like he would be needing it, though, seeing as the building he and Blake had been meaning to infiltrate was the building they had just so happened to fall on.

Another improbable coincidence, for their dust jet to just so happen to fall on the exact building they needed information from. Something was definitely going on here, and Ren meant to find out what.

If he didn't get shot by the bullets whizzing around him, that is.

There was no time for him to answer point three, as he leapt into action. Both Storm Flowers blazed as he rained a hail of bullets on the thugs around him, dodging this way and that as he tried to locate the rest of the team at the same time.

A single flash of orange was his only warning as Nora rocketed by him, twirling Magnhild around and sending men flying in all directions, her infectious – and slightly creepy – laughter bringing an almost nonexistent smirk to his face as he went to work.

With one final strike with the flat of his blade, Jaune managed to knock out the thug before him and give himself some breathing room.

With the tap of a finger, he activated the communicator attached to his ear and called out, "Status check! Is everyone alright?!"

"I'm fine!" Came Ren and Nora's voices through the small device simultaneously, followed almost immediately by an, "I'm okay," from Blake.

There were a couple grunts that sounded next, and it took Jaune a few moments to identify the voice as Yang. He was almost worried until he saw her sending thugs flying, and quickly tuned back into the communicator as Weiss's "I'm alright!" faded out, overlapping just barely with Velvet's "I am not hurt!"

He didn't even have to hear Pyrrha's "All good!" he merely stepped back as a gold disc whizzed past his head, and then shot back almost immediately in the opposite direction.

That left only…

"Ruby! Are you alright?!" he shouted.

There was no response, but to his surprise an enemy went flying back in front of him, hit by a bullet that had come from behind…

Jaune whirled around to see Ruby perched on a pile of rubble, aiming down with Crescent Rose. When their eyes connected, she tapped her ear with one finger and shook her head.

Jaune swore under his breath, but knew that he had no choice but to let her handle herself. There was not enough time to try and work out what had happened with the communicator.

Seeing that the flow of thugs had died down somewhat, he took the opportunity to survey the damage in the building.

Or rather, what was left of it.

Over half of the roof had collapsed inwards, two of the walls were destroyed, and any and all furniture on the vast floor had likely been burned up by now.

Plan A was out, it seemed.

Time for Plan B.

Well, it sounded good, but that generally only works when there actually is a Plan B.

So, Jaune improvised.

He twirled once, twice, and thrice, taking in as much information as he possibly could about the situation. Then, he categorized it, picking out the most important details and formulating a plan based on those things.

"Reinforcements are coming in through the east-most opening, Yang, Nora and Pyrrha, go there. You are our front line fighters! Blake, man the west wall, there are less enemies coming in through there! Ren and Weiss, stay in the middle and support both sides, I'll join you two in a few seconds!"

He didn't need to hear their affirmations; he simply turned towards Ruby, and then pointed towards the remains of the roof where more enemies were landing via dropship. A single nod was all he needed before turning back and lunging forward into the chaos.

The next few minutes were a blur. One after another, thugs dropped to the ground, only to be stepped over by two more. The strategy was good - simple, yet good - but there were simply too many enemies to deal with.

Steadily, the outside fighters were forced back in, and the few times he had to turn he could see that Ruby was dealing with thugs that had come up behind her, slowly but surely forcing her towards them.

Then, disaster struck.

With a wordless cry, Blake was flung backwards as a thug with heavier armor and a larger weapon got a hit on her. She bounced once on the hard concrete, then skidded to a halt in the center of the room.

And after that, everything just collapsed.

"Ren, fall back and get Blake! Wait, no! Yang, g-get Blake!" Jaune shouted, feeling sweat build on his palms and causing his grip around the hilt of his sword to slip. His eyes flicked back and forth, desperately trying to think of something, anything, but when Blake had been hit he had been distracted, and the streak of good ideas had been cut off almost immediately.

"Ruby, go to the center and support Yan-No! S-scratch that! Stay where you are!"

Ruby, who by this time had been forced into the remains of the building, looked towards Jaune in confusion. However, she figured that he placed her where she was for a reason, and because of this faith in Jaune, she did not question his motives.

As time dragged on longer and longer, Jaune became more and more frazzled.

"Ren-no, Nora! Use-"

Silence.

"Use what!?" Nora called out.

When no response came, Nora looked back.

Jaune was pale, sweat was pouring down his face, and his eyes were wide and panic-filled. Nora knew that face, it was the face off someone who simply had no idea of what to do.

And then, finally, it all came crashing down in one fell swoop when Jaune heard an anguished cry of pain.

A cry of pain that was timed perfectly after a particular bullet whipped past Jaune, straight in the direction he had told Ruby not to move from just moments earlier.

Time froze.

The silence that followed was deafening.

With horror burning in his heart, Jaune turned around, hoping to all that was holy that he was wrong.

He wasn't.

Ruby had been shot, straight through the chest.

Time began to speed up; Yang's roar of fury was drowned out by Jaune's aura-enhanced shout of "Retreat!"

Immediately, the group ran as fast as their tired legs could carry them, Yang grabbing Ruby from her place on the ground as Ren and Pyrrha provided covering fire. Blake, who had managed to get back on her feet earlier, was being supported by Nora, who threw a strangely colored grenade back towards the crowd of thugs. Jaune quickly realized it was a smoke grenade - and a choking grenade at that - as the thugs inside immediately began coughing and wheezing.

As the group exited the ruins of the building, Weiss spotted what appeared to be an abandoned Subway entrance, not far from the building. The locks on the gate were no trouble for Crocea Mors to cut through, and the group managed to escape into the system, with Nora collapsing the entrance behind them, despite the vehement protests from Weiss and Pyrrha.

As they ran in the dilapidated tunnels, Ren could only think of one thing.

'What a coincidence, this Subway system to be right here next to where we need to escape from…'

During their mad dash through the tunnels, Velvet kept her hands on Ruby's chest the entire time, surrounding the damaged area with aura and speeding up the clotting of her blood.

It was, at best, a temporary solution, but it worked.

An old train-boarding station is where the group finally stopped, and Ruby was laid out so Velvet could have more working room. Bandages, shots of painkillers, and an assortment of other supplies were methodically set out as Velvet went to work, disinfecting and treating the wound.

Ruby's cries of pain as her wound was disinfected were some of the most horrible sounds Jaune had ever heard. The scene was playing itself over and over again in his mind, the bullet moving past his head in slow motion, her cry of pain…

Two gauntlet clad hands grasped at his collar.

"What is wrong with you!" Yang shouted, fury ringing in her eyes, ripples of fire streaming down her arms and singing Jaune's shirt.

Jaune could not answer, there was nothing he could say. No excuse for his actions. He had messed up, big time. And now, Ruby was paying the price for his failure.

His silence only served to infuriate Yang even more. She stepped back, letting go of his collar, only to lunge forward and slam her fist into Jaune's jaw with enough force to lift him off his feet and send him hurtling into a wall.

Someone shouted, it sounded like Pyrrha, but Jaune couldn't tell. When his vision was clear once more, he saw that Blake had her arms wrapped under Yang's shoulders, holding her back from going to strike Jaune again. Weiss was sitting on the other side of Velvet, squeezing Ruby's hand while Velvet bandaged the wound as best she could. Pyrrha, by this time, had stepped in front of Yang, and was saying, "Yang, I know you are angry, but now is the worst time for us to fall apart! We have to stay together, to get through this crisis and complete our mission!"

"Who gives a damn about the mission!" Yang shouted, tears streaming down her face. "My baby sister could have her career as a huntress ended because of a stupid, beginners mistake!"

The words cut into Jaune's very core, but he knew that she was right.

This was his fault.

He wasn't fit to be a leader, he didn't deserve the kindness Pyrrha had shown in training him.

Unseen by all except one of group, Jaune stood up and trudged away, shoulders hung low in shame.

Blake approached Jaune, who was slumped against the walls of one of the tunnels, absentmindedly etching circles into the dust caking the concrete floor.

"I'm not exactly aware of your relationship with the others," she said, breaking the taut silence, "but I, of all people, know that Yang is rather impulsive in both her actions, and her words."

"Whether or not she said it on impulse doesn't change the fact that she was right." Jaune said, tiredly.

"Of course not," Blake said, "But do you know what it also doesn't change?"

Jaune sat in silence, waiting for her to finish speaking.

"That what happened back there was a mistake."

Jaune's eyes narrowed, but Blake spoke on, preventing him from interrupting.

"And everyone makes mistakes. Sitting around like this will not change the fact that you messed up and Ruby was hurt by it. Nothing will change that, but sitting around will also mean the probability of our mission being a success will go down dramatically. We can't get a message back to Beacon for transport at our current location, no signal on anyones scroll has been able to get through, and with the Twins subordinates crawling over the city above we don't stand a chance with a frontal assault. If we are to get the information we need from the twins, we need a tactical thinker. Weiss, Ren, Pyrrha and I are smart, but not like you. If we were to have any chance of success, it would be through your help. We need you, now more than ever, Jaune."

Her words, while blunt, did have the desired effect.

Jaune began to think.

Factorizing the variables of their current situation, and grasping at possible solutions.

Like she said, a frontal assault was pointless.

Sending Ren and Blake in for recon was a bad idea, while Blake was good at hiding it, he could see the bandages on her side. Her acrobatic skill would be dramatically reduced until those wounds she received in the fight could be healed by professionals. Not to say Velvet was not up for the job, but it was a matter of time and that was not a commodity they had a lot of.

Ren alone was not a viable option, hacking was his style, not infiltration. That was going to have been Blake's job, had the mission gone well in the first place.

That left very few options…

As Jaune thought more and more, his gaze went down the length of his body, before stopping at his hands.

He could have slapped himself.

This entire time he had considered his skill at Massaging a hobby, something to be forgotten about on a professional mission.

But from what he had heard about the Twins, they seemed rather obsessed with their appearance. Surely a trip to the spa would not be a strange thing, right?

It was a shaky plan, at best, but it could work.

Unseen by Jaune, and to Blake's relief, a fire lit in his eyes.

"Blake!" Jaune said, his voice sharp.

"Yes?" She said, masking her surprise at the suddenness of his voice.

"I need a disguise good enough to remove suspicion, but also something that will help me blend in. Any ideas?"

She smiled. "Several, but the supplies you would need are not something we can get easily. Fortunately," she said quickly, seeing disappointment in his eyes, "I know just the person. A rather adept thief, going by the name of Sun Wukong, who just so happened to have informed me that he was travelling to this city after our last...encounter…He can help you."

Jaune stood up, "where can I find him?" he asked.

Blake stood up, reached to Jaune's side and pulled out his scroll. Wordlessly, she opened up the local area map, and marked out a location. "This is where he said he would be staying, but you need to leave now, I don't know how long he will stay there."

"Aren't you going to say I shouldn't go alone?" Jaune asked.

"Would that stop you?" She said in return.

Jaune chuckled, looked at his scroll, snapped it shut and looking at Blake. "No, it would not," he said.

"Well, there you go. What shall I tell the others?" she asked.

Jaune paused for a moment, then said, "Tell them…Tell them I left, to make things right."

She paused for a moment, nodded, then turned back.

"And Blake," Jaune called out.

She turned her head, looking at him quizzically.

"I owe you a Massage," he said, before turning and heading towards the entrance they had gone through, not even an hour ago.

Blake smiled slightly, then began heading back to the remaining group members.

Some of you might see Yang blowing up at Jaune happening a bit late, but the way I see it, Yang knew, at least subconsciously, that she had to keep it together until could stop running. Once they had stopped, she could blow up.

As of right now, this little "arc" is set to be finished next chapter, but depending on how certain events play out it might end up being four chapters in total. No promises. Sorry about the wait and short chapter, many, many things have been happening lately.

WHY APOLOGISE.
REVEL IN THE PAIN THEY FEEL.

Please ignore the caps, that is just Siderial being a butt.

(jk I love you, thanks for the help editing this 3)

(Wait are you really keeping this part.)

MEBEEEEEEEE

Would you prefer people not know I am in contact with one of the best RWBY fanfic authors on the website :v

(No, I want people to think I am a saintly angel.)

(JK that won't hold once future chapters of FFTB get uploaded.)