Chapter 11

"Emerald, Mercury! Report to me immediately!" Cinder called over the stadium's PA system.

"Finally, its show time!" cried Mercury as he leaped to his feet and started to make his way to the control room. As he was going, Emerald joined him.

"So, they're finally here," said Emerald as the two walked in unison. Mercury didn't respond to her. As the two entered the control room they saw Cinder sitting in a chair, looking at a tablet. She looked up as her two apprentices entered the room.

"Mercury, Emerald, the time has come. RNJR shall arrive any minute now. You two know the plan?"

"Yes"

"No"

Emerald just shot a glare at Mercury. Cinder on the other hand just smiled, "Well Mercury, its simple, just follow me and when the target shows up, you beat him senseless."

"And the others?" asked Mercury.

"You'll see my boy, now come. We have work to do," said Cinder as she got up and made her way towards the locker room. Emerald and Mercury quickly followed suit, preparing themselves for the fight to come.

"They, they what?" asked Pyrrha teary eyed. Ozpin had just filled her in on the events of last night.

"I'm sorry Pyrrha, but its true, they aren't even talking to eachother right now." Replied Ozpin.

"W-what were their secrets?" asked Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha, please, I don't think you want to know that." Said Ozpin somberly.

"At least tell me Jaune's, please Ozpin." Ozpin just sighed.

"You already knew his secret, his transcripts, and he has already lived out his fear," said Ozpin.

"And what was it?" asked Pyrrha, desperation in her eyes.

"Losing you."

Pyrrha just sat there, stunned. His biggest fear was losing me? She was speechless, contemplating what Ozpin had just told her. She was quickly snapped out of her thoughts when Ozpin spoke again.

"What the hell? Is that the Vytal Tournament Coliseum?" Pyrrha quickly looked up and saw that it indeed was the Coliseum from that disastrous Tournament. The one where Yang broke Mercury's leg. Where she killed Penny. Where all those young Hunters and Huntress banded together to defeat the flying Grimm. The place where everything changed.

"What is it doing there?" asked Pyrrha.

"I don't know," said Ozpin as he studied the structure carefully, "But whatever it is doing, it can't be good."

RNJR had been walking for the past few hours in complete silence. None of them even looked at one another. Along the way they had run into a small pack of Grimm. But as oppose to fighting as a team like they had for the past months, they fought strictly as individuals. None helped or were even concerned for their fellow teammates. They just fought the beasts that approached them and moved onto the next. As they were going down the trail, Ren noticed something odd. Winter had finished only a little bit ago, so Ren knew that the trees were still going to appear slightly dead, as the spring leaves had yet to grow in, but at the top of all the trees they passed were dead, with no exception. He also noticed that the branches appeared to be broken in some areas.

What the hell, its almost as if something flew in and killed the top of the trees, but what could do that? He quickly got his answer.

"What the heck is that?" asked Jaune out loud. Ren snapped his head forward and saw a giant structure ahead of them.

"Is that the Vytal Coliseum?" asked Nora.

"I think it is Nora, but the only question now is," started Ruby.

"Why is it here?" finished Jaune. Ruby shot him a dirty glare. Jaune ignored it as he and the others approached the building. The Coliseum had seen a lot of structural damage since the fall. The outside concrete walls had been cracked and partially destroyed. The large arches that lined the top were cracked, and collapsed. The entire outside of the building made it look as though the structure was in disarray. The four teens drew their weapons and cautiously entered the stadium. As they entered they noticed three distinct pathways. But they did not appear to be normal pathways. One looked as though it had been mined, with lanterns lining the walls similar to a mine shaft, and obvious marks showing that the concrete had been chipped away. That was the path on the left. The path on the right was a staircase that appeared to possibly lead up towards where the stands would be. And the final path in the middle was a large dark entrance, with scattered debris lying on the ground.

"So, how is this going to work out?" asked Nora. "Three tunnels, four of us."

"I think we should all stick together, this smells like a trap." Said Jaune.

"Oh and how would you know?" snipped Ruby. "Why don't you leave the decision making to the real Hunters here."

Jaune just glared at her, "Fine don't listen to me, it's not like it'll matter if I'm right or anything." Jaune started to walk forward towards the middle tunnel.

"Where do you think you're going," said Ruby. Jaune didn't respond, he just drew his weapon and continued down the tunnel.

"Ugh, men." Said Nora. Ren just rolled his eyes and made his way towards the left tunnel.

"And you, where do you think you're going?" asked Ruby. Ren however did give a response.

"I'll take the left tunnel, you girls seem to make good company. I'm sure you'll enjoy your time together," said Ren, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Nora huffed, "Fine, me and Ruby will take the right tunnel." With that, Nora grabbed the young girl by her cape and dragged her towards the right tunnel. As they parted their separate ways, all were unaware of a camera watching them.

"Haha, and so it begins," said Cinder as she watched the team disperse.

After Nora let go of Ruby, the two readied their weapons and walked side by side down the passage way. Their initial thoughts of it leading to the spectator stands had been dismissed after they discovered that as oppose to a public passageway, it was a service tunnel. Very similar to the one Ruby and gone down when she discovered Mercury.

"Nora, do you think this is a trap?" asked Ruby.

"What do you mean?" asked Nora.

"As much as I hate to have to admit this, Jaune did have a point. What would this coliseum be doing in the middle of nowhere, three kingdoms away from where it originated." Said Ruby.

"Ruby, lets not worry about that, lets instead worry about whats behind that door!" exclaimed Nora as she and Ruby approached a large sliver door.

Ruby pulled Crescent Rose out and turned it into its rifle mode. Nora pulled out her weapon out as well as she approached the door.

"On the count of three! One, two," Nora suddenly grabbed the door and pulled it open, with Ruby quickly running in, pointing her gun in multiple directions to see if anyone was inside.

"Clear!" called out Ruby as she finished her sweep of the room. Nora followed behind her, putting her weapon back in its holster.

"What is this room?" asked Nora. They were in a medium sized room, it had two levels, with a small staircase leading down to the lower part of the room. On the lower part were five seats, with what appeared to be seat belts for some reason. And in front of the seats was a wall of television screens. There were three smaller screens on either side of a large T.V. They all had different images displayed on them. With some being switched off, others having static, but the one they were focused on was the giant screen in the center. It showed the fighting area with all the lights shining down on it.

"Why would the-?" before Ruby could finish her thought, she and Nora heard another door open and immediately turned and readied their weapons to face whatever lied beyond the door.

Ren made his way down the freshly dug tunnel. As he continued down it, he noted how it reminded him more and more of a mine tunnel. Whether it was the wired lanterns along the wall, or the small layer of ruble that covered the floor. The further he made his way down the tunnel, the more and more he wondered just why it existed.

Its almost as if they were looking for something thought Ren. The walls shone a dark orange color, and the walls were jagged and rough. Suddenly the path took a sharp right turn, and he readied Storm Flowers, preparing for a possible ambush. He quickly went around the corner, aiming his guns, only to be met by a large silver door. Ren could tell that the door had been placed there, but why he had no idea. He crept up to the door and could hear muffled voices behind it. He took a couple of quick breaths, psyching himself up, and quickly opened the door and aimed… straight at Nora and Ruby.

"Oh, it's just you two," said Ren as he holstered his dual guns.

"Ren? What the hell are you doing here?" asked Ruby.

"This is where my tunnel lead," said Ren as he pointed over his shoulder showing the mine tunnel behind the open door. "I assume this is where your tunnel lead to as well."

"Yeah, that just leaves one question, why? And also, where did Jaune's tunnel lead?" asked Ruby.

"Guys, I found him" said Nora, the normal chipper spirit absent in her voice.

"Where?" asked Ruby as she looked at Nora pointing at the screen. It showed Jaune, slowly making his way across the battlefield.

"What the hell?" asked Ren. No sooner had he asked that did the other screens suddenly burst to life, showing different angles of the battlefield. Then without warning a steel wall suddenly dropped over the doors, with a small porthole window that showed them the tunnels they just came from. A red light started to slowly flash in the room, giving it an ominous vibe. All three quickly redrew their weapons, with Nora swinging her hammer into the steel wall, only for it to stop dead in its tracks.

"What the hell! It didn't even leave a dent!" Suddenly, the two girls heard the sound of clinking metal and turned to see Ren had dropped his guns, and then to his knees, a look of horror plastered across his face.

"Ren whats the matter?" asked Ruby, panic setting in. Ren just pointed his hand at the screen, shaking slightlywhile he did so. Ruby and Nora turned to see the screen, color also leaving their faces.

"No," said Nora.

"It can't be," said Ruby as her knees began to shake, having trouble being able to stay up as they saw Jaune facing the three figures they set out to stop.

Jaune walked down the dark tunnel, using his scroll's flashlight app to give him some sight. The tunnel was pitch black, with chunks of concrete and other debris scattered across the floor. It seemed as though a small bomb had gone off.

"Oh and how would you know?" "Why don't you leave the decision making to the real Hunters here." Ruby's word echoed through his head. She didn't mean it Jaune, shes just scared and upset that her closest secrets had been exposed. He was also thinking about the secret that Incubus had shared with them, that Ruby was jealous of how easy he had it. It made him think, did he really have it easy?

No, just think all about you've had to be through, the blood, sweat, and tears you've shed. You've just done a good job of hiding it. As he continued down the tunnel, he noticed a light at the end.

"Now then, lets see where this leads," said Jaune to himself as he pocketed his scroll. As he stepped into the lights, his eyes slowly adjusted to see that he had found himself standing in the fighting ring of the coliseum. The ring was like it was when Pyrrha and Penny had their fight. As he continued towards the center, he noticed the T.V cameras were not only still there, but appeared to be running.

"The hell?"

"Hello there Jaune, we've been waiting for you."

Jaune instantly recognized the voice, "Cinder," the name leaving his mouth like venom. He looked up to see Cinder walking towards him, with Emerald and Mercury on either side of her.

Cinder just smirked, "Welcome Jaune, to the end of the line." Said Cinder.

"So I was right, it is a trap," said Jaune.

"Yes Mister Arc this is a trap, a trap we set for you," replied Cinder. Jaune looked to see Mercury and Emerald both flashing smiles as they began to crack their knuckles.

Jaune gulped in fear, "For me? Why?"

"I don't know Arc, I personally think you are a waste of human being, but for whatever reason, my master thinks you pose a threat, so we're here to stop you."

"So you're going to kill me?" asked Jaune as he pulled out his sword and expanded his shield.

"Oh no Arc, my master has something much worse planned for you. She just might make a man out of you yet, now then, Emerald, Mercury, get him." Said Cinder. The two took a step forward and open fired in the knight, unloading all of their clips. A cloud of smoke surrounded the knight.

"Right, now that that's settled, go collect him and we can be on our…" started Cinder before she starred in shock as the smoke cleared, before them stood the knight, not even a scratch on him, with his shield and sword still lowered and a light blue glow surrounding him.

"Oh, well then. Things just got interesting," said Cinder.

Okay Jaune, so much for the element of surprise. You can do this, just remember Pyrrha's training. The world around Jaune blurred as he charged his targets. He sprinted forward and put his aura into his legs allowing him to jump high up into the air. Jaune brought his shield down, colliding with the ground sending a small shockwave causing Cinder and her cronies to jump back. Mercury was the first to strike, lunging at Jaune he flipped forward and brought his foot down. Jaune used his shield blocking his strike and pushing him up, setting him off balance. Mercury tried to counter by going into a back flip, but Jaune acted quicker and grabbed his other foot, and threw him right into Emerald. But instead of colliding with the Mocha skinned girl, he went right through her.

An Illusion, thought Jaune as he remembered Emerald's semblance. Before he got a chance to react he was blindsided by a barrage of punches that caused him to have to bring his arms up to defend against the onslaught. He quickly reached forward and managed to grab Emerald's head and bring it to his knee, stunning the girl. Before she got time to regain her bearings, Jaune spartan kicked her right into Mercury, just as he was getting up.

"Now then, that just leaves her," said Jaune as he turned to face Cinder.

"Well, well, well, Arc. I'm beginning to understand why my master wants you, but do you honestly think you can defeat me? Even your partner couldn't do that, and she was the best" Said Cinder.

"I don't expect to leave this place with my life," said Jaune as he began to twirl his sword. "But that doesn't matter now. No matter what happens, I have to try. And beside, if I do die, I get to see her again. Not to mention I didn't come alone, if I can just stay alive long enough, my team can come and help."

"Haha, do you really expect them to come and save your pitiful ass again after what they found out about you?" mocked Cinder.

"You underestimate our friendship. They might be mad now, but it's just because they felt very vulnerable after what happened to them. I know that no matter what, they will always have my back. Unlike your two cronies" Said Jaune.

"Oh Arc, you underestimate my apprentices." Said Cinder.

"What?" Jaune turned only to be tackled to the ground by Mercury. The surprise attack caused Jaune's sword to be knocked out of his hands. The boy pinned Jaune and began to reign down a flurry of punches on Jaune's face. But instead of trying to block any, Jaune just glared at Mercury as he continually connected punch after punch.

"What the fuck!" cried out Mercury in frustration as he continued to hammer Jaune's face. Jaune used his free hand to grab the collar of Mercury's shirt and deliver a powerful head butt. Mercury fell back, a large amount of his aura depleted. Jaune delivered a powerful right hook, knocking the boy off of him. Mercury just laid there, only thirty percent of his aura remaining. Jaune got up and looked to see the sprawled out form of Mercury. Just as Jaune got up, Cinder lunged forward and delivered a powerful punch, fueled by the power of the Fall Maiden. Jaune went flying back into the concrete wall. He bounced off, leaving an imprint of himself in the wall. Jaune shook his head and charged forward. Cinder created a black sword and charged forward as well. The two collided, with Jaune using his shield to block Cinder's sword. Jaune used his momentum from bringing his shield up to go into a spinning motion, and spin completely and bash Cinder in the side with his shield, sending her sliding.

Jaune collected his sword and made his way back towards Cinder. As he was making his way towards Cinder, Emerald lunged forward, using the blade parts of her weapon to attack with a x-scissor. Jaune went into a back-flip to avoid the attack. As he went back, he brought his foot up, hitting her in the jaw, knocking her onto her back. As Jaune landed on his feet, Mercury was suddenly upon him. Mercury didn't send Jaune to the ground this time, and instead continued to run, with Jaune being hunched over one of his shoulders. Jaune just punched his back, over and over again, taking one percent of Mercury's aura out with each power fueled punch. Jaune used the sharp end of his shield to deal one final blow to Mercury's back. Causing the boy to let him go, Jaune quickly landed on his feet and the two stared eachother down.

"Well Arc, you've gotten better, too bad your partner won't get the chance to see it." Said Mercury. The boy gave a laugh, "You know, I liked her. She had a nice pair of boobs." Jaune's eyes narrowed and his grip tightened, anger coursing through his body. "I would have loved a chance to play with them." Mercury said with a smirk.

"GRAHH!" cried Jaune out in anger as he sprinted towards Mercury. Jaune quickly brought his sword up and slashed Mercury across the chest. The sudden outburst surprised the boy, and he didn't have time to counter. Jaune quickly brought his sword back down and slashed him again. And then continued slash, again and again, and again. He soon became so engrossed in the attack he shut his eyes and screamed as he continued to slash Mercury repeatedly, his anger taking control. Until suddenly, he heard a shriek and felt something warm splatter across his face. Jaune opened his eyes in horror to see Mercury clutching his throat, blood running down his body. He looked over to see Emerald covering her mouth. Jaune looked down at his hands and sword to see blood dripping from them. He looked to see Mercury say with his last dying breath, "C-Cinder?" Jaune watched in horror as the life drained from Mercury as he fell to the ground, a look of terror still painted across his face.

"N-no" cried Jaune as he began to tremble. He fell to his knees and dropped his shield and sword and stared down at the lifeless form of Mercury. His spirit armor faded as he began to process what happened. In his anger he completely depleted Mercury's aura, but instead of stopping, continued his attack, killing the boy. Cinder leaned over and whispered something into Emerald's ear before she sautéed over to Jaune.

Ruby, Ren, and Nora stared at the screen in shock as they witnessed what Jaune had just done.

"J-Jaune?" uttered Ruby. Ren and Nora were too shocked for words. Suddenly, they saw Cinder pull something out of her pocket. It was her scroll, they saw her play with something on the screen before she suddenly turned and faced the camera, "Hello there Ruby and others. Now then," Cinder tapped something on her scroll and an alarm began to sound in the room RNR was in.

"Whats happening?!" cried out Nora as the room began to shake. Suddenly, they felt the room begin to lift up. Ren looked out the windows to make a stunning realization.

"We're flying away from the stadium!" Nora and Ruby looked out the portholes to see that they were indeed flying away from the coliseum.

"NO JAUNE!" screamed Ruby as they flew away from the young knight. Ruby turned to the screen and screamed, "TAKE US BACK!"

Cinder just laughed as she watched the Reaper scream on the live feed she had of the young protégé.

"Now now Ruby, you made your decision to split up, and besides, I thought he wasn't a real Hunter after all." With another tap of her scroll, the speakers in the coliseum began to blare what she yelled at Jaune earlier, "Oh and how would you know? Why don't you leave the decision making to the real Hunters here." Jaune just continued to stare at the ground with soulless eyes.

"Though I suppose I should thank you and the other two, if it weren't for you, you never would have delivered Jaune here straight to me. This won't be our last encounter; I'll see you in Haven. But unfortunately, Jaune here won't be so lucky." With that she put her scroll back in her pocket. She walked over to Jaune and RNR watched as she grabbed his chin and looked into his eyes. What she did next made Ruby's blood boil. Cinder leaned in and planted a kiss on Jaune's lips. And Jaune, still didn't react, and just stared into nothingness. After she pulled back she took a step back and created a bow and fired an arrow into Jaune's chest. Ruby watched in absolute horror as she watched the life suddenly return to Jaune's eyes as the same look of terror came over his face similar to Pyrrha's when Ruby watched her die. Jaune fell forward to the ground, dead. The arrow coming out of his back as the ground forced it through his body. Cinder leaned down and picked Jaune's head up before turning his body to ash. Cinder turned and looked at the screen and gave it a wink before the screen went to static, leaving the three teens distraught.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ruby screamed in agony as silver streaks flew out of her eyes again.

"Ruby no!" cried out Ren as he shielded his eyes. But his cry fell onto deaf ears as the sliver light just intensified. It soon became so intense that all three teens became overwhelmed and fainted.

"GAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed Pyrrha in pure agony as a green inferno engulfed her. Ozpin had to shield his eyes from the flames.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Pyrrha was distraught. She just watched what was left of Team RNJR watch as their friend, and her love die before them.

"WAIT! IS HE GOING TO COME HERE? JUST LIKE US? I-I MEAN SHE DID THE SAME THING TO ME! SO DOES THAT MEAN HE'LL COME HERE?! TELL ME OZPIN! PLEASE! PLEASE TELL ME HE'LL COME BACK!" pleaded Pyrrha, tears streaming down her face like a river.

Ozpin just looked down in sorrow, "Pyrrha, I'm sorry, but, he's gone. Unlike Jaune she turned you to ash the moment before your death, but Jaune. He was already dead before she did it. Pyrrha, I-I'm so sorry," said Ozpin as he began to tear up. Pyrrha just shrieked in agony again, the green flames of despair once again igniting.

And that's the end of chapter 11. Sorry the delay of this, college and all that jazz. So, next chapter is going to be up some time in November. After that I'm going to go back to the formula of releasing a bunch of chapters all at once. When I do that it will be the rest of the chapters for this story, as I only have a handful chapters left to write and publish. So anyways, see you then. And also, Happy Halloween!