Catastrophe - Cat-tastrophe - Blake-tastrophe in case anyone was wondering how it worked.

If I'm honest, not overly proud of this chapter, probably a couple of things I'm sure I could've done better...

But I think it was alright, chapter is much shorter than usual.

Do enjoy!


Teams RW(B)Y and JNPR remained silent as they ate their food quietly, or least six of them were.

Jaune was looking down and glaring at his teacup, every so often his eye would twitch; it had only been a day since the little incident but he had not been on speaking terms with anyone since learning that Blake had once been a White Fang member.

"Jaune…are you-?" Pyrrha started and tried to place her hand on Jaune's shoulder, to her surprise he pulled away and got out of his seat.

"Go on without me, I…need to be alone." He stated simply with a dead voice as he took his cup and walked away from the rest of the group.

"…Well shit." Yang remarked as she watched Jaune walking away, she turned to Weiss and said, "What the hell were you thinking blurting it out like that?" She folded her arms and gave a stern look.

"What do mean what was I thinking? I didn't even realize he had entered the room!" Weiss protested.

"You didn't realize? I was trying to get your attention!" Yang pointed out.

"Er, guys?" Ruby tried but both sides blithely ignored her.

"Well I'm sorry but weren't you shocked on learning that little piece of news?" Weiss glared at Yang.

"Oh sure I was, but I didn't completely lose my presence of mind on learning it!" Yang shot back.

"Everyone stop!" Ruby finally shouted and made everyone turn their heads to regard her.

"What matters is that we need to figure out what to do now, Blake didn't return last night and Jaune is probably going to kill her if she does so…" Ruby paused and took a breath, "let's put our heads together and try to fix this problem and not start fighting amongst ourselves now ok?" She looked around the table to see nods of agreement.

"Let's start looking in Vale itself; she can't have gone far…" Yang said.

"And Jaune?" Ruby looked at the team who shifted back and forth nervously.

"We'll keep watch over him." Ren nodded.

"Yeah! You can count on us Ruby!" Nora smiled.

"Ok so today we'll go look for her in Vale, hopefully we'll be lucky and it'll be quick!"


A few days later…

No such luck, despite going around all of Vale and crying out her name endlessly from the start of the day until the sun began to set, and asking all around if anyone had seen her with the help of a photo, the next few days passed by without any sign of the aloof, dark-haired girl.

In the meantime, Jaune spoke little and ate little, all of what once was thought to be his normal cheer and politeness was lost, while he never went so far as to push away any of his team's attempts to speak to him away, he blithely ignored all of them, even when Nora nearly tried to lightly 'tap' him with Magnhild and had to be restrained by both Pyrrha and Ren before she hurt Jaune.

And then one morning, he promptly disappeared from their dorm before any of them had even awoken. No message was left behind, no trace as to where he might potentially have gone. In a panic, Pyrrha called up Ruby.

Come on come on pick up your scroll! Pyrrha bit her lower lip and paced back and forth throughout their dorm with Ren and Nora watching,

"Pyrrha?" Ruby's voice came over the scroll.

"Ruby!" Pyrrha practically shouted.

"Oh hey, what's up? How's Jaune-"

"Jaune's missing!" Pyrrha interrupted, "He's gone!"

"What do you mean gone? How-"

"I mean he's gone Ruby! There's no note or message or anything, he disappeared before any of us were awake!"

"Oh…err…well that's…we'll keep a lookout for him."

"Please do, we'll be down to Vale as soon as we can!" Pyrrha hurriedly said before she hung up.

"We should probably get moving before our leader does something he regrets!" Nora nodded her head back and forth.

"I'm more worried he won't regret it." Ren sighed and rubbed his forehead.

All three exchanged determined glances, they would definitely find their leader no matter what it took.

While Team (J)NPR rushed for the next bullhead into Vale, their leader was skulking about with his head drawn to the ground while he walked along a crowded street in the middle of Vale city, still mulling over the recent revelation and what he was going to do about it.

I need to find Blake. Jaune thought to himself.

And do what? Kill her? His thoughts seemed to bite right back at him.

No, I just…Jaune grimaced, I need to talk to her. He tried to calm himself down

About what? What is there to talk about? Isn't she White Fang? Wouldn't she have been involved in what happened two years ago? When had he gotten so introspective about himself?

No, I don't know that, I…

Don't you hate them anymore? Have you already forgiven what they did to you? To your family?

"No," Jaune spoke softly, "But Blake is…Blake is…"

What? What is Blake to me? A friend? An enemy? A passing acquaintance? I don't know anymore…

You've fought together, bonded together, doesn't that make you…

Fought together…

All of a sudden Jaune was reminded of something, and so he took out his scroll and flicked through some of the photos, eventually coming upon the one that he was looking for.

Their initiation picture.

All eight of them together in one big group, smiling, smirking and grinning mouths adorning each of their tired faces with the Manticore decaying behind them. He remembered reading some of the comments that had been made on the Rem-net when the picture had become a temporary sensation.

A team of colors beat a colorless monster, how fitting
except for that weird girl with the bow

What a bunch of BAMFs

Holy crap imagine what they'll be when they graduate

I know beacon uses teams of four, but these guys need to be a team of eight!

"Team huh?" A small smile crossed his face. He continued flicking through the pictures, and came across another one, this one made him give a small laugh, it was a selfie he had taken when Blake had fallen asleep on his shoulder, there he was with a stupid grin on his face while Blake peacefully snoozed at his side.

"Well…besides," Jaune smirked to himself, as he returned his scroll to his pocket, "I still have to find out what type of Faunus she is, she's totally gotta be a cat with that bow."

But where the hell am I going to start from? He wondered as he continued walking around aimlessly. He had absolutely no idea how to start finding the resident Faunus-in-hiding.

As the day wore on endlessly, Jaune drifted from one place to another in Vale, walking endlessly without any real purpose, and before he knew it, the sun was starting to get low, shadows were starting to fade and darkness began creeping in. A fishy smell crept up his nose, and he realized that without really knowing it, he had found his way back to the docks area from the beginning of that day.

How ironic, I'm right back here, where it all started. He thought sadly as he turned to walk away.

A loud explosion caught his attention.

He jumped and turned his head to the sound, "What was that?" He watched as smoke began rising from the docking area a short distance away, "I'd better go see what's happening." With his sword ready for any trouble, Jaune rushed towards the sound.

As he approached, sounds of people fighting grew louder and louder, metal clashing against metal, the grunting and growling of blows being traded. He hid behind a shipping crate as the sounds reached their peak and peered around them.

Just in time to watch a red-haired man with a bowler hat use his cane to knock Blake down and point the tip of his cane pointed right at her.

"Blake!" A voice shouted out, it was the monkey Faunus from a few days back, his voice caused a momentary distraction, giving Jaune the opening he needed.

I won't lose anything else! Jaune thought fiercely, but he was still a short distance away though, and so thinking quickly, he grabbed his dagger from his belt and gave it his best range guess.

"Hey!" Jaune shouted and hurled his dagger at Roman and ran right at the criminal just before he could pull the trigger, startled, both Roman and Blake turned and looked at Jaune, Roman quickly moved his cane and deflected the dagger to the side just as Jaune came running in with an upward blow.

Roman blocked it, Jaune continued with an upward blow and locked his sword with Roman's cane, with a mighty shove he pushed him away from Blake and sent Roman stumbling back.

"Are you alright?" He barely gave a glance at Blake, who was completely shocked at his arrival.

"Oh lookie, is it the knight-in-shining-armor come to save his girl?" Roman sarcastically remarked as he prepared himself.

"Handle the White Fang; I've got this bowl of fruit." Jaune nodded to Blake; stunned as she was she seemed to understand what he meant and dashed away to face her former organization.

"Ho ho ho, and what're you going to do?" Roman laughed, "Prepare thyself evildoer, for it is I! Sir Muffykins! Who shalt smite thee down in the name of righteousness!" He mocked.

"No, although it does sound very appealing," Jaune replied, "or you could just stand there while I beat your womanly ass down and into the stockade." He smiled.

"Hey it's Roman Torchwick! Roman Torchwick! I'm a man!" Roman shouted back indignantly, "And I don't intend to go to your stockade, whatever that's supposed to be anyway."

"Your mascara says otherwise." Jaune pointed out.

"It's fashionable."

"It's fashionably stupid."

"Why you-!" Roman narrowed his eyes angrily and levelled his cane, that was it, this smug kid was so going down no matter what it took.

"Bring it happy feet!" Roman started firing, Jaune ducked and rolled as containers behind him exploded into metal fragments; with a swing of his sword he was just able to deflect one away from a direct hit sending it careening away and exploding when it hit the ground.

"Oh just die already." Roman growled and to Jaune's surprise, he suddenly aimed upwards and fired a shot, hitting the crane holding up a shipping container that was right above Jaune, Jaune dashed forward

"HEY!" a familiar voice sounded.

"Oh what the fuck is it now?!" Roman swore loudly and spun to regard the voice as Jaune stood up

"Well, hello, Red! Isn't it way past your bedtime tonight?" Roman sarcastically remarked and waved at Ruby, even Jaune was surprised, how had the red reaper found them anyway? Beside her was a strange girl with orange hair looking over them curiously.

"Identifying!" Penny suddenly shouted, "VIP in imminent danger! Multiple threats detected! Prince Jean of Armorica is in trouble! Hold on your highness I'm coming!" Penny suddenly shouted.

"Huh? What? Prince? Your highness?" Ruby's looked back and forth between Penny and the battle ahead of them in confusion.

"What?" Jaune was momentarily stunned, hearing his real name get called out like that.

"Hey hey! Is it time for distractions already?" Jaune turned his head back just in time to roll away from another shot from Roman's cane, Roman then switched targets and fired off another shot in Ruby's direction.

"Ruby!" Jaune called out.

A little too late, Ruby let out a loud cry as her scythe flew from her hands.

"This unit is combat-ready!" Penny glared at the White Fang troopers, and then something incredible happened.

Her backpack opened up and numerous strange blades flew out from it, with that done she leapt from the rooftop and began carving a path through the White Fang troopers, throwing them helter skelter, making a beeline for the endangered prince. Endlessly pushing through and jumping over obstacles and any attempts to halt her advance as the White Fang desperately tried to regroup and concentrate their efforts against this new arrival.

"Holy crap." Sun remarked as he dodged out of the way of the rampaging android and ran to safety with Blake on his heels.

What did Penny just say? Did she just call Jaune a prince? She thought to herself, she shook her thoughts away; there would be time for clarifying that little note.

Meanwhile Jaune continued facing Roman, "…I'm so going to gut you and hang you up by your entrails on the nearest lamppost for all of Vale to see for that." Jaune shot a dark glare at Roman as he readied himself for another round of combat.

"…Have you no shame kid?" Roman looked absolutely disgusted.

"Of course I do." Jaune nonchalantly waved his hand.

"I'm pretty ashamed of you as a fellow Valean for starters." Jaune deadpanned.

Pin-drop silence.

"And I'm sure the rest of Vale would agree, why would any kingdom want to be known via some mascara wearing, cane-toting, bowler hat spinning burglar lowlife who probably spends his days in a dark room wringing his hands over evil schemes to rob the purses of old ladies and topple the ice cream cones of small children."

Everyone had completely stopped fighting, hunters, androids and White Fang troopers alike stared at the confrontation, the night was still and not a sound was heard, not a peep or squeak. It was as if the entirety of Remnant had halted itself in its tracks for that one moment in time just to listen to the entire stinging barrage of insults that a simple hunter-in-training/prince-in-hiding had promptly delivered to a certain criminal, the growing expression and reaction on that criminal's face only served to sell the sheer ridiculousness of the scene. A mere hunter-in-training/prince-in-hiding had without a moment's hesitation while facing one of Remnant's most notorious criminals, slammed his fist on every last button to push on Roman Torchwick. It was so unbelievable that no one reacted for the longest time.

Ruby reacted first.

"OOOOOOOHHHHHHH SNAP!" Her voice rang out across the docks.

Penny was next.

"My humor senses indicate that evacuation to the nearest burn center is the optimal course of action!" She cheered.

"Kid," Roman growled dangerously, "You are so dead."

"Looking forward to it." Jaune shot back with a smirk.

And with that, battle was joined in earnest once again. As Roman fought to try and create and opening to let him escape the already lost battle, Jaune fought to pin him down for the arrival of reinforcements, Penny was gaining on them by the second.

At that moment, a trio of bullheads dropped out of the sky and opened fired on the surrounding area, Jaune rolled away as Roman stepped back from the barrage of cannon fire.

"That's my ride, sorry kid it's been fun but I've gotta go now." Roman shrugged and immediately disengaged and turned to run…just as Penny tore two right out of the sky with her flying swords.

"Get back here!" Jaune shouted angrily and chased after him.

"Get lost kid! I've had it up to here with you!" Roman spun around and fired his last few shots at Jaune. Jaune threw up his sword to deflect the first shot…which detonated right as it contacted his blade, throwing him off balance; he grabbed his shield and righted himself, unfortunately the shield was small and could not block the full force of the explosion of the second shot, throwing him back some more.

Goddamnit! If only I had a bigger shield, and a longer sword, if I could just…! If only I could… Jaune screamed in his head as another shot forced him to kneel on the ground. He forced himself to stand and swung his sword to try to deflect another shot…

If a stronger sword you wish… A voice seemed to say.

If a stronger shield you wish… It continued.

An explosion.

A sound of metal shattering.

Jaune hit the floor as a fragment of his blade-sheathe flew right in his face and knocked him over. He cried out in pain and looked at his sword, and was stunned by what he saw.

The blade of Crocea Mors was fully exposed, the white blade-sheathe lay in pieces all around him, and yet something was different about the sword that he now held in his hand, it did not appear at all like the sword that he used to spar against his partner with, that somewhat short, broad and simple blade that tore gashes into his partner's weapon, the blue handle with the yellow pommel and guard. No what was in his hand was most definitely not that.

In his hand was a gleaming longsword, the blade extending to the same length that the blade-sheathe had made Crocea Mors. The handle was now a much darker shade of blue and extended farther down to accommodate a two-handed grip better than the original sword. Both the guard and the pommel were now a silvery shine, the guard curved and extended longer than before, the pommel was wider as well.

"Wha…?" Jaune could only stare in shock at his destroyed blade-sheathe…and the new sword he held in his hand.

"See ya around kid." Roman smirked as he squeezed the trigger to fire one last shot.

And then Jaune was not at the docks anymore.

He was on an empty, flat, wind-swept plain of green grass, in front of him, a man with a crossbow aimed right at him. The man squeezed the trigger and fired a shot.

This time, knowing what was –probably- happening, Jaune made no effort to try and resist or struggle, instead he tried his best to follow along as he let himself be guided by strange memories that were not his knowing that they would lead him as far as they could to victory. Jaune pulled his arm back and swung his sword downward, the bolt was cleaved in half as it approached him.

The next bolt came in, and this time Jaune brought up his shield.

A shield is not meant for the purpose of merely blocking attacks, it is meant to deflect attacks.

He held the shield at an angle, allowing the bolt to harmlessly bounce off of it.

"WHAT?!" Roman's shocked voice brought him out of his vision. Roman was standing there with a completely dumbfounded expression on his face. When he squeezed the trigger again, his cane went *CLICK* and his expression changed into a more shocked one.

Jaune smirked, now he had the upper hand.

He raced forward at full speed, putting all of his available strength into his legs as he brought his sword up for an overhead blow, Roman quickly raised his cane up with both hands to try and block it…

And then something incredible happened.

As the blade of Crocea Mors contacted with the middle of Roman's cane, it proceeded to slice through…and through the cane cleanly. Roman stumbled back in shock, holding both parts of his cane in his hands; he was so stunned by the occurrence that he almost did not notice Jaune reverse his swing to slash right at Roman's face, Roman jumped back to avoid it…

But not fast enough.

A scream rang out across the docks, Roman stumbled back, clutching his left eye with blood running down his face, while he had stepped back just enough to avoid being completely torn in half by the attack, it was not quite enough to dodge the full range of the attack. Jaune gave a vicious smirk on seeing his opponent almost down for the count; he moved in to finish Roman off, confident that that was all that remained to do.

But Roman was no stranger to pain, and certainly no stranger to having plans get ruined, no plan survived first contact with the Vale Police Force anyway, that was what backups were for.

As Jaune charged forward, Roman mentally forced the pain back and pulled out his hidden gun, a small revolver hidden at his thigh and emptied it in Jaune's direction, all six shots were fired off wildly.

Jaune halted in his tracks just as he saw the gun come out, with no time to take his shield, he raised his sword in an attempt to block the shots, thanks to the wild firing only three ended up hitting Jaune due to the close range, one bounced off his sword, another grazed his right forearm guard.

The last impacted his chest piece dead center.

The shot was blocked, but the force knocked the wind out of Jaune and sent him falling back to the ground on his back gasping in pain, as he struggled to get up Roman ran for it.

"Retreat you idiots! We can't fight all of them!" He shouted out.

"Damn him!" Jaune struggled to his feet, every breath hurting his chest as he looked up just in time to see Roman jump onto the last bullhead and hightail it out of there just in time as the strange girl wiped out another bullhead.

Both men exchanged a dark glare as Roman closed the doors.

Jaune furrowed his brow and looked around him, the docks had received quite a lot of damage in the course of their struggle, bullet holes and craters pockmarked the entire area along with the pained moans and groans of numerous White Fang troopers lying on the ground and holding onto to their various wounds, he walked up to one and looked down at him.

His mask was still on but the leg he was holding had clearly been smashed up pretty badly, there were also various cuts and bruises all over him with his uniform clearly torn up and ruined.

He growled as Jaune approached him with a curious look on his face, "damn you humans! You should all just go to hell."

Jaune did not respond at first, his mind in a daze and working through a thought process.

They're all down…

They're weak, they won't resist…

Shouldn't I kill them…?

Yes, while they can't do anything!

It'll be quick won't it?

Just a swift stab and…

For all the lives they took…

Jaune gripped Crocea Mors tightly and held it over the trooper's head, "You first, bloody terrorist."

"Jaune!" A voice broke him out of his trance; he shook his head and was surprised to find himself looking down at the White Fang trooper who was maintaining a defiant look behind his mask.

"Jaune!" He turned his head to see Ruby with a pleading expression on her face.

"Jaune I…I don't know what the White Fang did to you, but please don't… don't kill them ok? I know you're not a killer alright? Please Jaune?" Ruby had her hands balled into fists at her side with a shaky expression on her face. She would be damned before she saw her first friend at Beacon become a killer.

"Go ahead human! Do it! Prove to everyone that there will never be equality!" The trooper smirked.

"No Jaune, just put down the sword!" Ruby pleaded.

"DO IT!"

"PUT IT DOWN!"

With a loud cry Jaune slammed the sword right…

Into the ground beside the trooper's head.

Ruby's eyes went wide, and she saw what Jaune did and let out a breath she did not know she had been holding, a small smile graced her lips as Jaune backed off a little…

"You pathetic weakling." The trooper laughed out, Jaune's eyes narrowed for a split second before he lunged back towards the trooper.

"JAUNE NO!" Ruby rushed forward to hold Jaune back, she caught him just as the pommel of the sword came down hard on the trooper's head and knocked him clean out, both hunters-in-training staggered back. Ruby was surprised, but pleased and smiled at Jaune as he sheathed his sword; it was then that he realized he was holding a much larger shield to accommodate the longer sword. The smaller heater shield had been replaced with a much larger kite shield, the mechanism was still the same though, and so he sheathed his sword and closed his shield.

"Death would be too good for you," he said, "You'll be tried and sent to jail where you can rot for the rest of your life." He said determinedly, although a part of him still demanded that he take his sword back up and hack the trooper to the marrow.

"Thanks Jaune." Ruby looked a little better now, just then Penny dropped in.

"All hostiles have been rendered combat ineffective, you're safe now your highness!" She spoke cheerily, Jaune gaped at her.

"How the heck do you know I'm a…" He stopped himself before he let the last word loose.

"Prince from the House of Vale?" Penny completed, "I have knowledge of every important VIP on Remnant, as well as the assurance of having each and every one of their safeties as my top priority in the event of a dangerous situation!" She continued on with a smile.

"Err Jaune?" Ruby twiddled her thumbs nervously; this was a whole new revelation to take in.

At first, it had started off with Blake being a former White Fang member.

And now Jaune was a prince?

What was next? Was someone secretly a robot or something?

"First things first, we need to look for Blake." He shook it off, "Hey Blake where are you?" Jaune called out as he looked around for her, Ruby hung her head, unsure of what to do.

At the moment, aforementioned person was hiding behind a stack of crates with Sun, "I need to go." Blake made to run when Sun caught her.

"What're you doing? Isn't he your friend?" Sun asked, Blake gave him a pained expression.

"I don't think I can be his friend anymore…not after…" She trailed off and had a rather shameful look on her face.

"Blake if you run now," Jaune hissed out, "I don't care how long it takes, or what it takes. I will chase you down." Ruby gave him a stunned look as he took a deep breath.

"So please stay a while and listen to what I have to say won't you?" He gave a weak smile.

Everyone took a hard swallow.

Except for Penny, she merely tilted her head quizzically.


Oh Penny...why did you have to? It didn't always seem to me like this was the best opportunity to reveal it, but I didn't want some overly dramatic big reveal to everyone, I wanted to sorta start small first, let a couple of characters have it first. (In this case, Ruby, Blake and Sun)

Fight scene could probably have been better, I think maybe Jaune could've intervened at a different time? I'm not so sure about that part.

And for those expecting Jaune to go mad and carve a bloodbath through the docks, sorry no, the story isn't supposed to be that dark, sorry for that disappointment.

Next chapter will mark the end of "V1" in this AU

As for the omake, its a WWII AU RWBY! Based on a pun that I came up with immediately after finishing the last one.

Presenting!


Blake the mauser

Sergeant Jaune Arc paused for a moment and looked over the ditch filled with dead German corpses, torn and tattered bodies lying in twisted positions, some of them still had their eyes wide open, staring up into the sky or down into the dirt, it was a sickening sight, but after three years of fighting from frontline to frontline across the North African desert and the Italian mountains, it did not really faze him anymore.

Something caught his eye though, right there, lying in the dirt. A German made Kar 98K rifle, to Jaune's surprise however, it did not look like most of the other types of rifles that he had see fighting the sour krauts.

This rifle in particular had a matte black finish. A single word was crudely carved into its buttstock.

"BLAKE"

Intrigued, he picked it up and looked it over carefully.

"Watcha got there Jaune-y boy?" Sergeant Cardin Winchester

"Check this thing out." Jaune ran his hand over the length of the rifle before putting his eye to the sight and squinting to look through the gun's ironsights.

"The frame is so smooth and polished, someone went to a lot of effort to take care of this thing." Jaune held it out in front of him to show to Cardin's squad.

"Who the hell is Blake?" Russel laughed.

"Probably the kraut's girlfriend." Dove answered with a nod.

"The butt is nice and firm too, there's even some extra padding at the back," Jaune tapped the butt lightly before he pulled the bolt back, "Looks like there's a few rounds left, let me just fire it off." And so saying he took aim at a nearby tree and pulled the trigger, the gun jumped in his hands as it fired off a shot, Jaune was surprised by the ease by which the recoil was handled. He fired off another shot and waited.

"What's the holdup?" Cardin asked.

"You know me Cardin, I love to savor the moment of the last shot right before I pop the bolt." Jaune grinned and fired off one last shot and emptied the rifle of its final cartridge.

"Whoa that felt good for some reason." Jaune was grinning widely as he brought the rifle down.

"Let me see that." Cardin said and reached for it.

"Hey hands off," Jaune batted Cardin's hands away, "I'm taking this beauty home with me."


Swiggity swooty, Jaune's gotta get that bellabooty!

I appreciate all your reviews, faves and follows!