Lifeblood

Thank you once again to those who expressed their appreciation for my work!

I don't own RWBY. If I did, I'd probably ruin it within a week.

Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado!

Chapter 12: Secrets of Forever Fall

Yang coughed herself awake. Her eyes flew open and she instantly recognized the Beacon infirmary. A hand held the back of her head to steady her, while a cup of water was put in front of her mouth. She gulped down greedily to quench her burning thirst.

Pulling the cup away, she got a good look at the one who gave her the water, and it only took her a moment to recognize the red hair and green eyes. "Pyrrha... what the hell happened?"

"Truthfully? I haven't the slightest clue."

Yang attempted to sit up, but Pyrrha stopped her. "No, no, no. You can't get up yet. You received a lot of injuries and they're not fully healed yet." Pyrrha reached for a remote next to her bed and pressed the button that made it lean forwards. "Move too much and you can tear your stitches open."

"Stitches? For God's sake Pyrrha, how bad was it? And where the hell is everyone?"

"As for your first question, you were in a tough spot. A few close calls, but the doctors got you stabilized in time. As for the others... Nora is fine, I sent her off to get some food when you started waking up. But the rest our teams..." Pyrrha hesitated.

"Pyrrha, spit it out."

"They're still missing. The sinkhole that opened up in the forest is apparently hundreds of metres deep. The professors are collaborating with official Huntsmen and local police to organize a search party."

"Is Ruby...?" Yang felt a cold hand grip her heart.

"She hasn't been found yet."

Yang let out a deep breath. If they haven't found her yet, then that means she could still alive. No, don't think like that, she is still alive. Jaune will make sure of it, he was with her when they fell. And I'll ensure it too. She yanked the leads attacked to her chest and the IV drip on her arm.

"Yang, I told you, you can't move yet."

"Oh, please. Don't even try to stop me, Cereal Girl. I'm not going to lie on my ass while the rest of my team is stuck six hundred feet under."

"I'm not the one stopping you, Yang! I don't know how you haven't noticed but look at yourself! Look around" Pyrrha was nearly shouting.

Yang assessed her condition. Her torso was sore and wrapped in a thick layer of bandages. The side of her head was swollen and throbbing badly. Her left leg was currently in a cast and was resting on a harness.

Yang also looked at Pyrrha and noticed the bandage wrapped around her forehead, as well as some on her right arm, going underneath her uniform. She looked around her bed, and saw students occupying the beds around her and they were all in similar states. On the end of the room she could see Russel, Sky and Dove from Team CRDL. I wonder where Cardin is.

She turned back to Pyrrha. "So what I meant to do now?"

"Recover. I'm worried sick too, you know. But I know they're in good hands. Last I heard, Professor Oobleck is spearheading an operation with a team of elite Huntsmen to find them. They said they enlisted a team who are experts in search-and-rescue missions. They'll be fine, Yang. They'll be fine." she repeated, as if to reassure herself as well as Yang.

They both knew it wasn't working.

Jaune woke up to a blinding headache and the sounds of clicking and metal sliding against metal. A dull green light filled... wherever he was. With too much effort than what should be needed, he sat up to take in surroundings. He was underground, that much was obvious. The traced the source of the green light to somewhere behind him, and saw that it was coming from a standard issue glow stick.

Sitting crosslegged on the ground, with her back to him was Ruby. He also realized that the mechanical sound he was hearing was her doing maintenance on Crescent Rose. Even in the dim light, her hands flew around Crescent Rose, assembling, disassembling, cleaning and polishing every part with practiced ease.

"Ruby..." Getting no response, he cleared his throat and tried again. "Ruby!"

The cloaked girl nearly dropped the components in her hands from surprise. She whirled around and was at his side in an instant. "Jaune, you're up!"

"Yeah... Ruby, where are we?"

"I'm not sure. After we landed, you passed out. I was worried that there might be another quake, and there were still Grimm around, so I moved us here. I didn't really want to keep moving while you were still asleep."

"Thanks." he accepted the small bottle of water she offered to him. "What about the others? Any sign of them?"

Ruby slumped at the question. "No... Apparently there's a really big cave system down here. I came across, I don't know, three different paths before finding this place. They could be anywhere by now."

"How deep underground do you think we are right now?" he rubbed his forehead trying to alleviate the migraine, but it was no use. He must have hit his head harder than he thought.

"I can't say. We were half buried after you collapsed the blood shell. You should have seen the size of the crater we landed in. I looked up and I could barely see any light."

Jaune gave Ruby back her bottle. He tried to stand, but stumbled back onto his knees. Ruby held him by the shoulders. "Take it easy, Jaune. Your Aura is slowly healing your leg wound and your other injuries but it's going slow." Her face took on a rare expression of irritation. "Speaking of which, what were you thinking, cutting yourself like that?! You could have bled to death, you know!

"Ruby, please don't make a deal of it. You know as much as I do that I'm the least likely person in the world to bleed to death."

"That doesn't make me feel better." Ruby crossed her arms. "I'll get your sisters to yell at you later. You need to rest up."

"Not happening. We have to keep moving, the Grimm are going to catch up to us. And we need to find the others as well."

Ruby pushed back down before he could try to stand again. "That's not happening. You need to get your leg fixed, and I need to finish field maintenance on my baby. If any Grimm come in the middle of it, I'll let you take a crack at them."

Ren walked through the dark, rocky cave, the complete lack of light in the cave proving to have no ill effect on his movements. He had been walking for three hours now, according to his Scroll, which he had kept switched off most of the time to conserve energy. Times like this he wished he had a watch, but thee was really no point to jewellery if it would shatter in a fight.

He was getting tired. He had spent too much Aura already to dampen his fall, healing his injuries, and even more to keep himself going. His lack of stamina had been something he had always wanted to fix and he should have done so sooner. A lesson in hindsight. Luckily, he had encountered no Grimm after his landing. Although, actually that part had nothing to do with luck, he supposed.

He came to a branching path in the tunnel. Closing his eyes, he tapped into his Semblance. Using the minimum amount of energy, he sent a pulse down both of the tunnels while focusing his ears. His hearing was already above average, and combined with his Semblance, allows him to operate in the dark just as well as in daylight.

At the moment he was more focused on finding his classmates than finding a way out of here. He heard the voices of two people along the left path, and judging the volume and the sounds of metal, they were certainly under duress. What's more, he recognized those voices.

He rushed through the cave, StormFlower drawn and sickle blades fully extended. He saw the familiar bluish-white glow of a Scroll on the ground. Standing back to back next to it were Blake and Weiss, tiredly fending off four Creeps. Blake seemed to perk up, and her golden eyes met his. She gave him a nod and whispered something to Weiss.

Silent as a grave, Ren crept up behind the nearest Grimm. Just as quietly, he leapt up and sliced through its spiked tail. The lizard-Grimm roared and spun around. It slammed his hand down, but Ren slid underneath its body, with StormFlower held up to slice open his belly. Standing up behind the dying Creep, he joined Blake and Weiss with their battles.

No longer outnumbered, the three of them were able to choose a Grimm each, which was the best strategy considering their lack of teamwork. One on one, the Grimm stood no chance against the Huntsmen, even as exhausted as they were.

Once the Grimm were dead, Ren addressed the two Huntresses who were picking up their Scrolls and asked the first question that came to mind. "Have either of you seen Nora?"

"No." Weiss replied.

"Have you seen anyone else?"

"No. Have you seen Ruby or Yang?"

"No." Ren answered. He looked around the room noting three entrances. "Which of these did you come out of?"

"This one." Blake said, pointing to the entrance on his left. "Why?"

"We should take this path." Ren gestured to the entrance on his right, which was overgrown with tree roots.

"And that deduction is based on what exactly?"

"One, these tree roots are alive, and last time I checked, trees don't grow underground. If we follow it we can find a way to the surface. And two, do you have a better suggestion?"

Ruby led Jaune through the caves, her glow stick held in her outstretched hand. Jaune was limping slightly, but he felt that he had recovered enough for light combat. They were both munching on ration bars and taking small sips from a bottle of water they shared.

After a while, Jaune grabbed Ruby's arm. "Stop. Can you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Ruby focused her hearing further down the tunnel. Now that she was concentrating, she could hear something. What is that, Grimm? Wait, not just Grimm, those are words, they're people! "Jaune! There's-"

"I know! Let's move!" They drew their weapons in preparation for the inevitable combat. They came to an enlarged section of the cave. Lighting the cave were several glow-sticks, and standing awkwardly in the middle of the cave was Cardin. His right arm was bleeding badly, and his left arm was clutching his mace. His armor was dented all over, the plates along his right arm crushed beyond any possibility of repair.

They both rushed over, and killed the offending Alpha in a matter of seconds. Once the beast was dead, Cardin collapsed to his knees, his mace slipping from his hand. Ruby rushed over to him, while Jaune surveyed the area for more Grimm.

"Cardin, you're bleeding badly!" Ruby exclaimed. "We have to get that armor off so I can-"

"No... not me..." he grunted.

"What are you talking about? You'll be dead in minutes if we don't-"

"I meant... take care of them first." Cardin swept his uninjured arm around the cave. Ruby looked around, and or the first time saw the horror that surrounded them.

There were more than Grimm corpses in the cave. In their haste to rescue Cardin, they had neglected to notice the others in the cave, or rather, what was left of them. At least three people were lying around the cave. The one nearest to them was undoubtedly already dead. His torso had been torn open, his ribs clearly visible, his intestines spilling out over his side. Most of his skull was gone, only a small part allowing Ruby to identify him as male.

There was another young man, lying near the entrance. His head was facing them, his eyes glassy and his face bloody. His body was seemingly melded to the rocks, his spine bent to unnatural angles. Blood seeped from his body, staining the rocks, taking on an eerie color under the green light of the glowsticks.

Ruby turned away from the nightmarish scene, hunched on her knees with both hands held to her mouth. She couldn't hold in her revulsion, though, and was soon vomiting onto the ground. She coughed violently, splattering what used to be her ration bars across the rock. She could hear Jaune running somewhere. "Damn it." he whispered. She looked up to see him kneeling next to a girl, with two fingers held to her neck.

"Cardin." he said. "What the hell happened here?"

"What the fuck does it look like?" Cardin growled in response. "I found these three back there." he gestured to another entrance. "We were outnumbered. Ran like hell but more showed up from all sides. We were surrounded, we fought, they died. End of story." He was breathing heavily, clutching his bleeding arm. His face was pale and clammy, and there was no doubt that he was on the verge of passing out.

Jaune didn't say anything at first. "Is your Aura fully depleted?"

"What? Yeah. Been running on fumes since I woke up down here."

"Then we need to wrap up that wound before it becomes infected." Jaune turned to her now, his eyes softening. "Ruby, look at me." He knelt in front of her and took her hands in his. "Ruby, I know this is tough, and this is horrible, but I need your help right now. I need you to focus on what we have to do right now. Do you understand?"

Ruby closed her eyes, taking several shaky breaths. She swallowed the lump in her throat, and wiped away the tears and mucus from her face, before nodding in assent, not trusting herself to speak in case she broke down again.

"Alright." Jaune nodded. "Okay, first off do you have anything in your pack we can use as a bandage? A clean towel or something?"

"I... I have a clean cloth I was going to use for Crescent Rose."

"That's perfect. Bring it out and cut it into strips, you know how they taught us in first aid?"

"Yeah..."

Jaune turned to Cardin, who had fallen on his back, breathing heavily, his eyes half closed. "Cardin, I'm gonna have to take off the armor, and it's going to hurt."

"It already fuckin' hurts. Just get on with it." he snarled.

Jaune carefully used his sword to cut away the straps of the armor before pulling it away. He peeled back the blood soaked sleeve, ignoring Cardin's sharp hiss of pain, to reveal a long gash along his arm. Jaune let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay, it's not as bad as I first thought. You've lost a lot of blood, but I don't think any major arteries were hit. Wrap it up and a bit of rest and you should be ready to get up and walking again."

"Should?"

"Give me a break, I'm not a medic. Ruby, how's that bandage coming?"

"Here it is." Ruby presented the cloth, cut in a zigzag pattern to make one continuous strip of fabric.

"Thanks. Hold on to that for one second, will you? Before we wrap this up we have to make sure the wound doesn't get too infected." He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a familiar looking flask. He popped it open and let the strong smelling liquid flow over the wound.

"You have booze on you all the time?" Cardin said through the stinging sensation.

"It's for sentimental reasons. And before you ask, no you're not having any. We need your blood to clot, and I'm pretty sure we'll need you to be sober for a while." Jaune capped the flask and took the bandage from Ruby. "Lift your arm." Cardin complied, letting Jaune wrap the cloth deftly around his wound. "You know you're lucky I wasted perfectly good alcohol on you after what you pulled in the forest."

"What, you looking for an apology for your girlfriend, Arc?"

"As if. I'll just kick your ass when we get out of this hellhole."

Ruby watched the two of them through teary eyes. "How..." the two of them looked at her quizzically. "How can you be so calm about this? It's like you don't even care about them!"

"Now, listen here, you little brat-"

"Shut up, Cardin." Jaune snapped, pulling tight on the bandage, making him wince in pain. Jaune tied it into a knot and turned back to Ruby. "Look, Ruby. I don't know about Cardin, but I do care. I'm freaking out, I want to throw up and I want to punch something until my fists are bloody but I don't and do you know why?"

Ruby didn't answer, prompting Jaune to drop Cardin's arm and turn to face her. "Because this is our job, Ruby. It's something you should have learned in your final year at Signal, but I suppose I'll have to tell you, now. This is our job and we have no chance in hell of getting out of here if we panic. After this, you can shout, scream, do whatever you want. But right now I need you to push it down and deal with it later, because as horrible as it sounds, it's not the priority."

Jaune, Ruby and Cardin walked tentatively through the cave, doing their best to travel quickly but silently. Their senses were alert, looking for any threats up ahead or behind them. None of them wanted any more unpleasant surprises, nor did they want to spend any more time in this place than they needed to. They didn't talk, not just because of the risk of distraction, but more because they just weren't in the mood.

Cardin was feeling slightly better. His Aura had started to slowly recover after he had eaten a ration bar and was feeling good enough to move.

Jaune, on the other hand, felt like crap, a feeling that he was sure was shared between the three of them. He was exhausted, famished and thirsty as hell. His persistent migraine was not helping matters either. And let us not forget the fact that he had basically twisted Ruby's viewpoint on its head.

Jaune somewhat regretted speaking so harshly to Ruby. He knew that despite her prodigious abilities, she was still inexperienced. He had had two more years to adapt and accept the harsh realities of the life of a Huntsman, something that he thought she would be able to match during her time at Beacon. But neither of them could have anticipated something like this.

Whatever the case he needed to keep all three of them focused on the task at hand. He felt absolutely awful dismissing the deaths of his fellow Huntsmen-in-training so quickly, but he knew that the only thing keeping him from falling apart was his previous experiences.

The atmosphere was stifling, both emotionally and literally. It seems that the rocks were exuding more heat the further they went. They had first thought that they were going deeper, and tat they should turn around, but they were clearly ascending in height, They had no desire to retrace their steps and had grudgingly continued.

Jaune spotted something up ahead. The three of them made a turn, and instantly recoiled in pain while covering their eyes. It was a white light, a stark contrast to the dull green of their glowsticks. In broad daylight it would have produced a glare, but in this cave, it seared their eyes shut. It was especially painful for Jaune, who was already fighting off a headache. It took them several minutes to adjust to light, but they were eventually able to turn around to see the source.

They would forever wish they didn't.

They on a ledge near the top of a very large hollow chamber in the cave. It was hemispherical in shape, and about twice the size of one of their lecture halls. Lining the bottom of the chamber were numerous exits. The light wasn't white as they first thought, it was red, but it was so bright the color seemed irrelevant. The light shone out of a rough stone pedestal on the floor several metres beneath them. More specifically, it shone out of a large translucent crystal lying on top of it. After hours trapped underground, the light would be welcomed, cherished even.

"What the fuck am I looking at?" Cardin said under his breath, voicing the question in their minds which were petrified in terror.

The terror in question, was scattered all over the walls of the chamber, even on the ceilings and the cave floors. At first glance, one could mistake them for growths, scattered all over and interconnected by vines, but a closer look would reveal them to be the wrong colour, and the wrong shape. And growths could never make such a terrifying expression.

Hundreds of corpses lined the walls, their naked bodies twisted in bizarre positions, seemingly implanted into the walls. Their faces were frozen in a myriad of expressions. Some were at peace, their eyes closed with small smiles on their faces. However the majority were locked in fear, their glassy eyes wide open, their mouths frozen in a lost scream and their bodies were littered with grotesque injuries.

The vines connecting them, were pitch black in color, sprouting out of the corpses' torsos gradually joining together into one of four thicker vines, which were nearly two metres thick, leading to the stone dais, like tributaries flowing into a river. Dotted across the four large vines were several protrusions, similar to buds, some the size of a fist, others nearly Jaune's height, throbbing in sync like a heartbeat.

"Are they... real?" Ruby's voice was so small and shaky, that Jaune almost missed it.

Jaune didn't answer, instead looking at the walls right next to them, where one body of a woman was seemingly looking right at him, only her head and shoulders were sticking out of the rock. He raised a trembling hand towards her pale face, his fingers ever so slowly inching closer.

His fingers brushed against the deathly white skin of the woman's face. The skin was dry, and papery, and cold to the touch. He had never touched a dead body before, for all he knew the one in front of him was a mere fake. But something in his mind told him that this woman's corpse, along with all of the others was genuine.

He abrubtly turned around, as did Ruby and Cardin, when the light behind them began to pulsate. A number of the largest pods attached to the main vines began to glow, allowing them to see a hazy silhouette of what they held inside.

"Arc, what the hell did you do?!" Cardin nearly shouted in alarm.

His question went unanswered, as they looked down the chamber. The pods began to swell, and simultaneously the corpses surrounding each pod seemed to wither away, becoming more and more emaciated as their flesh was slowly but surely absorbed into the pods. The pods grew in size until they were Jaune's height, and yet they continued to grow. The corpses decayed until their even their bones were dissolved. Within minutes, there wasn't a trace left of them.

Finally, the revolting spectacle ended, only to enter the second act.

The pods continued to swell and bulge, becoming more and more distended. The pulsations of light emitted by the crystal became more rapid. Jaune focused on the one nearest to them, observing it as it grew to twice his height. Suddenly, it stopped as quickly as it started. The pods ceased their movements, the light was no longer pulsating. Everything was in a state of calm.

And yet, their hearts were still in turmoil. This was not over.

Like a chick poking its tooth out of an egg, a white claw pierced the membrane of the pod. The claw receded, but stabbed outwards again and again, ripping it apart, reducing it into a tattered mass of flesh. The pod fell apart revealing a bulky, black, armored creature on all fours, a low growl emanating from its throat.

The newborn Ursa reared back on its hind legs and released a roar that chilled them to the bone, and it was soon joined by its siblings. King Taijitu, Creeps, Griffons, dozens of species emerged from the pods letting out their own cries before walking, or crawling, or slithering through any one of the exits out of the chamber.

The three of them had long fallen back in shock. They had clambered behind a large rock, once they saw the Grimm. Jaune could feel his wild heartbeat in his throbbing head as he tried to make sense of what he had just seen. Ruby and Cardin sat on either side of him, looking very close to a panic attack. He really couldn't blame them. He was having enough trouble accepting it himself despite seeing it with his own two eyes.

Their breathing ran ragged for a long while, waiting until the sounds of movement below had faded into nothingness. It was only five minutes after they could hear nothing, could any of them build up the courage to speak up.

"We need..." Jaune began, "to destroy this place." Ruby and Cardin could only nod in agreement. This place was an abomination, a grave insult against everything every Huntsmen believed in.

The threat of the Grimm was omnipresent in their world. It was their reason for the existence of Huntsmen. Countless people, Huntsmen, soldiers, civilians have died in the endless war against Grimm, and the only reason mankind hasn't lost hope was the belief that those sacrifaices weren't in vain. That the people died for a larger purpose.

But this sight has shattered that belief. Every death merely contributed to the enemy, even their bones being absorbed into the Grimm. How many people have died in the world? Millions? More? How many corpses are out there for the taking? How long can this place continue to produce those foul creatures?

They would see to it that today would be its last.

"That crystal," said Ruby. "Those pods started growing fast when it started flashing."

"That's our first target." Jaune nodded. "I don't what kind of crystal that is, but we'll need to smash it apart. If we can't we take it with us and let the higher-ups handle it."

"I say we smash this whole place apart." Cardin growled. "If those pods spawn Grimm, better to kill them before they're even born."

Jaune nodded in agreement. "We'll have to be quick about it. Don't waste ammunition, melee attacks only. Target the biggest ones first. We'll work our way inwards. That way, we can limit their numbers if they start to spawn while we're down there."

Following an unspoken signal, the three emerged fron their place behind the rock and leapt down off of the ledge, weapons at the ready. They split up, Cardin and Ruby running along ths sides of the chamber while Jaune went straight for the crystal. His sword was a blur, slashing left and right to slice open those disgusting pods. He walked slowly, which was probably a mistake considering the situation. But he didn't have the heart to step on any of the corpses. Trapped in this hellish existence, they deserved better than that.

Ruby was getting very close to the dais. Even without the use of her Semblance, she was by far the swiftest among them, the weight of Crescent Rose seemingly doing nothing to slow her down.

Jaune smirked in silent approval. Once she gets rid of that crystal, this place will no longer give birth to any Grimm.

As soon as he had finished that thought, his mind exploded, his already present headache evolving into an unbearable pain. What the hell?! His right arm suddenly felt like lead. He looked down and saw his trusted sword, Crocea Mors, radiating the same bright crimson light as the crystal. It burned in his hand. but he just could not release his grip. A multitude of voices bombarded his mind,

STOP HER!

KILL HER!

OR SHE WILL KILL US ALL!

"Ruby, get the hell away from there!"

Too late. Ruby's hand closed around the crystal. She screamed. Jaune collapsed in pain. And there was a blinding flash of silver.

Then silence.

Ruby went limp, falling to her knees, her head bowed down. looked over in confusion. Jaune tried to call out to her, but what came out was a weak cough. "R-Ruby..." He heard no response from her. Then again his ears were still ringing badly. He turned to the pedestal hlding the crystal, only to see the vines surrounding it start to writhe and latch onto it, protecting it from any outside interference, and consequently cutting off the light.

He shakily managed to stand, using his still glowing sword as a crutch. He started to limp towards Ruby, when she suddenly vanished, a flurry of rose petals in her place.

Jaune's instinct screamed, and he whirled around and raised Crocea Mors. Sword met scythe in a ear-piercing crash of metal. Ruby increased the pressure on Crescent Rose with power unexpected from her small stature, but Jaune's more muscled build allowed him to hold his ground.

The brief stalemate gave Jaune a small opportunity to observe Ruby. Her face was devoid of all expression. Her eyes were glowing, no, burning with silver light, like two miniature moons. They were beautiful, and yet, oh so terrifying.

Because that cold silver gaze was trained directly on him.

Ruby broke the standstill by swinging the jagged blade at the bottom of the scythe's shaft upwards, but Jaune stopped it with Rosea Custos. Using both shield and sword, he pushed Crescent Rose to the side, forcing Ruby to stumble. He then shoved his shield forwards into Ruby's chest, making her fall on her back.

"Cardin!" he yelled out to the other Huntsman, who was watching in shock. "Destroy the crystal!"

"What the hell are-"

"Just do it! Hurry!" Jaune could not explain anymore, as Ruby engaged him in battle once again.

Jaune was undoubtedly fighting with a handicap. Sure, Crocea Mors was activated and was giving him a tremendous boost in power, but it was also clouding his mind, demanding for him to slay Ruby. He had to make a conscious effort to use techniques to incapacitate, instead of ones to kill.

Ruby, though, had no such hesitation. Crescent Rose was a crimson twister flying towards him at all directions. It seemed that even in her semi-conscious and unresponsive state, Ruby had retained all of her skill with her scythe. She used her Semblance to great effect, literally running circles around him to strike him where he won't expect it.

He needed to disarm her. Ruby armed with Crescent Rose was deadly, but disarm her and she was a considerably lesser threat. He had an idea, but he had a feeling Ruby would be furious with him when she finds out. He checked his shield, and found it empty of blood. That will make things harder.

Ruby positioned her scythe behind her fired a Gravity Dust round. The recoil launched Ruby at blinding speeds, threatening to slice him to ribbons. Jaune swiftly cut open the inside of his arm. He forced the blood outwards, gave it wire-like qualities and formed a net.

Ruby's scythe, as well as Ruby's limbs were caught in the web. Before she could even try to free herself, Jaune commanded the blood to yank Crescent Rose out of her hands. He caught the scythe, and used his limited knowledge of it to turn it back into its compact storage form. As an added precaution, he used his blood to jam up the opening mechanism in the case Ruby managed to grab a hold of it.

Meanwhile Ruby continued to struggle against the blood bonds, but Jaune tightened the bonds to render her immobile. Jaune suddenly felt a feeling of dread. He turned to look for Cardin and saw him hacking away at a mass of entangled vines, which he can only assume was the pedestal.

It seemed Cardin had finally had enough. The end of his mace began to glow with Fire Dust. With a fierce roar, he leapt in the air and brought it down in onto the top of the plant-like structure in one almighty blow. As soon as it made contact, it exploded, blowing apart the vines and revealing the crystal, bringing light to the chamber once more. He didn't stop there. He continued to smash at the crystal again and again.

Initially, it had no effect. But eventually, it started to crack, and chip away. Jaune was on his knees once more, his hand clutching his chest. Each strike seemed to resonate with him, the voice in his mind screaming, pleading him to stop Cardin. But he somehow knew that if he gave in now, there would be no going back. With one mighty strike Cardin finally shattered it to pieces, extinguishing the light again.

Jaune nearly cried out in agony. Crocea Mors literally burned to the touch and he was finally able to let go of it. The instant it left his hand, it ceased to glow eliminating their only source of illumination, and his headache subsided. He switched on his Scroll to dispel the darkness, only to immediately feel a sharp pain on his chin. Ruby! He must have broken his concentration on the blood bonds when the crystal broke.

He tried to stand, but another hit to the chest sent him sprawling on his back. Ruby appeared on top of him, her foot on his on his chest, rose petals floating around her body. Jaune had a horrible sense of familiarity with this situation, and immediately grabbed her leg and flings her away.

Jaune quickly got to his feet, but so did Ruby. She was about to charge forward again, but Cardin had come up behind her and swung his mace at her legs. Ruby fell on her face, and Cardin held her down. He was about to hit her on the back of the head with the end of his mace to knock her out.

However, before he could, blue streams of light shot towards his limbs, forming runic circles around his wrists and ankles to keep him still. "NO!" Cardin yelled, as Ruby escaped from under him, once again sprinting full speed towards Jaune, her eyes continuing to blaze with silver light.

Suddenly Ruby appeared to stop in mid air, before her body was jerked to the side and she crashed roughly into the ground. Jaune saw that the invisible force was in fact a black ribbon attached to a metal hook, wrapped around Ruby's waist.

"What the hell do you three think you're doing?!" An glacial voice echoed around them. Jaune traced the source to one of the entrances to see three familar figures. Weiss stood with her sword raised towards Cardin to hold him in place. She was flanked by Blake, who was keeping Ruby still, and Ren. All of them wore expressions ranging from horror to confusion to anger.

"Us?!" Cardin explained from his frozen position. "That little brat was the one who went psycho tryin' to kill us!"

"It's true." Jaune rasped out, trying to catch his breath. Ren ran over to steady him before he could keel over again. Jaune gave him a grateful look, and turned back to Weiss. "Something happened to her, when she touched that crystal, it's like she was running moving automatically."

"What crystal?" asked Weiss, dispelling the glyphs on Cardin.

Jaune merely pointed at the burnt remains of the viny pedestal, where the crushed remains of the crystal laid. Weiss took one of the pieces to and held it to close to her eyes to examine it.

"I have never seen anything like this." she breathed out. "It is similar to a Dust crystal, but even without proper analysis I can tell its composition is completely different to what is normal. And you say Ruby began to act erratically after touching it?"

"Yes... is it really safe for you to..."

"It seems to be inert right now, and I can sense no energy radiating from it. I shall only take a few small pieces to investigate."

"What do we do about Ruby?" asked Ren. "We need to move, and we can't do it if we have to keep her from attacking us all the time."

"Give me a sec." Jaune knelt in front of Ruby, which only seemed to make her fight against her restraints more vigorously. "I noticed it when we were fighting, but she didn't even notice Cardin. She's specifically targeting me. I don't think I'll be able to reason with her."

"Allow me." said Blake, kneeling beside her still-struggling captive. With one fluid motion, she wrapped an arm around Ruby's neck, using the other as support. Ruby gasped as her air supply was cut off, and she had no way to resist. The fire in her eyes raged on, but eventually simmered down as she closed her eyes, fading to slumber.

"I thought you were going to reason with her!" Weiss nearly shrieked after seeing what was done to her partner.

"You heard Ren. We have to move. I'm sorry I had to do that, but none of you had the heart to do it, and this way she wouldn't have a headache when she wakes up." She released her hold on Ruby and stood up. "Just in case, though, you should probably keep her restrained."

"Weiss," Jaune got her attention away from examining her partner's wellbeing. "Do you have any fire Dust you can spare?"

"What? No I'm empty, but if you're worried about lighting, we have glowsticks, and our Scrolls still have a few hours on them."

"That's not it. I think you guys need to look around."

Jaune could sympathize with their growing terror and disgust as they finally took in their surroundings. Even Blake and Ren, the most resolute among them in controlling their emotions couldn't stop themselves from reacting. Weiss yelped and jumped back in surprise when she looked down and saw that one foot was standing on someone's arm.

"How..."

"I'll explain later. Listen carefully. See these pods? They're dangerous. We need to take out as many as possible, preferably the larger ones."

"Jaune," Ren had replaced his stoic face. "I have no idea why you want to do this, but we don't have time for this. We're running from a pack of Grimm already, and to be frank, you three are already going to slow us down. We need to get out of here!"

Blake growled under her breath. "Too late."

Glowing red eyes began to fill the darkness around them, as Grimm began to slowly pour out of the entrances, cutting off their means of escape. Jaune had no doubt that among them were the Grimm he had witnessed being born in this very chamber. They must have heard us fighting and doubled back.. Jaune thought.

Jaune wracked his brain for an exit strategy, but came up empty. There were simply too many liabilities. Cardin could only use one arm, Ruby was unconscious, and he himself could barely stand up. Perhaps Weiss, Blake and Ren would be able to defeat a number like this, but not when they are already tired and protecting three others. He simply could not see a way out.

Fortunately, he didn't have to.

Above them, the ceiling of the chamber detonated, sending shards of rock, clouds of dust and even entire boulders rocketing downwards. The rocks crushed and pierced the Grimm underneath, but somehow they remained completely unharmed, as if the rocks were targeting the Grimm around them. Before the Grimm could recover, a beam of light shot out from above them, incinerating dozens of Grimm in seconds.

"Who the hell...?" As one, they looked upwards to see their salvation. A brown blur crashed to the ground in a plume of dust. They heard a deafening roar, and spotted a flash of fire, which burnt a swathe of ashes amongst the Grimm. The sheer force of the fire blew away the dust and revealed their saviour.

"Professor Oobleck?!" all of them, bar Ruby, exclaimed.

"The one and only!" he bellowed, his voice bursting with grandiosity as usual, oddly bringing calm to his students. Over his normal disheveled attire, he was dressed for a safari, complete with a khaki shirt, brown overcoat and a pith helmet. "And it's Doctor Oobleck! At long last, we have found you! We have been searching tirelessly for nearly two days, and you are the last ones to be accounted for."

We? Jaune didn't have time to ask the question on his mind two figures landed next to Professor, Doctor Oobleck, with more grace and elegance than the older man. The first was a hooded woman wearing a black robe concealing most of her features. Oddly enough, Jaune had the impression that they had met before. The second was another young woman, with rich, dark brown hair, with deep green eyes. Neither of them seemed to be armed. "We are ready for extraction, sir." the woman said.

"Great!" Oobleck turned to his students. "Who among you is the most injured?"

"That would be Ruby, Cardin and Jaune, sir." Weiss reported.

"Very well then, we shall begin extraction. Ms. Olivine, if you please, and inform Dr. Lazuli to contact the other teams. I shall remain here to keep the Grimm at bay. Ms. Silica, provide aerial support. I'm sure we all want to leave this wretched place as soon as possible."

The hooded woman nodded without a word. Her cloak billowed outwards, forming the shape of wings and revealing the black dress she wore underneath. She flew up and circled around them, gliding over the Grimm.

The brunette woman nodded and held up her hands. "Please do not panic." she said in a gentle voice, as her green eyes glowed briefly. Before they could ask what she meant, Jaune felt something wrap firmly around his midsection. Jaune looked around and saw that a thick vine had attached himself to him. He panicked for a moment before realizing that it was not coming from the ground, but from above them, like a climbing harness. He looked around and saw that his friends (and Cardin) were in the same state, though more vines were attached to Ruby as she couldn't hold on.

The Grimm continued to advance on their position, but Oobleck used the fire from his mace to keep them under control. Ms. Olivine waved her hands and they were lifted upwards, towards the hole in the ceiling.

Below them a mighty conflagration spread, using the vines on the ground as fuel, leaving nothing of whatever it touched but ashes. In the center f it was Professor Oobleck, swinging his mace with a paradoxical mix of ferocity and finesse, bludgeoning any Grimm who survive the fire.

Griffons flew up to escape the professor, to devour them as they were lifted to safety, but they were viciously torn apart by rays of pure energy. Jaune could barely see the woman referred to as Ms. Silica, though whether that was because of her dark clothing or her insane flying speeds, he couldn't tell.

He looked up and saw that a few of them had already made it through the hole, and he spotted a pair of hands reaching down to grab Ruby and pull her through. Eventually, they were all pulled through, and Jaune could see a black haired woman with blue eyes helping them on their feet. Strangely, she was wearing a white labcoat over a blue shirt and jeans, and she held a lit cigarette between her lips.

She was checking Ruby's condition, checking her pulse and scanning for injuries. She then moved on to Cardin, unwrapping the makeshift bandage and checking the wound. She pulled a roll of cloth and a bottle out of her one of the pockets of her coat and redid the bandage, with admittedly more skill and precision than Jaune did. After reapplying the bandage, she gave Cardin a pill out of the bottle.

She turned to Jaune and gave him the same treatment. Jaune swallowed the pill without argument, and immediately felt better. It wasn't like the boost he got from his blade. It was more like he just swallowed a liter of pure caffeine.

Soon after they all clambered through the hole, Ms. Silica shot straight through the hole, holding Professor Oobleck under his arms. "Is that everbody? Fantastic! Miss Olivine, seal the room if you will." he said while dropping a cylinder into the hole.

"Yes, sir." Ms. Olivine waved her hand and the vines they used to raise themselves thickened and multiplied. They knitted themselves together to close the hole, blocking the heat from below. "We should move." she said after the task was done. "That will only hold for a few minutes."

"Thank you, Ms. Olivine. Dr. Lazuli, how is everyone's conditions?"

"You know very well I'm not that kind of doctor. But from what I can tell their injuries are fairly minor. I didn't see anything wrong with, uh, Rose, but she's not going to be waking up any time soon."

"Very well. Those of you well enough to run, do so quickly, and follow me. We have already ensured that our path to the surface will have no interruptions, so it is a straight run from here. Let's be on our way!"

The professor/doctor scooped up Ruby's sleeping form and joined the rest of them. As they ran Jaune could see what Doctor Oobleck meant when he said they ensured safe passage. Every opening they came across was covered in thick vegetation. More than one was giving off the sounds of snarling and roaring, giving no doubt as to what they were blocking.

"Sir," Lazuli said suddenly. "The Huntsmen outside the cave entrance are reporting an incredibly large surge of Grimm and they have been forced to retreat. The entrance is no longer secure and unusable."

"One thing after another..." Doctor Oobleck muttered uncharacteristically. "Plan B, then. We must locate a suitable alternate exit route."

Lazuli was already looking at something on her Scroll. "Way ahead of you, doc. There's a fork up ahead leading to the main sink-hole. I can contact the base camp and have them send a Bullhead to catch us."

"Can a Bullhead actually fit through the hole?" Blake interjected.

"As a matter of fact it can fit five." Doctor Oobeck thought for a few seconds before coming to a decision. "Alright, Ms. Lazuli, lead the way."

"How are you making contact with the surface? Scroll communication is useless down here." Weiss asked in a confused voice, but she received no answer from her.

"She's not using her Scroll." Ms. Olivine smirked. "I think it's as good a time as any to introduce ourselves. We were already briefed on who you guys are, so we'll skip that part. I'm Peri Olivine. The one in the labcoat's my partner, Apis Lazuli. The witchy looking woman in the cloak is Opal Silica. We're Team SOLS (Solstice)."

"Where's your fourth member?" asked Weiss.

Jaune already knew the answer. He turned to the cloaked woman. "You... I know you." he said getting her attention, as well as everyone else's. "You're Amber's partner." he said in realization.

"Correct." she answered immediately.

"You know her?"

"It's a long story-"

"One that can be told at a more appropriate time, Mr. Arc." Doctor Oobleck interrupted him. "I'm sure you wish to speak to Ms. Silica, but that can wait. We are nearing our destination."

"He's right." Lazuli spoke up. "We're very close to the exit, and I've received word that the Bullheads are ready. Now it's important to remember when you see the entrance to jump as far forwards are you are able. Forwards, not upwards." she emphasised

"Wait, what?" Jaune asked. "I thought we were getting picked up by a Bullhead."

"No, you weren't listening. I said a Bullhead is going to catch us." she repeated.

"What's the difference?!"

"No time to explain, children, there it is!"

They looked forward to see a circle of light rapidly growing larger and larger. Doctor Oobleck tightened his hold on Ruby and sprinted forwards. He then jumped forwards, the members of Team SOLS.

Ah, damn, what else could go wrong? Jaune psyched himself up before flinging his body forwards. Despite his better judgement, he looked down while he was in the air. Below him was a gaping abyss that seemed to go on forever. He had a moment of vertigo and panic, which was quickly relieved when he looked ahead.

The sight of the black chasm was replaced by gray steel as he landed roughly into a Bullhead cabin. He felt someone grab him and drag him to the side, just as his comrades flew into the Bullhead after him. He laughed in delight. "That was insane!"

"Captain! We have them all!" Doctor Oobleck yelled into the cockpit.

"Roger that!"

The Bullhead engines roared, pushing it out of its hovering state and making the craft rise out of the sinkhole. Their ascent was slow, the pilots making sure not to collide with the sides of the sinkhole despite its prodigious size.

They rose to the surface, the crimson trees of Forever Fall coming to view. They rose even higher, and Jaune was able to see the camp of Huntsmen beginning to move out. Soon, the engines shifted into position to expel air backwards. Within seconds, the Bullhead was cruising through the air, the trees reduced to a collage of red blurs underneath them.

"Students, I know it has been a long day for all of you. But now I can assure you."

"We're heading back to Beacon."

Well, quite a lot happened in this one, plot-wise.

This is my theory as to how the Grimm were created. A quick internet search told me that 56 million people die every day. Even if you pare number down, the number of people who died outside the kingdoms over thousands of years must be beyond counting. That's tonnes of raw material. And considering the damage the product can do... It's a vicious circle.

Now, I've also touched on Ruby's 'Silver Eyed Warrior' status in this chapter. As far as how that is going to play out... Well you should wait and see!

Let's not forget Amber's team! I hated the fact the show never developed Amber's character, (and I realize I haven't done much for that either) but I can at least give something about her past. Let me tell you how much of a bit of a bitch it is to come up with names that fit a team name, which is also a color, and 'Solstice' is a bit of a stretch already.

That being said, Read! Review! Fav! Follow! If you would be so kind!