Sparks

When we lose our faith
And forsake our friends
When the moon is gone
And we've reached our ends

"Okay, so, Ruby." Yang glanced at her sister as they soared over Beacon's rooftops at a breakneck speed. "You mind telling me exactly why we're going the opposite direction of the fight?" She fired another round from Ember Celica, making sure to keep pace with the smaller girl as she pulled the trigger once more. Thankfully, Ruby hadn't used her semblance, otherwise there was no way Yang would have been able to keep up.

Ruby's silver eyes were wide and fierce, and Yang couldn't quite tell if it was fear or determination that shone in them. Maybe a mix. "Didn't you notice anything odd about the battle?" Ruby asked.

Yang thought for a second. "Other than the fact that it was going really well, not really."

"That's just it." Ruby looked at her. "It was going far too well."

Violet orbs narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"You were out on patrol too. You saw how large the enemy force was. We couldn't see an end to it."

"But you came up with your strategy as an answer for that."

Ruby shook her head, hair swaying in the wind. "My plan might have kept us alive for a little bit longer, yeah. But if they attacked with the full force of their army, we would've been overrun eventually. As it is now, we may actually manage to hold out."

"I don't see how that's an issue."

Ruby growled in frustration. "They weren't all there! Didn't you notice? That force we were fighting…that wasn't all of the Grimm we saw. There should be many, many more than that."

Yang's brow furrowed as she processed this new information. "So…where…" Her eyes widened as it clicked. "Oh…" She looked ahead of them, toward the cliffs, as her sister's panic and urgency suddenly began make sense. "Oh no."

Ruby nodded. "Oh yes."

"You think…?"

"Yes, I'm almost positive." She glared ahead. "They're trying a sneak attack from behind." She pulled Crescent Rose's trigger again. "I noticed it at the beginning of the fight. The Grimm were acting strange. The first time they attacked, they were organized and seemed to be following some sort of strategy. This time they just mindlessly threw themselves at us. There was no thought, no tactics, nothing. I overlooked it at first because they're Grimm. A lack of tactics isn't really something new to them."

Yang grit her teeth. "Really pulled a fast one over on us, didn't they?" Ruby's silence was affirmation enough. "But you caught it, sis, and now we can stop whatever they're planning."

"I can only hope we're not too late," her sister murmured.

Ruby couldn't quiet the roiling anxiety that festered in her stomach and bubbled into her chest. She hoped she was wrong. She hoped against all hope that she was completely and entirely wrong. That the enemies already assaulting Beacon were all there were and that she was being paranoid. She couldn't think of any other possibility, but it didn't stop her from hoping.

That hope was soon crushed though, as the airship docks became visible before them. The very same ones where they had seen Team JNPR off only the previous day. Except now they were swarming with a black mass of Grimm. Red eyes flashed in every direction as the monsters shifted and took positions. It wasn't a group quite as large as the one the others were fighting, but more and more were pouring up from over the side of the cliffs as they approached.

It was exactly as she had feared. This was bad.

"RUSSEL!" they heard a panicked voice scream, and they shared a confused glance.

"Did that sound like…?" Yang asked unsuredly.

"YOU FUCKING MONSTERS!"

"Cardin!" The sisters exclaimed at the same time.

Ruby vanished in a swirl of petals, and Yang blasted forward in earnest. No matter how much she hated Cardin and the douche crew, if they were in trouble, she'd help them; they were classmates of Beacon, after all. By the time she reached her sister, Ruby was already in motion, a crimson, dancing whirlwind of death. Yang hit the ground and immediately tucked into a somersault to kill her extra momentum. She planted her feet firmly when she came out of the roll and started throwing punches, long-range projectiles flying from her gauntlets as fast as she could swing.

Her attacks slammed into the gathered Grimm, sending Beowolves, Ursi, and Boarbatusks alike tumbling backward, suddenly limbless. Ruby spun through the enemies, Crescent Rose flashing all around. Grimm corpses littered the ground behind her.

Yang, seeing that her sister had the monsters in hand for the moment, turned and approached the two boys cowering on the ground behind her.

Cardin was breathing heavily, his shoulders squared and knees slightly bent. His armor was dented, and the small globe in the top of his mace was glowing faintly. She and Ruby had managed to drive back the Grimm for now, but it was clear CRDL had been fighting before their arrival. They had been holding off the surprise attack by themselves. Yang felt the guilt from her fight with Cardin resurface. She had doubted him, and yet his team had been the only thing in between Beacon and utter annihilation. That feeling only grew stronger whenever she saw Dove cradling the broken body of Russel.

The mohawk-haired boy was dead, there was no doubt. His throat had been torn out. The front of his armor was stained crimson, and his eyes were opened wide in horror. She bit her lip and averted her eyes. Now wasn't the time to dwell on those she couldn't save.

"Cardin!" she said sharply, and the red-haired man's eyes shifted to her. "You and Russel need to get out of here! Now!" When he didn't respond she walked up and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Cardin," she used a much softer voice this time, "You guys did everything you could to hold them off. Ruby and I will take over from here. I'm sorry about Russel, but you need to go to the other side of the school and let Weiss know that we need reinforcements."

His dazed blue eyes met hers. "This…this wasn't how it was supposed to be," he whispered.

"I know, Cardin. It's not right. None of it. But you need to put that aside for now and go."

"Oh, I don't think he's going anywhere." Yang felt a shiver crawl up her spine at the new voice. The sentence was punctuated by an explosion, and Yang spun around as Ruby skidding backward, smoke rising from the middle of Crescent Rose's handle.

"Ruby!"

The younger girl was still on her feet, though, and waved off her sister's concern. "I'm fine, Yang, but we've got a problem." Ruby pointed forward. Yang followed her sister's finger and felt her blood freeze.

With her eyes burning gold, smirk adorning her face, and extended hand still smoldering from the fireball she had assaulted Ruby with, the fire sorceress cut an imposing figure.

"Cinder," Yang growled.

"Hello, children. It's been awhile."

Yang took a step forward, bringing her hands up in a guarded stance. Ruby ejected the clip from her weapon and pulled another one with black arrow markings from her belt. She slapped it home and chambered a fresh bullet as she positioned Crescent Rose behind her.

"Cardin," Yang spoke, voice perfectly level. Her lilac orbs never once left Cinder. She was an incredibly dangerous opponent, one they couldn't afford to give a single opening. They had seen the damage she had wrecked at the Vytal festival the previous year. "Take Russel and leave. Now."

Cinder's gaze shifted to the young man behind Yang and Ruby, and her mouth stretched into a smile. "So you're Cardin. Nice to finally meet you."

Yang spared her sister a small glance, and saw that she shared her confusion.

"You," Cardin breathe, stumbling forward. "This is not what you promised!"

"What she-" Ruby's breath hitched. "Cardin you didn't!" Disbelief was written all over her sister's face, though Yang hadn't quite made the connection yet.

Cardin continued talking as though Ruby hadn't spoken. "You said you'd protect us! That you'd let us leave if we dropped the shield for you!" Realization dawned on Yang then, and she felt a rage unlike anything she had ever experienced take hold of her.

"Oh, yes, I did. But you see, while I may have said I'd protect you, I can't really speak for the Grimm." She laid a hand on the head of Beowolf at her side and began idly tracing the crimson markings on its mask. "Concepts like 'protect' and 'let live' don't really register in their minds, you see." She smiled sadistically. "Sorry about that."

The young Huntsman-in-training took a step forward and hefted his mace, his expression dark and angry. "You fu-"

His words were lost as Yang's fist connected with his face with a resounding crack. Cardin stumbled backward, blood beginning to pour from a now clearly broken nose.

"Wh-"

"Shut up!" Yang hissed, and Cardin's knees went weak when he saw the venom directed toward him in her now crimson eyes. She was literally trembling with rage, and fire was beginning to creep over her entire body. "You betrayed us! You destroyed the shield!"

He took another shaky step backward, nearly tripping over his own feet. "I-I did wh-what I had to-"

"I said shut up!" Another fist landed solidly in his gut, and all of the air left Cardin's lungs. His mace fell from his hand as he dropped to his knees and doubled over. "You let them in! You coward! Your classmates are fighting and dying right now because of you!" She punctuated this statement with a vicious kick to his ribs, sending him sprawling.

"I-" he coughed. "I just wanted-"

Yang placed a foot on his neck and pressed down, cutting his words off and making him gasp for air. She stared down at him with the most murderous expression Cardin had ever seen. "Open your mouth one more fucking time, and I swear I'll crush your throat right here and now." She applied more force, and Cardin weakly grasped at her boot.

"Yang." She turned to her sister, whose eyes had never left Cinder. The fire witch was clearly enjoying the little show, if her smile was anything to go by. "Deal with him later, we've got bigger issues."

"A bit of an understatement, Red, don't you think?" Another person sidled up beside Cinder, and Ruby grit her teeth.

"Hello, Roman. Aren't you supposed to be in the city?" Anxiety coursed through her body as Yang stepped back up beside her, fists at the ready. If Roman was here, then what about JNPR's mission? Had they failed? Were they alright? Her stomach flipped as her nightmares returned to her. Her friends broken, dead corpses danced inside her skull. Get ahold of yourself. She shook her head. Focus.

"I was, until Cinder here called me about this little plan of hers." He drew a deep breath, the end of his cigar glowing brightly. He exhaled and smiled at her through the smoke as his one visible eye glinted. "Naturally, I couldn't let this opportunity pass me by." He spread his arms wide. "The chance to finally take all of you brats down."

"'Cause we're gonna let that happen," Yang growled. She shifted her weight, preparing to move.

"Yang, wait." She froze at her sister's voice.

"Ruby?"

"Yang…" Something in her tone stabbed a dagger of fear into Yang's heart. She glanced at her younger sister, and the expression on her face was one she had never seen before. It was some sort of weird mixture of weariness and resignation. "…you have to leave."

Yang's mind stopped functioning for a second while she processed those words. "Ex…cuse me?" She turned to face Ruby. "I…have to leave? What exactly do you mean by that, Ruby?"

"You have to go and get reinforcements. I'll hold them off and keep them from getting any further into the school."

"By yourself."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yang-"

"No, Ruby!" Panic rose in the back of her throat and clouded her thoughts. Her chest felt hollow and her stomach might as well have been full of concrete. "I'm not leaving you alone!"

"You have to!" Ruby shot back, finally looking into her sister's eyes. Determined silver met angry, worried red. "We have to get reinforcements over here, or Beacon's not going to last. We can't possibly fight this many with just us two!"

"So what makes you think you stand a chance on your own?!" She grabbed Ruby by the shoulders. "I know you loved your mother and you respect what she did, Ruby, but that does not mean you have to die the same way she did!"

"This has nothing to do with my mother," Ruby hissed, narrowing her eyes at Yang. "One of us has to go and get help, and we can't trust Cardin or Dove!"

"Then you go! You're the fastest!" she practically screamed. Why? Why couldn't Ruby see? She was trying to protect her, to keep her safe. She couldn't let her do this. She was her older sister. She had sworn to protect her, no matter what.

Ruby shook her head vehemently. "You've been fighting this entire time. You're exhausted. You've been trying to hide it, but I'm not an idiot. You'd get massacred. I'm still fresh. I can hold them off while you bring help." Yang bowed her head, feeling the truth of Ruby's words. The fight left her as Ruby continued gently. "It has to be me, Yang. It's the only way this has any chance of working."

Yang's hands slid down Ruby's arms until they grasped hers. "You're my baby sister," she whispered, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill.

Ruby smiled and wrapped her arms around her sister. Yang returned the embrace, and Ruby could sense her desperation in how tightly she held her. "I know. I'll be fine. Just be quick, okay?" She felt Yang nod against her hair.

"I love you, Ruby."

"I love you too, Yang."

The sister's separated and Yang took a second to compose herself. "I'll be back as quick as I can. Be careful, okay?"

"I'll see you soon."

Yang nodded and turned to go, noting somewhere in the back of her mind that Cardin and Dove were gone. It didn't matter; she'd find them later, after all of this was over. With one last, worried glance at Ruby, she took a running start and fired Ember Celica behind her, blasting off over Beacon's roofs.

Ruby watched her disappear and breathed a deep sigh, closing her eyes momentarily. She didn't get long. The wind shifted, and she heard a faint crackle. She spun, cloak splaying out behind her as she brought her scythe to bear. She cleaved through the heart of the fireball heading for her head, and it dissipated around her. Ruby exhaled as she swung her scythe around behind her, holding it diagonally with her left arm on the lower portion of shaft with blade curving upward from her feet.

Silver eyes narrowed at the two figures standing near the edge of the cliff.

Cinder regarded her coolly, left arm folded across her chest, her hand cradling her right elbow. "You honestly believe you can fight us, don't you?" she asked. "Let's see just how long you hold onto that belief." She held up her free hand and made a small motion.

Ruby braced herself, and the Grimm charged forward, a seething black wave of death.

He spent a good minute just sitting there, Pyrrha's corpse in his arms, his mind blank as he stared at her all-too-still face.

This couldn't be happening. He had to be dreaming right now. Pyrrha couldn't be dead. There was no way. It was Pyrrha for Dust's sake! She was practically invincible!

Practically.

Jaune took a breath and felt the acrid smoke burn his throat and lungs, and reality crashed down on him.

"Oh god, no, Pyrrha," he moaned, leaning his forehead against hers as tears streamed down his face. His body trembled with grief and misery, and he pulled her still-warm body against him.

He didn't know what to do right now. What could he do? His partner was dead. Dead because he had failed to plan ahead as a leader. Dead because he had failed to protect her as her partner, managing only to save himself in the end. She was dead, and the rest of his friends were probably being slaughtered, betrayed by one of their own.

Worthless fool, Jaune Arc. You should never have come to Beacon, should never have volunteered your friends for this mission.

"So that's it, then? You're just giving up?"

Jaune flinched. He looked to Pyrrha's body, despite knowing that her voice he was hearing was in his head. He had wanted to hope for a second, to believe that she could be okay. It was just a memory though. One from their previous year. He and Pyrrha had been training all day, trying to instill in Jaune the proper defense techniques for his shield. It had been long, arduous, and more than a little bit painful. After about the 30th time of being slammed in the gut by the brunt end of Pyrrha's spear, Jaune had thrown aside his weapons in frustration.

"Well, what else can I do? Clearly this isn't gonna work no matter how many times I try it!"

She was silent for a moment, her eyes narrowed at him as he panted on the ground. "I'm going to take a page from Ruby's book here and emphasize that you're a leader now. It isn't just about you anymore."

Jaune's head shot up, eyes wide. "How do you-"

"I am not stupid, Jaune. Given what I knew about your situation, it didn't take much to figure out why you were hanging around Cardin. Beside, Ruby isn't exactly a quiet person, and I'm not deaf." Jaune hung his head. "Her volume aside, Ruby was right. You are a leader, Jaune. It's not just about you. Giving up like this isn't really an option for you anymore."

His eyes shifted to the side. "Old habits die hard."

A gentle smile graced her face. "I don't believe that."

" Well…they do, so…"

Pyrrha shook her head. "Not what I meant. I don't doubt that old habits are hard to get rid of. I have a few of my own I'd rather I didn't. What I meant, though, was that I don't believe you were ever one to give up."

Jaune looked at her incredulously. "Have you met me, Pyrrha? The first thing anybody would think I'd do is give up."

"Well thankfully it's not what others think that defines reality. The truth is, Jaune, you're one of the most determined people I have ever met, and I've never once seen you give up on something. You didn't give up whenever Cardin blackmailed you. Nor when you had to face down a Deathstalker with a group of people you hardly knew and no training of your own to speak of. You didn't even give up on your dream of becoming a Huntsman, despite being aware that you weren't prepared properly by any means. You persevered through each and every one of those situations because of your tenacity and strength." She leaned over and offered him a hand. "I adamantly refuse to believe that you were any less amazing before you came here."

He looked at his lap as a light blush stained his cheeks. "I'm not amazing," he mumbled as he took her hand allowed her to pull him to his feet.

She laughed lightly. "Someday I'll make you see yourself honestly, Jaune." He shrugged, and she reached forward, gently cupping his cheek with one hand. "Always remember: no matter what you think of yourself, never give up. Never give in to fear and despair. So long as you believe in it, there will be a way." She smiled at him, the wind gently tousling her hair, and Jaune felt his heart throb painfully in his chest.

Jaune's eyes widened as those words resonated in his head.

"Never give up," he murmured, looking down at his partner in his arms. "Never give in to fear and despair."

That was right. Calling it quits here, after all of this, would shame himself and Pyrrha. He couldn't allow that. He sniffed, wiped the tears from his face, and concentrated. This wasn't over. Pyrrha's heart hadn't been stopped for that long, two, maybe three minutes. If he could think of some way to start it again quickly enough, maybe he could save her. At the very least, he had to try. She'd do nothing less for him.

He closed his eyes and kicked his mind into overdrive. He thought up and shot down ideas as fast as he could. CPR? Out of the question. He didn't know the extent of the internal damage, and he could end up making things worse for her, even if he managed to get her heart going again. Plus he would only force more blood from her wounds if he tried that method. No, he needed some way to get her pulse going by itself while he tended to her injuries.

Maybe he could jumpstart her heart? Like the shock devices Jaune had seen the paramedics use way too many times at the previous year's Vytal Festival. Blue eyes snapped open and glanced around the ruined room. There was few sparking wires hanging from the ceiling and walls, but without a way to control the voltage, Jaune knew he couldn't use them. He could end up electrocuting Pyrrha, and that was far from what he wanted to accomplish.

Think, Jaune! Think! There has to be something!

It hit him like a train, and he almost kicked himself for being so stupid. His hand darted for the pouch of toughened leather that hung limply from Pyrrha's waist, and he prayed that the explosion hadn't damaged its contents too badly. He grabbed the container and yanked. Its strap severed in the explosion, the pouch came away easily, and he wasted no time in gently pouring its contents on the floor. He ignored the bandages, the anti-biotic ointment, and the syringe (only vaguely wondering why she needed that in the first place) and went straight for the small, glinting vial.

He held it up triumphantly. The small bottle of healing Dust hadn't survived the explosion unscathed. There was a thin crack down the one side, and seemed about half of its contents had seeped out. There was still some of the silvery liquid inside though, and that gave Jaune the first real ray of hope since they had discovered Roman wasn't here.

Jaune looked back to Pyrrha, unsure exactly how to advance from there. He had the Dust, yes. But he didn't know what to do with it. To be honest, before Weiss had handed it to Pyrrha, he hadn't even known about the existence of healing Dust. He knew about the other sorts of Dust, but one that healed was news to him. Though that shouldn't have surprised him too much, he reasoned. He hadn't even known what Aura was when he had first arrived at Beacon, and he had never really needed any special sort of healing since his Aura seemed to care of everything. It made sense that he wouldn't know anything about healing Dust.

Now, though, he was wishing he did. How should he use it help Pyrrha? Weiss had instructed her to "use it on any fatal wound" when she had given it to her. Did that mean just…pour it right on there? And where? She had so many injuries. He remembered the syringe from Pyrrha's pouch. Should he inject it? Put it on a bandage and slap that on?

He gritted his teeth. This was just wasting time. And so, against every single shred of anything that could be called logic, Jaune tipped Pyrrha's head back, placed the bottle against her lips and gently poured the Dust down her throat. The effect was almost immediate.

Pyrrha spasmed, her back arching from Jaune's lap as a shudder tore from her feet to her head. He held her tightly, trying to keep her from hitting anything in the vicinity.

And then she was still again, slumping bonelessly back into his arms. He couldn't tell if the Dust had done anything, but at the very least her pallor looked a little healthier. He gingerly placed his fingers against her neck and held his breath.

Please. Please.

There! Had that been what he thought it was? He pressed a little firmer. This time when he felt it, he was sure. It was faint and weak, but it was there. A pulse. Pyrrha had a pulse. She was alive. Relief flooded through him, but he quashed it. She wasn't breathing, and her heartbeat was barely there. If he didn't do something quickly, she wouldn't be alive much longer.

Jaune needed to treat her injuries, but honestly, he wasn't sure how. He hadn't thought that far ahead, though he had been planning on using Pyrrha's medical supplies as best he could if he managed to get her heart going again. Now that he did, though, he realized he needed something much more immediate. With her condition as unstable as it was, he probably only had a minute or two before she crossed back over the line, and this time he didn't think he'd be able to bring her back.

Only one thing that met his necessities came to mind, and through it only one way to save Pyrrha's life.

"Ren's gonna chew me out so bad for this," Jaune murmured as he gently lowered Pyrrha the rest of the way to the floor. He positioned himself on his knees beside her, and rested his hands on her abdomen. He tried to avoid touching damaged areas, but his hands still became stained crimson.

He closed his eyes and exhaled, trying to settle his mind, and then began trying to pull out his Aura.

Jaune had never once managed to succeed in his efforts at this in the past. He had been at Beacon for over a year, and he still didn't have the ability to manipulate his Aura. It's why he had never been able to use a Semblance, and why Pyrrha had trained him so hard with his shield. If he couldn't take advantage of his natural defense, she'd reasoned, he'd have to supplement it through other means. She had always told him that in time he would learn to use his Aura.

Well, he thought grimly, now is that time. He continued to concentrate, eyes screwed shut tightly. He felt nothing though. No tingling, or warmth, or rush of strength. Nothing.

No. Not now. Please, I'm so close. I can't let her die. Please, just this once. Please.

And all at once, it was there, coursing through his veins as if it had always been there, waiting for him. It wasn't like anything he had been expecting. No funny sensations or anything like that. His body just seemed...light, his mind clear. He felt like he could see for the first time ever. He shook his head and focused on the task at hand. There would be time to appreciate new perspectives later.

He summoned as much Aura as he could and tried to guide it down his arms and out through his hands. It obeyed him, albeit incredibly sluggishly, and his hands began to shimmer white. He felt the energy leave his body and enter Pyrrha's. There was no particular sensation that accompanied it that he could identify, he was just sort of aware of what was happening. He was also aware of a burning pain building on his palms, but he paid it no mind. It didn't really matter what happened to him, so long as Pyrrha was alright.

He knew this was a gamble. He had heard Ren talk about the dangers of unsupervised and unregulated Aura transfers enough times that he knew the terrible consequences that could come from this. But he honestly didn't care. This was his one and only way of saving Pyrrha. If it succeeded, she'd be alive. if it didn't...well, either way she'd be dead. Jaune certainly hoped things worked out favoring the former of those two options.

The pain in his hands suddenly flared and shot up his arm. He flinched, but didn't stop his actions. Not even as the fire lanced across his shoulder blades and up his neck. When it reached his skull though, his body reacted for him, arching his back in agony and tearing his arms away from his partner.

No! Pyrrha!

He began to tip backward as his vision went fuzzy around the edges. I can't...

He fell, but before he could hit the floor, he felt someone catch him, and he looked blearily up into blazing magenta eyes.

"Jaune!" the voice sounded like it was coming from a very, very long way away. "Jaune!" it repeated, and he tried to focus through a haze of pain and confusion.

"R...en?" he mumbled. "Head...hurts..." His speech sounded slurred, even to himself.

Ren helped him sit up before pressing a hang to the base of his skull. A soothing coolness spread from his fingers, quenching the inferno consuming Jaune's brain. The blond sighed in relief. He glanced up when he heard a small scuffle, and found Nora examining Pyrrha's still form.

"Nora," he said, voice cracking. "Pyrra...is she...?" He couldn't bring himself to finish the question.

She looked up at him, turquoise eyes uncharacteristically serious. "She's alive," Nora stated. "Though she's pretty badly hurt."

Jaune crawled forward and cupped Pyrrha's cheek with one hand. Her skin was a much healthier color now, and he could hear gentle breaths accompanying the rising and falling of her chest. Her injuries were still pretty bad, but the bleeding had stopped, and many of her smaller wounds had closed up.

He leaned his forehead against hers and grabbed one of her hands tightly, feeling tears form in his eyes. She's alive. She's alive. The soul crushing weight that had been pressing on his chest seemed to dissipate. She's alive.

"Jaune, what happened?" Ren asked, resting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "We were outside fighting when the top floor exploded. We figured that was enough of a red flare, so we finished up and came to find you guys. What happened with Roman?"

Jaune shook his head weakly. "Roman wasn't here. He's at Beacon."

Ren narrowed his eyes, and Jaune saw an emotion pass behind them that he rarely saw from the stoic young man: fear. "What?"

Their leader quickly launched into a brief account of his and Pyrrha's infiltration and the subsequent discovery and explosion.

"So you didn't take damage because of your Aura," Ren mused quietly. "That's a surprise. Auras normally can't absorb that much damage."

"I think it was my Semblance. It's happened once or twice before. I didn't do it consciously though, and I couldn't do anything for Pyrrha. She got the worst of the blast." Jaune shuddered as he recalled her lying motionless and dead on the ground.

Ren laid a hand on Pyrrha's forehead and closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them again, he gave Jaune a stern look. "I thought you were doing something strange when we showed up. Her Aura is entirely out of balance. You did a transfer, didn't you?"

Jaune nodded, but spoke before Ren could say anything else. "She was dead, Ren. Her pulse had stopped. I had to do something. The healing Dust wasn't enough, and it was the only thing I could do. I knew it could be bad, but it was my only chance."

Ren sighed, deciding to let it go. After all, if it had been him, and Nora or any of his other friends had been the ones lying there, he probably would have done the same thing. Of course you would have, the cynical part of his brain spoke up, but the difference is that you actually know what you're doing. He quieted the thought and addressed Jaune again, "You know you could have liquefied her organs, right? Or turned her skeleton to dust? Or completely fried her nervous system?" Jaune's head sunk lower and lower with each sentence. "But...if you hadn't done what you did, we would have lost a friend. Good job, Jaune." Surprised blue eyes met warm magenta ones. "Just try and avoid it in the future, okay?"

He managed a small chuckle. "I'll do my best."

Ren gave him a light smile before his face grew serious again. "Right now, though, we should be focusing on getting back to Beacon. If they're really under attack, and someone's dropped the shield, then they're in serious trouble." Ren had a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling.

"Agreed. But how the hell are we gonna get back in time? It took us at least a day to get here. Even going at full speed, it'll take a few hours, and the battle could be over by then." Ren put a hand to his chin in thought, but nothing occured to him immediately.

"Hey, guys?" They turned to see Nora looking out over the gardens from one of the shattered windows. She looked at them, a huge smile on her face. "I have an idea."

A/N: YAY! Aren't you glad you didn't kill me after the last chapter? She's alive again :D

However, sadly, that means that I have given you hope, and where one giveth hope, one most also taketh hope away *cackles and rubs hands together*

Phew, that was long one! The longest in this story by about 1,300 words, actually. Which is part of the reason it took me a bit longer than normal to get this chapter out. Another reason was that I also updated my other fic in the interim (finally)

I was pretty pleased by how this one turned out, and I certainly hope that you all agree! Please, drop me a review and let me know what you guys think!

Remember, only two more chapters left! Thank all of you so much for your continued support! I looooooove you