Chapter 5 has been replaced. Best to read that before this. Thanks.

"Hurt" cover by Johnny Cash

In the hanger of Monstra Jaune stood before his beat down friends. Cinder and Pyrrha struggling to stand at his sides. The fight to get to her stronghold, coupled with the struggle against her seemingly overwhelming power having taken it's toll on all of them. He had tried to support them, but everything was happening to fast for him to adjust; at least until now. He had a plan, a plan to save them all.

"It's you." Salem snarled. "You have ruined my plans for the last time boy!"

Jaune said nothing, as he stepped forward the fingers of his right hand hovering over the strings of his battered guitar. Cinder stumbled forward, as intent to to stand at his side as Pyrrha, who was echoing her movements.

"Stop. Get out of here..." Jaune calmly called out as he moved closer to Salem, his clear blue eye looking directly into red ones. "Get to safety."

"Heed him, children." Salem barked. "You can not save him, you can't not even save yourselves."

"Jaune?" Pyrrha and Cinder questioned as they both attempted to close in on him as he continued to walk forward.

"I said get out of here! Get everyone out of here! GO NOW!"

Salem stood there and laughed. This puny boy would be no challenge to her, and after he was finally smeared across the floor, she would hunt down those who had sided with him, and make them all suffer the same. She would take her time with this troublesome boy the others were calling Jaune. She would make him suffer, make him beg, before she finished him.

Behind him Hazel; whose reasons for switching sides Jaune didn't understand, helped the others to their feet, as Cinder and Pyrrha hesitantly backed away. Jaune stopped moving forward and stood there facing Salem. His fingers ready to execute what he was thinking. He took a deep breath and slowly released it. His mind, his intent focusing completely on the Grimm like entity standing before him.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha questioned, her voice full of pleading.

"Let me stay." Cinder requested stopping her progress away from him. "Let me stall, so you can get away."

"I need you all to leave." Jaune responded calmly and clearly, as his fingers started to stroke the strings of his seen better days instrument. "Please."

Salem, stood there and chuckled. She couldn't understand how this pathetic boy was able to thwart her so many times, how she had broken her underlings, to the point of just fleeing from her reach, or joining him. It made no sense; but in the end it would not matter. She would crush them all.

Jaune just continued to strum an almost sad set of chords, as he waited for his friends to get clear. He would protect them, he would bring an end to this madness. Salem tilted her head as the boy continued to just stand there and play the same chords over and over. She knew he was waiting for his companions to flee. She watched as he looked over his shoulder to see Cinder and Pyrrha being the last two to back out of the hanger, before he once again turned his full attention upon the woman standing before him. He was close, very close to her, so close that he would not need to amplify his voice, or the notes that would carry it. It was the perfect setup.

"So what..." Salem was cut off as Jaune opened his mouth and began to sing.

"I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel..."

The emotions Jaune threw behind those words staggered the Queen of the Grimm. Her mind reeled under the assault of utter sadness and depression that flowed from the blond singer. Jaune took a step forward, pouring more of his aura into his semblance, singing his words strong and clearly, as his fingers continued to stroke the strings of his weapon. Salem took a step back, her rage filled heart slamming inside her chest, threatening to burst free.

No it wasn't possible. She thought as she tried to centre her scrambling thoughts, to resist and fight back. Jaune took another step closer, his voice growing stronger, the emotions he was broadcasting growing sharper, more defined. Salem lashed out, a Grimm hand snapping up from the ground and sending Jaune tumbling back across the floor. Getting to his knees he instantly returned to strumming the strings.

"I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel..." he started again.

The short distance she had opened between them did little to buffer what she was feeling. The words; the notes pulling out eons of sorrow and sadness that had been locked deep inside her. Memories from ages gone when she had once been human; feelings of loss.

Jaune stumbled, the feed back having and effect. He was putting his complete effort into what he was trying to project, so much so that he was unable to suppress, or push away what he was receiving in turn. Recovering he soldiered on. His fingers strumming the chords, his voice uttering the words. Tear began to form in his blue and white eyes.

Salem tried to focus through the memories the words were drawing forward. Images of her husband appeared. His illness, his wasting away, his last gasping breath, and finally his stillness. Crying out in despair and frustration she threw a set of Grimm hands against him. The first struck in the legs knocking them out from underneath him, the second landing a glancing blow to his left shoulder. Jaune was twisted as he went down like a ton of bricks.

He was suppressing his aura, putting it all into his semblance, and the blows shook as much as his face first impact to the floor. Rolling to his left he lay there for a second strumming the sad tune, before sitting up, and getting to his knees. Salem grabbed her head with her hands, fighting back against the emotions, trying to squeeze the images that they brought up from her mind.

"I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel..." he started again as he rose to his knees and then his feet.

"You stay the hell away from me!" Salem screeched, as her mind filled with the conversations she had with the Brother of Light and then the Brother of Dark, a sense of betrayal welling up in her heart followed by depression as she threw herself into a pool of Grimm.

Jaune pressed on, each time she had struck him he had just about finished the complete song. It was three times he had restarted, and he set himself to continue to see his plan through regardless of how many times she hit him, how long it took, or how much he had to give of himself. The bleed over was affecting him as well. Images of his family, and the thoughts of what eventually happens to everyone causing tears to trickle from his eyes and fall to his sweat stained hoodie.

Reeling Salem tried one last time to stop the noise that was assaulting her. Threw tear filled red eyes she summoned them, a half a dozen Grimm hands. They latched on to Jaune seizing his legs, arms and guitar. He didn't stop singing, his semblance words still hammering against her even without the accompanying chords. He carried the tune in his voice, just as much as he had with his instrument.

/=/

Out of ear shot, his friends and companions could not feel the emotions his words carried. They stood gathered together in a defensive line, fending of the grimm that threatened to rush Jaune, drawn by the emotions that undoubtedly filled the hanger. The confined corridor making it a simple task, preventing the fell creatures from rushing them more than a few at a time.

"Someone need to go back!" shouted Pyrrha as she drove her sword through the skull of a Sabyr that attempted to charge her, "We NEED to check on Jaune!"

"I'll do it." Ruby called out just before she activated her semblance and vanished in a shower of red rose petals.

/=/

With the hanger doors closed, Jaune and Salem were left unmolested by the Grimm that were gathering outside. The Grimm hands that held him began to dissolve, as his endless barrage of emotion fuelled words continued to wreak havoc on Salem's mental state. As soon as his guitar and arms were free the sad, sorrowful chords began again, quickly falling into sync with his words. Salem's knees grew week, as more and more memories were dredged up by the accosting song.

/=/

Ruby reached the doorway to the hanger and fell to her knees, instantly over come by the acoustic amplified words filling the hanger. She pressed her hands against her ears trying to shut them out, as sorrow filled her heart, and images of her mom raced through her mind. She had been young when Summer Rose was taken from her, not much more than a baby, yet still she could remember. A waterfall of tears flooded from her silver eyes as she screamed out in anguish.

/=/

"Ruby." Jaune whispered between verses. She was being affected, yet Jaune couldn't pull back, he had to push on, he could see Salem's reactions; and he knew he could end this. Stop the endless war between her and Ozma.

In his mind, due to the feed back he was receiving; memories of the feelings he had been nearly overcome with in the past, played alongside the images that they centred on. The disappointment of at the faces of his family when he announced his intention to become a huntsman. The concern of his friends about his lack of ability. The pain of Pyrrha every time he missed recognizing her feelings for him. Like Salem his knees buckled.

/=/

"Ruby!" Yang screamed as she demolished the skull of the Beowulf that attempted to get past her. "I need to help her!"

"She's been overcome by Jaune's semblance." Oscar/Ozpin stated as he stepped back from the defensive line allowing Qrow to move up and take his place.

"Some one has to go and save her!" Yang called out as she prepared to fall back and let Nora step up.

With only four of them needed to hold the hall, they had adopted a strategy, of swapping out in short shifts. Four defending while four rested. Currently Pyrrha, Qrow, Yang, and Ren held the front line, while Oscar/Ozpin, Weiss, Blake, Nora, and Hazel took a short rest.

"I'll go." Blake offered.

"No, I will." Oscar/Ozpin spoke up as he stepped in front of Blake preventing her from heading down the corridor towards Ruby. "I should be able to resist him long enough to pull her to safety."

With that Oscar/Ozpin took off as fast as his legs could carry him towards the hanger.

/=/

Salem fought the urge to kneel, she was the Queen of the Grimm she bowed to no one. Not this boy, not Ozma; not even the Brother Gods. One his song continued, and if she could suppress the feelings washing over her she would be infuriated with annoyance over the constant repetition. Slowly the song and his voice was eroding her ability to resist; she now understood more completely on how he had been able to thwart her so many times. It was his ability to turn people from the emotions her creations needed. He wasn't over powering her Grimm, he was bolstering their prey.

Jaune stumbled forward, his own sorrow, coupled with the constant drain on his aura by using his semblance. He had to finish this, to make sure all the aid they had received in reaching their destination was not in vain. The image of Ironwood's naval escort and fire teams holding back the waves of Grimm that attempted to halt their progress. The actions of his friends in protecting him, and giving him support. He needed to live up to all of it.

/=/

Oscar/Ozpin weaved as he approached the overcome form of Ruby Rose. Even with his two minds he was suffering. The waves Jaune was projecting threatening to cause him to drop, as memories both from Oscar and his feelings of abandoning his family, combined with Ozpin's memories of many lives lived, and lost in the during the expansive time of his existence. Stumbling he grabbed Ruby by the hood of her cloak and hauled backwards. Memories of doing the same to prevent Jaune from plummeting from Atlas's CCT helping bolster his resolve to get Miss Rose to safety.

Pulling with all his might, he bend over and using his free hand in conjunction with his feet he pulled. He knew he would possibly be choking Ruby with his actions, but if he could get her just far enough away that the affect of the emotions rolling around in the hanger were lessened, he maybe able to get her to rise. Once on her feet she would be able to make her own progress back to the rest of the group.

/=/

In one final desperate attempt to end the emotional torture she was suffering; she lashed out. As images of her daughters filled her mind, with an accompanying sense of loss; she unleashed a single Grimm hand. Jaune didn't even try to protect himself as the massive fist rocketed from the ground towards him. He continued to pour the last remnants of his aura into his emotional attack upon the Queen of the Grimm.

The blow took him almost in centre mass, snapping his guitar in half; driving the jagged edged into his chest and gut. The remainder of the blow took him in the gut, bowling him over. Jaune felt his ribs crack, and immense amount of pain erupt in his stomach and spine. He coughed and choked as he lay on the floor of the hanger.

Salem dropped to her knees, her last attempt to rail against the boy who was accosting her, allowing the emotion fuelled images in her mind to overwhelm her. Tears flowed from crimson eyes, her breaking heart so long cold slammed against her ribs. Her breath came in ragged gasps. All these eons of scheming, of planning and moving from behind the shadows equated to nothing. She had achieved nothing, made no progress towards her goal of eliminating all of humanity. Ozma, and now this Jaune has proven up to the task of keeping her at bay. Her mind gave up, and allowed the eons of repressed memories, and feelings to wash over her like a tsunami carrying her away.

Jaune weakly rose on his hands his legs not obeying him. His chest burned and he hacked painfully with every slight intake of breath. Dropping to his elbows he shoved his ruined guitar free of his shoulders. Crawling, he inched his way forward, closing what felt like endless gap between him and the kneeling form of Salem. His body shook as he had to stop as a fit of coughing took him. Blood splattered the floor, and dripped from his mouth, as he gasped to take in air.

/=/

The sudden silence was frightening, but also welcoming. Free of the overpowering emotions Oscar/Ozpin was able to focus not on dragging the poor girl but getting on her feet instead. Ruby shook her head as Oscar/Ozpin reached under her arms, and lifted. Her feet scrambled against the floor, before finding purchase. He released his hold once she was vertical.

"What happened, all I remember is my mom." Ruby said as she wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve.

"Jaune happened." Oscar/Ozpin informed her, "Even though he was focused on her, he can't prevent a sort of bleed over affect from taking hold on anyone who hears his singing. You fell to it. We have to go, before he starts up again."

"But we need to know if he's okay."

"We can't risk it right now."

/=/

Jaune had to stop three more times, choking up almost black blood; before he closed with in an arm length of the kneeling form of Salem. For her part Salem screwed her tear filled eyes shut and fought back against the overwhelming sense of loss and despair that had risen up with in her. As she tried to regain control of her emotions and mind she felt a warm touch on her knee cap. It was light almost like a caress.

As body screamed in agony Jaune rolled over on to his back, easing the tenderness and pain in his gut. He no longer had the strength to sing, or the ability to stand. He just lay there, trying to breath as he reached above his head with his left arm. His fingers touched her pale warm skin. He closed his eyes, and tried to take a deep breath, only to end up chocking and coughing, bloody spittle spraying up from his mouth. In his mind he pictured her, he saw images of what could have been if he had only recognized Pyrrha's feelings for him sooner.

Salem swallowed, trying to force the feelings with in her down, to once again bury them deep with in her subconscious. Just as she felt like she was going to succeed while surrounded by deafening silence she screamed.

Tears rolled down Jaune's cheeks as his breath came in raspy gasps. He focused on what could have been. Sharing laughs with his friends, holding hands with Pyrrha; growing old with her. What would life had been like if he had just known. Images of his family passed through his thoughts, and he wondered.

"I'm sorry." he croaked out as he dumped his entire being into his connection to Salem.

The flood was crippling, ripping all her plans, all her schemes away; as the memories she was so hard to suppress burst upon her in vivid detail. Her eyes rolled into her head, as her body convulsed and fell backwards. Utter and complete regret tore through her. All the chances she had had to be happy to be fulfilled. The joys, and love she had once cherished; crashed upon her. Everything she had lost, and never been able to regain crushing her with intolerable weight.

/=/

The scream caused Pyrrha to bolt from the line, and tear her way up the corridor into the hanger. She saw him sprawled on the floor next to the downed form of Salem. She bit off the urge to cry out and instead rushed to his side. Dropping to all fours she scurried the last few feet to him. Her chest heaved at the sight of him. Her heart rending as she tenderly lifted his head and cradled it in her lap.

"No." she whispered as she curled forward pressing her forehead to his. "You promised."

/==/

I don't have much to say here, aside from hope you enjoy.