Yang made it inside just in time for her face to start changing colors, what was she thinking, kissing him. Yang didn't know why she even did that, sure she thought about it for a bit and sure she thought it was a good idea when she did it but what the hell was she thinking.

Yang turned back to see Jaune sitting in the same pose she left him looking out over the back yard as the snow fell. Yang thought about what she was supposed to do now, for all of her flash and show of being experienced in matters of the heart she wasn't. She had only ever kissed one boy before and that was a one time thing since he had gotten beaten up while telling off the kids who had been making fun or Ruby. Even then it had been a one time thing.

Yang needed to clear her head and think so even though it was almost midnight she grabbed her coat and headed out for a walk. As she did so she failed to see the branded eyes watching and following her.

…

The thing that woke Ruby up was the cold, she reached for Oscar only to find that he wasn't there, the reason for her current state of not being warm made clear she opened her eyes and looked around. They had gone to bed a few hours ago so the fact that Oscar was up and about at 1 am was odd enough to warrant Ruby getting up and looking for her hot water bottle. She made sure not to wake up Weiss or Blake while she did so.

The door swung open slowly and silently much to her pleasure. Once she was in the hallway she headed for the kitchen, or maybe the living room. She suspected that Oscar was in one of those two places.

They both turned up nothing but when she looked out through the glass sliding doors to the backyard she noticed Jaune sitting alone in the cold. Wondering what he was doing but not wanting to get any colder than she already was, Ruby grabbed the blanket from the back of the main couch and draped it over her shoulders before stepping into what she was pretty sure were actually Jaune's slippers given the size of them and opening the door.

The rush of cold air blasted her in spite of her countermeasures and she scowled at the wind for a moment before heading to the couch next to the chair Jaune was sitting in. "you okay Jaune?" she asked, trying not to use her team leader voice right now. There was a time where it was needed but she knew that Jaune would see through it and she knew him well enough to know that he thought rather lowly of pity, which was what he would see her trying to "fix" him as.

She was pretty sure this was related to Pyrrha, after all she knew Jaune hadn't been sleeping so he could spend more time training to the old recording she left him. She had wanted to talk to him about when she found out but Ren talked her out of it. They wanted him somewhere more stable when they did that and this was going to do nicely.

"I'm fine just thinking about stuff" Jaune answered without looking away from the nothing he was currently staring into.

"Like what?" Ruby gently asked leaning in a little closer and resting her hand on one of Jaune's.

"Yang kissed me a few minutes ago and I'm not sure what I am supposed to…" Jaune's words stalled out on him as he realized he didn't even know what to be confused by anymore.

Ruby was fighting back her urge to explode with joy when Blake and Weiss sprinted through the door pulling on their clothes as they did so.

"It's Adam, he's after Yang!" Blake said her sword in one hand and her scroll with a distress beacon from Yang in the other.

Both of them were on their feet with Ruby zipping back to grab her gear and Jaune hurdling up the stairs four steps at a time. The sound of him crashing up the stairs woke up Ren and Nora who were out of bed when he barreled through the door and grabbed his sword. "Adam is after Yang, gear up and follow." He ordered

Everyone was sprinting through the streets following Blake who was tracking Yang's scroll. They heard what sounded like gunfire that must have been Yang and they were surprised at the lack of police sirens.

They charged on anyway when they found Adam slowly getting closer to Yang who was by now sitting in the corner having a panic attack.

Everyone was about to raise their weapons when a massive arm smashed through the ceiling and grabbed Adam ripping him into the floor above. They were about to look for the stairs when Adam came smashing back through the floor followed by the new biggest man any of them had ever seen.

He must have been a gorilla faunus since his arms almost reached his knees and most of his weight was above his hips. Adam was about to try and get up but the man was holding his right arm keeping him from drawing his sword as he swung Adam in the ground several times.

Everyone but Blake just watched in awe at the size and speed of the nearly inhumane mass deftly tossing Adam around like a beanie baby when he stopped slamming Adam and just pinned his right arm to the floor and smashed his first into the stunned man's face until Blake approached him shouting. "Mouchak, stop this. What are you doing here?"

Much to everyone's surprise the man stopped pummeling Adam and turned to Blake seeing her just as his snarl faded to a smile and he dipped his head slightly. "I was sent by the council to kill or collect Adam for trial, I have been tracking him for days."

Mouchak looked down and saw that Adam was indeed incapacitaed if the several missing teeth were to be believed. Looking back at Blake he said. "I leave his life to you," before heading outside

"That was the most violent thing I have ever seen in my life" Nora blankly stated referring the the fact that Adam was just thrown through the ceiling, the floor, and then several walls before being punched four or five times in the span of about three seconds.

"What are we going to do with him?" Ruby asked Blake.

"My father would have him put in prison if he got him back to menagerie." Blake explained

"But he would escape" Weiss lamented knowing how hard it was to keep Adam anywhere since he had escaped from SDC facilities several times.

"He won't stop coming," Yang said, finally able to stand and speak with shaky breaths at the sight of her nightmare slowly fighting to his knees.

"I'll be back" Adam wheezed softly. "Your father is too weak to kill me, and nobody can hold me, I'll be back"

Everyone turned when they heard Jaune drawing his sword. "Then I cannot allow you to live anymore," he said sorrowful at his own words.

Everyone watched but nobody moved to stop him as Jaune stepped to Adam and drew back his sword to cut the man's head off.

There was a tense pause as Jaune hesitated, just for a moment before the scythe of Qrow Brawnen batted the blade aside. "You can't kill an unarmed man." Qrow said, looking Jaune hard in the eyes.

Jaune wanted to argue with him but he knew Qrow was right, but it was the only way that they could ever be free of Adam's wrath. Before Jaune could say anything Qrow's scythe swung in a wide arc and several Adam's head from his neck the dead body tumbling to the floor while everyone looked at Qrow. " I said YOU couldn't kill an unarmed man" he explained walking away to return to the house.

Everyone was looking at Adam's corpse either in horror or in shock. Mouchak entered the room saying. "I will take care of him now, I will bring him back to his home so he can be laid to rest"

Gone was the rage that had just beaten Adam half to death, now Mouchak sounded regretful of his actions. He had been sent to kill or capture Adam but he knew in his heart that he wanted to bring him back alive. Severally beaten, but alive.

The distant wail of sirens finally began and Mouchak told everyone to go. "I have the paperwork to be here, none of you do. You should. Return to where you came from"

Everyone quickly left running and glad to be gone before the cops showed up. When they got back to the house Saphron and Terra were awake and waiting for them along with Oscar who looked doubly worried since he wasn't supposed to be out of the JNPR room.

"What happened?" Terra asked, passing Adrian off to Saphron.

"Adam attacked Yang, he's been dealt with" Qrow gravely said before heading for the kitchen which had become his favorite place to sit and drink.

Terra and Saphron clearly understood Qrow's tone and while Oscar wasn't sure he was able to pick up that it was bad, and then after some thought what must have happened clicked. Ren and Nora headed back to bed with Oscar following them after being given a stern look from Jaune.

Ruby noticed this and was about to ask Jaune about it but he turned back around and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Saphron asked, clearly nervous about letting any of them leave after whoever Adam was tried to kill one of them.

"I need to think some stuff through, I'll be fine. The odds of a crazy lunatic trying to kill two of us in one night are pretty low." he replied, adding a mild laugh meant to be disarming that only served to remind everyone how Yang was almost killed earlier.

That said nobody felt strongly enough to argue the point so they let him go with a few nervous looks. Once he was gone Blake and Weiss headed back for bed. Saphron and Terra were about to do the same when Ruby motioned for them to stop while Yang went after Blake and Weiss.

They waited and when they were alone Ruby leaned in and in an effort to make sure nobody else heard them she said. "Jaune said that Yang kissed him before she ran out, I think I should go after him in a few minutes but you two should head to bed"

They nodded in agreement and went up the stairs while Ruby went to the kitchen. She and her uncle had to have a talk.

…

Salem's Grimm must have been confused by her new found misery, they were adamant that someone was trying to fight through her massive army in an effort to get to her. She could have easily gone and checked with the older and smarter grimm that would have known for sure but she honestly didn't have the energy to leave her room anymore

hello everyone, Noruas here. just wanted to remind everyone that my writing is going to be slowing down for a bit, I have a new job and it is very energy intensive. I promise that there will still be weekly updates, but the stories may just take a little longer to get them all on paper. As always if you want to see all of my stuff a week early or if you want to see some of my other stories then you can find them at my account. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read both the story and the following message, Have a nice day, and God Bless.