Authors Note: I'm glad to see people seem to be liking the story, and that it's fairly popular.
Enjoy the chapter.
Jaune and Ruby were gone. That had been the news she had woken up to. Apparently they had wandered off in the middle of the night. Yeah, because that didn't seem sketchy.
She had been up and moving in a matter of seconds, already getting dressed and grabbing Ember Celica. Even with her in a rush she was probably the last one to be ready.
Qrow wanted to rush off and search for Ruby, though it seemed Winter had convinced him it would be better if they waited. She wasn't certain how she felt at them waiting. She was too panicked to think.
"Okay kiddos, we're going with something similar to yesterday." Qrow spoke swiftly. "Break up and search for any tracks you can find. Schnee and I are gonna go a little farther out and see what we can stir up." He turned and nearly left, only stopping at the last second. He looked over his shoulder, his eyes meeting hers. "We'll find them, I promise." and with that, he left.
None of them notices as a crow cawed and flew in the direction Qrow had been running.
It hadn't taken long for them all to start looking. There were plenty of tracks over the area, they hadn't been very subtle the day before. The dirt and gravel had been kicked around wherever they walked.
Tracks were easy to find. The hard thing was finding useful ones. There were simply too many of them. Ten people tended to disturb the area, any sign of where Ruby and Jaune had gone was indistinguishable from their footprints the previous day.
It was frustrating and she felt like she wanted to pull her hair out. Thankfully she knew she wasn't the only one who was concerned.
"What were they thinking!?" Weiss' glare had been cold on the surface, angry even, but if you looked a little lower you could see she was deeply concerned about her partner.
It had been a question she planned on getting an answer, just as soon as they were all safe back at Beacon.
She wasn't sure how he had done it, especially since he hadn't been nearly long enough. Regardless the relief that washed over her when Qrow returned with Ruby beside him had nearly made her cry.
She had been so concerned about them, but it had been for naught. Qrow was awesome and would never have let anything happen.
Yang had practically thrown herself at her sister, wrapping her arms around her and holding her tight. Only pushing her away so she could assess the damage.
She gave Ruby a once over, checking for injury. She was a little red in the face, her eyes open wide as she breathed, clearly a little exhausted but she seemed ok. Yang looked behind them in search of Jaune, planning on doing much the same.
Nobody was there. She scoffed softly, she would have to help him with his cardio when they got back to Beacon as well. He had clearly fallen behind… rather far behind actually she realized as the seconds began to drag on.
It was a daunting realization, one she refused to accept. They wouldn't have left him, surley.
Yang turned to her sister, finally registering the concern on her face.
Ruby's voice was weak. "H-He… He fell."
Yang's eyes widened in horror.
Jaune winced at the pain he felt as he opened his eyes. He tried to raise a hand to cover his eyes from the light but found he couldn't. Panic set in a moment later as he realised he was tied down to a chair.
This panic was quickly overcome by embarrassment as he remembered pulling Ruby away from the suddenly collapsing roadway only to fall into the hole himself.
That's… probably the wrong thing to focus on. He thought to himself. That didn't change the fact.
Ruby probably would have been able to save herself from the fall, him intervening had only guaranteed his capture.
He looked around slowly, trying to guess at where he was. Whatever he was looking for, he didn't find it. Of course the White Fang couldn't have put up a map saying 'you are here'. That would be to easy after all.
He groaned slightly as he felt a spike of pain run through his head. Had he hit it during the fall? That would probably explain why he had been unconscious.
The concussion might also explain why he felt so calm. That or shock.
He heard a couple footsteps come from behind him as he attempted to crane his neck and see.
Something struck the back of his head a moment later, causing his vision to go white for a second.
"Tsk, that looks like it hurts." A voice taunted him from beyond the glare. "I'll be sure to do it again."
Jaune refused to acknowledge who it was that was speaking- in the vain hope that it would make him go away. Sadly he had no such luck.
Torchwick's shiteating grin slowly came into focus.
"Ugh, is that going to be the last thing I see?" He hadn't meant to actually speak out loud, but judging by how the mans grin fell, he had.
Torchwick looked over him at something. "Yeah yeah, laugh it up. Real funny." Jaune felt his cane slam into his arm a moment later.
It took him a moment to work through the pain and actually understand what he had said. There was somebody else in the room? Had he not been able to throw Ruby to safety!?
Roman stepped back and off to the side as a small... girl appeared in front of him? She looked at him with curious eyes, pink and brown eyes that defied all logic. Even then, there was something in them that concerned him.
Ok, that concussion might be a bit worse than I thought.
"So, what do you think we should do with him?" The question made the small girl grin. The look on her face made Jaune sweat slightly. "Actually, wait just a moment." The small girl pouted slightly. "I wanted to ask you a few questions first, wasn't certain I'd get the chance to before we made out departure. Glad to see that aura of yours woke you up early."
Jaune felt him grip his head and shake it- making the world spin for a moment as pain lanced through his brain.
"Let's start this off simple." He stepped back out in front of him. "Let's start with your name."
Jaune remained silent and raised one eyebrow. Did he really just expect him to answer questions?
Torchwick sighed. "One of two ways kid. My way, or hers." He gestured to his companion. She smiled viciously at the idea, sending a shiver down his spine.
It wasn't a dangerous question, was it? Did it matter if they knew his name or not?
"J-Jaune." Curse his stutter. "Jaune Arc."
The shorter girl frowned slightly when he cooperated.
Torchwick seemed to think for a moment. Trying to place some kind of importance to his name. There wasn't any of course, and yet his face seemed to twist in familiarity.
"You were one of those brats at the docks." He snapped his fingers. "That's where I know you, thanks kid it was killing me."
Jaune felt the cane smash into his arm, causing his aura to flare slightly.
"That's for all the trouble that filthy animal put me through!" Torchwick rolled his shoulders back some, working out some of the stress from beating up a defenceless man. "Now, on to more pressing matters."
Torchwick lifted his chin up with the end of his cane. "How many more of you are there?"
Jaune swallowed with some difficulty. That… that was a more dangerous question. One he knew he couldn't answer… at least not honestly. "Three more on my team." Torchwick didn't look convinced, causing Jaune to wince and try again. "And a huntsman."
"Hm" Again, Jaune couldn't say Torchwick looked very convinced but he hadn't started hitting him yet. So he had that going for him. "Why are you here?"
Another question he didn't plan to answer honestly though a lie didn't come so quickly this time.
Torchwick reared back with his cane and Jaune panicked. "We were sent to clear out Grimm!" He closed his eyes and awaited the pain. When none came, he was quick to elaborate. "They thought it would be good training!"
Jaune slowly cracked open one of his eyes.
"Tsk, figures it was just shitty luck." Had he done it? Had he actually managed to lie to a renowned criminal?
Torchwick lowered his cane and leaned on it slightly. "Though that does raise another question. What are you doing here?"
"I fell down a hole." Jaune wished he had lied on that one. He really did.
Torchwick looked at him a moment before a slow chuckle started, before growing to a loud laugh. His companion, while not as vocal about it, was certainly just as amused as him.
Torchwick withdrew a cigar and lit it in between fits of laughter. "Thats hilarious, holy shit."
Jaune sat through it all with a look of embarrassment on his face. At least it looked like they believed him on everything else at least.
Torchwick's laughter died rather suddenly as he turned to the small girl. "I don't suppose you can think of anything to ask him." A moment of silence. "Don't know what I expected." He turned back to Jaune. "Won't kill you yet, don't need that kind of negativity drawing even more Grimm down on us."
Jaune let loose a heavy sigh.
"Don't get too comfortable though, we'll be taking you with us as collateral."
Jaune's breath hitched at the words. Taking him where?
They left before he could ask however.
He leaned back in the chair, hoping help would come soon. Ruby would have made it back by now and they would be on their way.
He only hoped they made it in time.
Roman puffed on his cigar, enjoying the sensation as it filled his lungs. It helped to distract him from what was happening.
Things were going down hill rather quick and he had to think. A couple students and one huntsmen would hardly be a problem, at least they shouldn't have been.
They wouldn't have been, if not for the students in particular. He wasn't a fool, he had done his research after the battle at the docks. He knew who Jaune Arc was, and more importantly who was on his team.
For the most part the names had meant nothing to him, save one of course. Pyrrha Nikos was a rather well known name, even more so than his, but he was confident in his ability to fight against her if it had come to that.
Except that Cinder had asked him to look into her. That raised all kinds of red flags. If that brat was here then it meant something bigger was likely going on.
Something Cinder hadn't felt like warning him about.
Roman growled in frustration. Was that something she had done intentionally or had she simply not known?
In truth, he wasn't sure which would have been better. One implied indifference, the other incompetence. Neither of which were good when somebody's life was on the line, namely his and Neo's.
"This deal just keeps getting worse, doesn't it?" He looked down into those pink and brown eyes. "I think it's time we resort to something rather desperate."
Neo raised an eyebrow in confusion as Roman pulled out his scroll. It only took her a moment to figure out who he was messaging and she seemed just about as reluctant as he was.
He wrote out a rough summary of what had happened and how if things went poorly he wouldn't be able to fulfill his role. When he finished it his thumb hovered over the send button and instead closed the app- saving the message as a draft- before stowing the device away.
Neo looked confused but trusted his judgment.
"Don't worry Neo, I've got a plan." If it was going to work though, he would need to get the train ready to move now. They weren't ready but it would have to do.
This was his last gambit and if he played it just right, they might yet come out on top.
It hadn't taken them long to find where Jaune had fallen. Sadly he hadn't fallen directly into their main base and instead it seemed that he had stumbled across a patrol or something. The tricky part had been trying to follow the tracks the White Fang had left after capturing him.
It was a frustratingly slow pace as they made their way after Jaune. More than once the group had been forced to go around some Grimm to avoid the attention it would bring. Forcing them to take even longer.
Yang knew she wasn't the only one annoyed at their pace. The look on Pyrrha's face was frighteningly neutral, almost enough to make Yang feel bad for the first White Fang they came across.
Almost.
She was willing to admit to being surprised when they finally did find the terrorists and they were not trying to be the least bit subtle.
It had taken Qrow a couple attempts to calm them down and stop them from rushing in straight away.
It hadn't been what she wanted to hear, it hadn't been what any of them wanted to hear, but that didn't make it not a good point.
Yang peered out over the edge of the building they were sat on. A small ruin that had a good view over the train yard and the people running about.
They seemed to be in a rush, for what Yang could only imagine. It was probably something bad, judging by the sheer amount of dust and weapons they seemed to be moving around.
At the moment they were moving things out of a warehouse and putting it next to the train, clearly planning to move out.
Whatever they were going to do, it would have to be soon. Thankfully they had a plan. Or rather, Ruby had a plan.
Authors Note: Okay, so… y'all might hate me for the slow build to fights… not a lot I can do about that its just the way things work out. Trust me though shit's gonna be active for the next couple chapters. YOU SHALL HAVE YOUR BLOOD… *cough* anyways.
We're approaching 50 thousand views, which is amazing! Over 200 favorites and 300 follows, I'm more than a little proud I won't lie. To think this all started because my friend and I swapped favorite ships... gonna have to do more writers games I suppose.
Wanna take the chance to thank my editor who makes this all possible. Wouldn't be able to have a story like this without him. You the man.
Don't forget to review and let me know what you think. There is very little I love more than reading a really honest review, good or bad. Lets me improve and make adjustments where needed.
Sincerely SE