A/N: Hello and welcome back! This is going to get into some hard and harsh waters. Some things that I have and have not experienced in life, so I'm going to leave this here

Trigger Warning

Decolored

The day passed for the group. They had called for an evacuation, but that took time. In the meantime they did all they could to make it back to those tunnels. They had to have hope, but as minutes stretched into hours they went from hopeful to silent. No one talked to each other.

The most vocal person was Yang who was quickly becoming 'the bane of all grimm'. Her hair did not stop burning and he eyes stayed the fiery red. She was not taking this well. The loss of her sister, the one she cared about most in the world, gone. Pulled away right in front of her, while she ran to safety. Disgraceful. Inept. Uncaring. It ran through her mind, ripping away any sense of safety. While others would brake down into tears, Yang just wanted revenge. No amount of pain she inflicted on the dark creatures could stop the pain in her chest, but she was willing to try.

Blake and Weiss besides not talking to each other continued on as normal, much to the ever increasing rage of Yang. Pyrrha kept busy between her two remaining teammates. Nora seemed shaken, but kept fighting like normal. As time went by she got sluggish.

Then she collapsed in the middle of a fight.

Jaune saved her. Her eyes were closed. She was gasping for breath. It almost looked like she had caught a sickness that hit her all at once.

"Guys, we need to get back to the surface. The transport should be here within the hour" Jaune looked down, pain visible in his face, "its time to leave..."

"What so we're just going to leave them!?" Yang shouted, "Some friend you are!"

Pyrrha jumped up and slapped Yang across her face. Yang cam back with a punch, stopping when she realized Pyrrha was hugging her.

"Don't you think we want to stay too?! They were my friends! But Nora is down and I'm not going to risk her for the chance of finding them!" Pyrrha pulled back from Yang, a fire burning in her eyes. "We will not give up on them. They are alive, I know it! They will come back, I can feel it! Right now though, Nora needs our help"

Yang looked from the determined face of Pyrrha, to the downtrodden faces of the others, and finally to Nora, who was in her sleeping bag, a pained expression on her face. "Fine, do what you want" Yang pushed past them, going out the crumbling doorway to their makeshift camp. Her hands were clenched tightly.

Blake got up sighing. "Let me talk to her. I'll bring her to the randevu site. For now, go on without us"

It looked like Jaune might speak up, but Pyrrha stopped him, "That's grand, I hope she knows I'm sorry"

Blake did a little smile, "Don't worry, you're the last one she's actually mad at" With that Blake moved out the door, catching back up to the flaming girl

-0-

"I knew it was a bad idea to let them go" Jaune shouted over the sounds of the bullhead that came to pick them up. "I can't believe I just let them go!"

"They WILL be here!" Weiss said angrily, "Give them time!"

"They were supposed to be here an hour ago! We haven't seen or heard from them, and they aren't answering their scrolls. Are you sure they knew where we were supposed to be?"

"Seriously you dolt, we went over it too many times for them to forget! Just, be patient"

"Fine!" He looked over at the captain. "How long can you stay landed?"

The young man looked at several gauges before looking at Jaune. "I can't stay down much longer if we want to make it back to Beacon. Ten minutes tops"

"We'll hold out until then" Jaune said. Even though they were waiting, it wasn't like they had nothing to do. The engines of the bullhead kept attracting grimm. Mostly beowolfs, so it wasn't too bad, just annoying when a large pack tries its luck.

Five minutes passed with nothing happening. Jaune couldn't stand the though of leaving more people than he had to, but Nora seemed to be getting worse. Most of the grimm in the area were dead, so the waves of grimm stopped. Either that or the grimm finally gained some intellect. He was about to tell Pyrrha and Weiss they had to leave when he spotted something next to one of the many broken buildings.

"Blake!" Jaune yelled, "Over here!"

Blake was carrying a sleeping Yang on her back, struggling with the weight of her teammate. Weiss ran over, grabbing Yang's side to help them into the bullhead.

Once they were inside, Weiss wanted answers, "What is going on!? Where were you!?"

The bullhead lurched upward, the side door closing as they started the journey back to Beacon. "Yang was...harder to reason with then I thought she would be..."

"What happened?" Weiss got right in her face, causing Blake's bow to fall on her head. Blake looked down, fiddling with her fingers before rubbing her arms.

"It doesn't matter what happened...Just know when she wakes up she won't be happy" Blake looked anywhere but at Weiss's eyes. It was so suspicious that even Pyrrha was curious. Jaune was fine with not knowing. He didn't care about how it was done, he was just relieved that both of them made it. Jaune did know one thing though, there were a few people he was going to have words with when he got back, starting with the headmaster.

"Oh do we have any water? And preferably an empty bottle as well?" Blake looked around

Pyrrha gave Blake her empty canteen and their last bottle of water from the supplies. Blake took the water, splashed it around in her mouth before spitting the water into the empty canteen. "I'll keep this canteen, wash it out for you before I give it back. Is that okay?"

Jaune was very confused, and he was hoping he wasn't the only one, but Pyrrha just smiled, "Sure. Just get it back to me before Sunday"

Jaune was still confused, but he felt a little thirsty. "Can I have the rest of the water?"

Blake held out the water, but pulled it back at the last second, licking her lips. "Actually, you can't have this" She poured the rest of the bottle into the canteen, putting the bottle with her gear.

"That's a waste. The way you acted, you'd think it was poisoned!"

"…."

"Was it poisoned!?"

Jaune expected an answer from Blake so it surprised him when Pyrrha spoke up. "Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to Jaune"

Weiss chimed in, a slight blush on her face, "Its a girl thing, just drop it"

Apparently he was the only one that was confused, but since he was outnumbered he wisely pushed it from his mind, never to ask about it again.

-0-

The doctors rushed Nora into the Beacon hospital after getting the call there was a wounded huntress aboard. Apparently the pilot has reported back what the team looked like when they came back into Vale tower range. Things were a mess. When the doctors came out to check the team, they were happy that the group came back mostly only with low aura levels. That changed when the doctor examining Nora called for an emergency gurney.

Shortly after they landed at Beacon Yang woke up. She looked around like she didn't know where she was, but once she realized anyone could tell she was ticked. Yang walked off, refusing to get examined by the doctors, avoiding her team and friends.

It didn't help that right after Jaune had been examined and cleared by the doctors, he had disappeared. It took all Pyrrha had to not break down and cry. Here she sat. She was in the hospital room assigned to Nora. Nora wasn't in the room yet. She had to go through more tests, hidden inside one of the intensive care rooms.

Pyrrha knew that she made a good call now. Nora must have been bad. Pyrrha dozed off in the room. She woke up startled when some doctors came into the room, pushing Nora in and setting her on the bed. She had tubes sticking out of her arms, and a breather in her nose. She was pale, so very pale.

One of the doctors that came in with Nora pulled Pyrrha out into a separate room. "Hello, I am Doctor Bronze. You are Pyrrha Nikos correct?"

"I am. How is she doctor?"

He looked down at the clipboard, "Physically, she fine. She had some minor cuts, some bruising, but nothing life threatening"

Pyrrha stared at the doctor, "I don't understand then. Why does she look so pale? Why are there some many tubes hooked up to her?"

"We were hoping you would answer that for us. We have records that you are on her team. We know that you have gone through several missions with her, even completed initiation with her. Correct?"

Pyrrha did not like the sound of where this was going, but she nodded. "That's right"

"In all that time did she take any medication, or do anything that seemed off?"

"N-No, what are you asking for doc?"

"We had, well, problems with her while treating her. Its the reason she's here now and not heading back to the dorms"

Pyrrha did not like the sound of this at all. "Whats really going on Doctor Bronze. She's my friend! She's on my team! I need to know!"

He sighed, "Her aura levels are not recovering like they should. It reacts strangely to any aura booster we have used. The only thing I can compare it to is a recovering addict"

Pyrrha covered her mouth, tears welled up in her eyes as the doctor spoke

"Her aura eats the booster fast, stabilizes for a period of time, then falls rapidly. The tubes you saw in her have different types of boosters. After talking with the other doctors we decided the best course of action is to slowly wean her off of them as she recovers. I'll ask you again, did you notice anything unusual?"

Pyrrha's mind was a wreck. Nora compared to a addict? No that wasn't Nora! She was always upbeat, always happy. The only time she seemed off was after waking up in the morning, but a shower and some pancakes usually cheered her back up to her normal self. Did she take anything? Pyrrha didn't think she did. If she had some kind of problem, the only person that would know would probably be Ren…. "No, she didn't take any medicine. She was always crazy, but crazy in a good way. Hyperactive to a fault"

The doctor looked down, thinking. "Well, either way, thank you for telling me what you know. We will monitor her. If anything happens, we will inform you and your team via scroll"

"I can't stay?"

"You can if you want to but the earliest she will probably wake up is in a couple of days. As a doctor I suggest you go back and get some rest. Sleep on a real bed will make sure you don't end up in the room next to her"

Pyrrha didn't like that. She wanted to stay with Nora. She lost too much this day, she didn't want to loose anymore. "I'm sorry"

"Don't apologize" the doctor said smiling, "you're not the first person I've had to tell bad news to, and to be honest, you took it better than most would have" He patted her on the shoulder, "Go back to the dorms. I promise she is in good hands"

"Yes sir" She didn't like it. She wanted to stay, but he was right. Pushing herself after completing a mission would only hurt her. If there was on thing she could say about herself, she knew fighting the enemy was only half the battle.

0000000000000000000000

Jaune was angry, oh so very angry.

"He doesn't look like much Ozpin, are you sure you were right to put him as a leader of his team?" A dark image of an old man came from the hologram.

"I agree, he doesn't look like much" another one said, "And with the results of this mission, maybe it proves he souldn't be"

"I always go through a heavy vetting process when assigning leaders of teams. He was not a mistake. He has a brilliant tactical mind, and while he is not as strong as some of his class with the blade, he makes up for it in teamwork and cunning" Ozpin said.

Jaune would have felt proud that Ozpin felt this confident about him if his mind was not full of rage at him and the holograms of the council members that were before him. He came up to Ozpin's office as soon as he got back to Beacon. Originally he was going to storm in and demand a rescue for his two fallen comrades. It seemed only unfortunate luck that he barged in when the council was demanding information about the mission from Ozpin.

Jaune had to suffer scrutiny of the council as he gave his report on the grimm. There were three holograms, two supporting the faces of old men, while one was a newly elected young woman. Unlike the old men, the woman never spoke, only stared at Jaune, as if studying his every feature.

"And that's all? The whole thing?" one of the old men said

"Yes….sir" Jaune ground out through a clenched jaw

"You didn't even thin half of the population of grimm we wanted you too, and it took you twice as long as we expected! What do we even pay you huntsman for!?"

"With all due respect" Ozpin interjected, "They are still first years. You cannot expect them to be as fast or experienced as full huntsman"

"Bah, always with the excuses Ozpin" the other man said, "you are the one that sent them, so you are responsible for their failure! We need those tunnels thinned Ozpin. Push us any farther and we may loose what little faith we have in your school altogether"

"Yes as well" the first man said. "I had heard there were two teams on this mission to compensate for the fact they were inexperienced, so the results should be the same"

"True, very true" the second one picked up. "Two teams means there should be two leaders! Not just this….this...child! Where is the other leader boy!"

Jaune wanted to scream. He wanted to find a way to jump through the holograms and beat the ever loving crap out of the two councilmen. What did they know? They were old and fat. They probably had never seen a grimm in their life let alone fought one. The day they did would only happen if all of Vale fell, so they couldn't throw any more bodies at them. That day they would die, begging the grimm for mercy, pleading for help as their death grew ever closer. "She, didn't make it out. She was one of the ones that was lost when the tunnel collapsed"

Ozpin looked unchanged in expression, but Jaune could see a change in his eyes. They had glossed over. Jaune knew that even though Ozpin couldn't show it, he was sad. That was more than the council could do.

"Of course she died! What did you expect? From what I can tell she was a fifteen year old, inexperienced girl that skipped her last two years of her primary education because of your doing Ozpin!" The first councilman said.

"Ozpin, we will have to have a conversation about who you let into your school if this is the results of simple missions we give you" the second said.

Ozpin looked at the hologram, "With all due respect this was anything but a simple mission. You picked the team and assigned the threat level without Beacon approving it"

The second councilman gasped "WE Ozpin? Your blaming us for this mess up? They are YOUR students Ozpin. WE just thought that the ones who caused the mess should be the ones who cleaned it up, but that was apparently too hard of a job"

"Also" the first one butted in again, "It was a simple mission. Hunters kill grimm. That is what you do! We said go here, wipe out the grimm, and come back. But NOO, you mess up the simplest search and destroy mission a hunter can be assigned!"

"And lost two hunters to boot!" the other one added on.

Ozpin looked on calmly with dead eyes. "With all due respect, losses are hard and even the simplest missions require strong hunters. Situations change in a second. Things are not always clean cut, nor as easy as they appear"

"Bah. You can throw all the respect you want Ozpin, it doesn't change the fact that your teams failed! We will discuss it later, but you may not be headmaster much longer. You've shown that you are ill equipped to teach hunters how to do their jobs" With an agreement from the other councilman, the two old men shut their holograms off.

Jaune was at his wits end. He was done with these councilmen. If he never saw or heard from them again, it would be too soon. He wanted to show those lazy fools who they spoke about. It infuriated him that they spoke about his team, his friends like they were just pawns. Easy to make and thrown away at their leisure, as long as they got the job done. They talked down about him and his friends, not really caring that two of them died and one of them was hurt. They just cared that they didn't get the results they wanted.

"Jaune, was it?"

Jaune looked up, realizing that the councilwoman hologram was still there. "Yes mame"

"I would like to apologize for the rudeness of the other councilmen. What they said was uncalled for. I am sorry for your loss as well. I will personally see to it that your two friends that fell be honored as fallen heros. They deserve at least that much" She paused, staring again like she expected a response before continuing, "Ozpin, see that this young man get time off for his service. Continue to mold your students like this one and humanity may have a future yet….and its good to see you again. Until next time, yes?"

"Thank you Merigold. It will be done. It is lovely to see you again" Ozpin said

With that the councilwoman also disappeared with a smile. It was so different from the other two, but Jaune didn't care. The rage he felt consumed his thoughts, and now there was only Ozpin and himself left in the room.

Ozpin sipped at his coffee mug. "I meant everything I said you know. Ignore the congressman, they know politics, but do not know about the life of a hunter. Their words are just that, words. I am glad I sent Glynda away with paperwork. She would have never stood for what they said. She probably would have stormed into Vale and ripped them from their homes to feed them to grimm" Ozpin looked at Jaune, expecting an outburst. Expecting harsh words and possibly even a thrown fist, but got nothing in return. Jaune was furious, he could see that by his sneer and clenched fists.

"Do not let them get to you. The only one that can understand what happened is Councilwoman Merigold, since she used to be a huntress until she switched to politics. She was right though, you will be commended"

Silence. Still nothing.

"We will of course dispatch a more experienced hunter team to Mountain Glenn to push back the grimm and recover what we can of Miss Rose and Mister Ren" At the names he could see Jaune flinch as if he were in pain. "...You are dismissed..."

Jaune turned around still furious. He got to the elevator called it, it came, and he got into it. He clicked the button to go down. Ozpin watched him the entire time, certainly wanting some response. He would get what he wanted.

"I blame you for their loss Ozpin!"

The doors started to close

"Fuck you"

The doors shut

-0-

A/N: So that was a thing. Teams are fragmented. Nora's not just sick. Jaune is furious. The councilman can eat 1000 chodes. Until next time!

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