Chapter-5

Ruby, Jason

The search had to be postponed, because soon after reaching Oniyuri, they were attacked by a scorpion faunus who, well, was working with Cinder?

And Uncle Qrow got poisoned. Ruby thought dejectedly as she and Jaune entered Kuroyuri with Uncle Qrow on a stretcher.

I should have been better. She thought bitterly. She'd already lost Penny and Pyrrha to the Fall, her sister had lost her cheer and did nothing but sit in her room back in Patch.

And now, she was slowly losing Uncle Qrow.

Despite her calm demeanour, Ruby was barely keeping herself from having another breakdown.

If only I had been better… Ruby thought again.

If she had been better, she could have warned everyone before Penny was torn apart.

If she had been better, she could have tackled Pyrrha out of the way of Cinder's arrow and saved her.

If she had been better, then she wouldn't have been so useless against the faunus and Uncle Qrow wouldn't have gotten poisoned.

Ruby hadn't felt so distressed, confused and afraid since she set out for Anima with Jaune, Nora and Ren. Yet the man who'd raised her, taught her to fight and loved him like his own daughter was dying in front of her. And as always, she hasn't been able to do anything.

"Ruby? You ok?" Jaune asked as Ruby looked around.

"I…I'm fine. Just…hoping there's some pharmacy." Ruby spoke.

"Don't worry, Ruby…your Uncle's not going to die." Jaune spoke but Ruby sighed.

"He shouldn't even be like this…"

"Ruby." Jaune spoke in a firm voice. "Don't beat yourself up again. We were way out of our league trying to fight that faunus."

"But I didn't want Uncle Qrow facing him alone!" Ruby snapped before taking a deep breath.

"Jaune, that faunus came for ME. It's my fault that we had to fight such a dangerous enemy. I-I caused it. I thought had some responsibility to make up for it."

"And you think you would have been able to do much, after how badly we lost?" Jaune asked gently as Ruby grimaced.

"But…I…" She tried to retort before sighing. "Let's just go."

Walking through the desolate village, Ruby thought about Ren's reaction.

"Jaune?" She asked.

"Hm?"

"Why did Ren…?"

Jaune was silent before looking to a broken house to their left. "I think I know why. He talked about it some time after the Breach."

And Jaune began narrating what he knew. Ruby listened with a frown as she learnt of Ren and Nora's childhood in Kuroyuri, and now their lives were destroyed after a grimm known as the Nuckelavee attacked Kuroyuri.

"Oh…I see." Ruby spoke as Jaune finished. "I guess it does make sense now that you look at how Ren reacted."

They spotted a tree and placed Uncle Qrow under it. Ruby and Jaune looked at Uncle Qrow's sleeping form and looked around.

"So, what now? I didn't see a pharmacy around here." Jaune spoke.

"Then we should look for just…anything in the houses." Ruby spoke as Jaune nodded.

"Is that ok? I honestly don't know if it's a good idea to go alone?"

"But we need to find some medicine quick." Ruby spoke desperately. "I don't know how much time Uncle Qrow has, but it cannot be a lot. So please, Jaune, we can't afford to spend so much time."

Jaune looked at Ruby's eyes staring at him with desperation. At that moment he saw just how emotionally unstable Ruby truly was, despite her calm demeanor from the trip to Kuroyuri.

They then heard sound of hooves and perked up.

"Someone's coming." Jaune spoke as Ruby eyes brightened up with hope.

She went to run before Jaune grabbed her arm.

"Hold on, remember those massive footprints we saw?" Jaune spoke as Ruby looked at him. Jaune shook his head.

"First let's see what is it." He suggested as they hid behind the tree with Qrow's body.

The sound of hooves grew louder from behind a house and Ruby and Jaune readied their weapons.

Soon, the source appeared from behind a house.

Thankfully, they were a person riding on a brown horse, but definitely weird.

The person was a boy who had blonde hair and blue eyes like Jaune wearing steel armor over casual clothes draped in a brown cloak and glasses with a golden frame. He looked younger than Jaune and about Ruby's age, but his build was a lot more athletic than Jaune's and his hair was shorter and his gaze was a lot sharper. There was a scar on his upper lip.

"Woah…" Jaune spoke. "He's…Ruby?"

Ruby was shaking, her eyes wide and unblinking.

W-Who is this? She thought in fright, fear paralysing her body as faint rumbles of thunder echoed in her mind.

"WITNESS THE POWER OF OLYMPUS, INVADERS!"

Six words blasted her ears as Ruby almost jumped in fright at the sheer power behind those words.

What's going on? She thought, her breath growing heavy as Jaune put a hand on her shoulder in concern.

"Ruby? What happened? Talk to me?" He spoke shaking Ruby but the girl remained frozen.

He's going to kill me.

The boy spotted them and began moving towards them as Jaune looked at Ruby in concern.

What's gotten into her? He thought. She had been in a bad shape, training even harder than him with an almost inhuman drive because of her guilt of failing to save Pyrrha, Penny and her Uncle. Jaune still shivered at Ruby's cold silver eyes as she unhesitantly cut off the faunus' stinger. But now she was a lot calmer.

Now, she looked like she was about to break down.

As the boy walked towards them, Jaune couldn't help but feel confused at Ruby's terror. The boy was younger than him, and he didn't give off any hostile vibes.

"Hi, I didn't know there would be other people here." The boy spoke as Jaune took a glance at Ruby before looking back at the boy.

"Well, we're just passing by here. And we also didn't expect other people here too."

The boy smiled. "Yeah, I'm just here for some work. By the way, is your friend alright?" He spoke.

"I don't know, honestly. She wasn't like this at all. But when we saw you, she just froze up in terror as if she's seen a ghost."

"Really? I mean, I am wearing armor and carrying weapons, but that's not really threatening in these parts."

"Same, this is way too weird for her." Jaune spoke before noticing Ren and Nora come in, both staring at him with anxiety before smiling in relief.

"Ren? Nora? Why're you here?" Jaune asked as Ren blinked.

"I heard hooves…So we came here." He spoke as the boy turned to them.

"That was probably me riding into this village. Everything's fine." He spoke as Nora crossed her arms and stepped close to him.

"Speaking of which, who're you?" She asked.

"I'm Jason." The boy replied, completely unperturbed by Nora standing so close to him. "May I know yours?"

Nora stared at him before grinning. "I'm Nora! Pleased to meet you!"

Jaune chuckled. "I'm Jaune and this is Ren. Don't mind Nora. She's just really energetic."

"Yeah…I can see that." Jason spoke before looking at Ruby. "What's her name?"

"Uh, Ruby?" Jaune whispered nudging Ruby, but she didn't respond, still looking at Jason with terror.

Jaune sighed. "Her name's Ruby."

"I see. Pleased to meet you, Ruby." Jason spoke stepping close to Ruby and she stepped back.

"Protect myself…" She muttered as Jason tilted his head.

"Pardon?"

"Protect myself…" She spoke lifting her weapon with shaky hands. Jaune's eyes widened.

"Ruby, what are you doing?" He asked in concern.

This does not look good! He thought in panic as he went to stop Ruby.

But it was too late.

"Protect myself…" Ruby muttered before swinging Crescent Rose at Jason.

"RUBY!" Jaune yelled in horror as Jason's eyes widened at the scythe swinging towards his torso.

But before Jaune could blink, a gold sword was suddenly in the way, blocking Crescent Rose as Jason stared at Ruby in confusion, who still had that fearful look on her face.

"Ruby!" Jaune exclaimed running to her. "What're you doing?!" He yelled as Jason pushed back Crescent Rose and hopped back.

Ruby fired off Crescent Rose and dashed at him before swinging Crescent Rose. Jason ducked under Crescent Rose's swing as Ruby flew past him. Ruby fired off Crescent Rose to stop her momentum and followed up with another swing.

Jason stepped back and lifted his leg before leaning back to avoid another swing. He quickly stabbed at Ruby, forcing her to stop to dodge before using her semblance to dart around Jason and shoot at him.

Jason deflected the bullets before Ruby suddenly vanished from her last spot to appear at his right and charge at him

However, Crescent Rose suddenly spiralled out of control as Ruby lost her balance and tumbled towards Jason.

Jason grabbed Ruby and pressed her head against the ground. Ruby turned into rose petals to free herself from Jason to fly behind him and point Crescent Rose at his head.

She fire but Jason tilted his head to dodge the bullet, before grabbing Ruby by the shoulder and throwing her away, pressing a hand to his right ear.

"Ren! Nora! Stop Ruby!" Jaune exclaimed as he, Nora and Ren ran towards the duo, seeing now they had some distance.

Nora, Ren and Jaune placed themselves between Ruby and Jason.

"Ruby, hold on!" Jaune exclaimed. "What's wrong?!"

Ruby was silent, still staring at Jason before charging at them.

Jaune sighed and raised his shield, Ruby split into clouds of rose petals and flew over the three, descending on Jason. Jason dashed away as Crescent Rose tore through the air where he had been before the two continued fighting.

Jaune turned back to look at the two, but before he could act, Jason pressed his hand against Ruby's stomach and electricity spread across her body, sending her flying back as she fell to the ground with her arms shaking.

"Ruby!" Nora exclaimed rushing to Ruby and touching her arm, taking in the electricity.

Jaune, Ren, and Jason stared at each other in silence. Now, Jaune could see Jason's warm expression was replaced by a wary frown, as his eyes darted between Nora & Ruby and Ren & Jaune.

Jaune heard a gasp and looked at Nora. "…Nora?"

Nora's eyes were wide as she stared at the electricity coursing through her arms. "It's just like the one we saw in the previous village…"

Nora didn't need to elaborate for realization to strike Jaune.

The desolate village…

The sparking lightning…

Jason is the one responsible for the lightning.

But how? Jason doesn't seem like the person to do that sort of thing. Jaune thought before his eyes narrowed as suspicion set in. What if Jason didn't usually behave like he did just now?

But as Jaune pondered, Nora didn't have such patience as her face had a look of rage.

"You…" She snarled before charging at Jason, jumping up and bringing Magnihild down with a roar.

Jason's eyes widened as he stepped away from the strike, but Magnihild sent a shockwave that sent Jason flying back.

Ruby got up with the same terrified look before dashing off to join Nora.

Ren looked at Jaune. "Jaune, what should we do?" He asked as Jaune frowned.

"What else. We join. Jason may have been nice and polite, but Nora confirmed that he was the one who destroyed the village. We can't really let someone like that walk free. We have to restrain him." Jaune stated as Ren nodded.

"Understood. Let's help them." He spoke as he and Jaune ran towards the battle. While earlier they were trying to stop Ruby from hurting Jason, now they were joining her in putting him down.

What just happened? Jason thought as he blocked bullets from Ruby before dodging a swing from Nora.

How did he go from having a friendly discussion with these people to fighting them in an intense battle?

He had been pleasantly surprised when he found other people in Kuroyuri when he arrived. And people of his age.

Said people being Ruby, Nora, Jaune and Ren. Despite most of them physically looking older than him, they were definitely less experienced than him in combat.

Jaune and the others had been nice enough, not treating him with hostility when they first met. But Ruby had been eyeing him with abject terror, which did confuse him. He didn't look intimidating, especially when people like huntsmen exist, but Ruby seemed really afraid for some reason.

He could sort of understand Ruby attacking because it honestly looked like a cornered animal trying to defend against attackers, but Nora's was confusing. Jason had read that electricity could be found on some semblances, so him using his powers to tase Ruby shouldn't be weird. Yet it had flipped a switch in Nora as she went from bubbly and over-friendly to completely blinded with rage.

Ruby's scythe turned into a war scythe as she thrust at him while Nora continued to swing her hammer in a deadly combination.

Fortunately, their coordination wasn't very refined and Jason found gaps to exploit, blocking and dodging.

Jason spotted Jaune and Ren come up and narrowed his eyes, ducking under Nora's swing, blocking another strike from Ruby with his gladius and moving behind the two girls before pressing his hand against their backs and electrocuting them.

That should keep them down while I talk. Jason thought before turning to Jaune and Ren.

"What did I do?!" Jason spoke in confusion as he looked at Jaune and Ren. "Why are you attacking?!"

Jaune stared at him with a frown. "You destroyed a village. DO we need a reason not to put you down?"

"Wha…" Jason gasped as Nora's hammer almost slammed into his stomach, Jason barely raising his gladius to block before he was sent flying.

Jason's arm screamed as he tumbled across the ground. Jason got up, but the pain in his arm was numb from the shock of what he just saw.

Why didn't Nora get stunned? Jason thought in shock looking at Nora, who stood glaring at him with pink electricity sparking across her arms.

"Oh…her semblance." Jason spoke. His luck was really bad if he was fighting someone whose semblance made them resistant to electricity.

Nora's hammer turned into a grenade launcher as Jason ran to avoid the explosions behind him.

The four rushed towards him as Jason sighed before kicking at Jaune, who raised his shield to block the blow, the kick sending him skidding back as Ren swung his daggers as Jason. The daggers scraped against his armor without doing anything as Jason bashed his gladius' hilt against Ren's nose with enough force to stun him.

He dodged a swing from Nora and Ruby before bashing his shoulder against Ruby to knock her to the ground and sweep Nora's legs under her.

But if Nora's resistant to my lightning, the others aren't. Jason thought before his free hand sparked with lightning

Jason heard armor clinking and whirled around to block Jaune's sword before socking Jaune in the jaw, before darting his hand back to shoot blast Ren away with a lightning bolt.

Jason heard Ruby use her semblance and swept his hand through the cloud of rose petals, electrocuting Ruby as she dropped to the ground.

Nora got up, but Jason noticed the electricity had disappeared and charged at her. Nora spun her hammer around her, but Jason crouched and slashed her leg, her aura sparking as Nora fell to a knee. Jason raised his foot and stomped on Nora's back, pressing her down to the ground as Nora.

Jason then blocked bullets as Ren shot at him, making him lose his concentration as Nora rolled away, forcing Jason to divert attention to block her swings and some bullets hit him, blood spraying on his left arm as Jason hissed from the pain before his arm sparked with lightning and removed the bullets and cauterized the wound. Ren's eyes widened.

"He doesn't have aura! Don't shoot!" He exclaimed. As he lowered his weapons.

This is getting annoying. Jason thought. To neutralize Nora, he would need to start hitting hard, but he wasn't trying to actually hurt her. And she was resistant to his lightning.

But shooting lightning isn't the only thing I can do. Jason thought.

Jason sheathed his gladius and brought his arms together, feeling a tug in his gut as he began converging the winds around him between his hands. The winds thrashed violently in a sphere of wind as Jason concentrated to keep it together.

The four, who had now recovered, surrounded and closed in on him, ignoring the violent winds stirring between his hands.

Jason took a deep breath and let it all out, suddenly spreading his arms out as he released the winds, which exploded into a massive shockwave that blasted the others away.

They fell to the ground in different directions before Jason clenched his hand and called the winds to press down the four.

Now that he could finally calm down, Jason thought about Jaune's answer. They definitely saw his destruction in Oniyuri, but what they didn't know was that the town was already desolate and abandoned by the time he came there.

He had to clear this misunderstanding.

"Hold on! I didn't kill those people!" Jason yelled. "The town's name is Oniyuri and it was already abandoned!" He yelled as recognition dawned on Ren.

"Oniyuri?" He questioned, but before Jason could say anything, a loud screech pierced the air.

Jason looked back and his eyes widened as a massive grimm appeared. It had a humanoid and an equine body fused together like a Centaur's, except the horse part had a head of its own. The humanoid part itself was pierced by several arrows while its bony mask had large curved white horns and long arms with sharp claws. Four glowing red eyes stared at him and the others with bloodlust.

Jason's target stood in front of them as Jason let go of Ruby, Nora, Jaune and Ren and faced the Nuckelavee.

"Look! We can settle this later! First we should take care of this!" Jason spoke pointing at the Nuckelavee.

Nora scowled at him before Ren grabbed her arm. "Nora, he's telling the truth. Remember the stories dad told us about Oniyuri?"

Nora frown fell as she stared at Jason silently while Jaune walked up to Ruby with a anxious expression on his face.

However, Ruby surprisingly focused on the grimm, although she did cast fearful glances towards Jason's direction.

Oh thank goodness. Jason thought. The Nuckelavee let out another screech as it charged at the five teenagers, who readied their weapons to face the beast in this temporary truce.

A/N: Well, RNJR vs Jason's done. If this were like Soulless Plains, this fight would have come later, but again, this story's supposed to be shorter, so I'm just going for a faster pace.

The defining flaw of Volume-4 was it handled RNJR. Poor Ruby was a blank character in the entire volume. While Yang got to get over what is her 'lowest point', Weiss finally made her first steps towards separating herself from her father's influence, and Blake went off to confront her past in Menagerie with Sun, Ruby was pretty much just there while Jaune's emotional state after Pyrrha's death was shown and Ren and Nora confronted the thing that was responsible for their difficult childhood.

It's honestly sad how Ren, who has been almost non-existent in earlier volumes, got more development than the protagonist herself. Qrow's poisoning should have been an excellent way to show just how depressed Ruby is and how much the Fall and the encounter with Tyrian have impacted her.

And I'm honestly weirded out by the fact that Jason is 16, making him about Ruby's age and younger than most of the RWBY cast. So I can only imagine shock from so many that a boy younger than freshmen of huntsman academies is stronger and more skilled than professional huntsmen.

As for the fight itself, Jason is holding back A LOT with RNJR. He's just defending himself against their attacks and is using his lightning like a taser. But well, as Iron M. Writer stated, electricity against Nora is a bad idea. The only way Jason can actually get past Nora with lightning is if he went for the kill and shot a lightning too powerful for Nora to absorb and fry her body. But that won't happen. The last part with the aerokinesis is just to demonstrate what Jason can do if he put in more effort in the fight.

Next chapter is the Nuckelavee fight, because honestly the distrust part can't be explored upon right now.

Hope you guys enjoyed and constructive criticism is appreciated!

Response to Reviews:

draconiclordship004: Thank you!

CRUDEN: Don't worry about that. I know how boring information hunting can be, especially at the beginning of stories and I'm not going to introduce another info-hunt chapter for the time being.