Back to working on this, just doin' it in my spare time. I'll make it up to you people, I promise.

I've started on another story which basically is a redo of the concept of Blank (might continue that another time, but definitely not now): A Tale of an Aimless Assassin. It's a crossover fic, and trust me. You're gonna like it.

The students walked under the shedding red leaves of Forever Fall. It was kind of beautiful- or would be if Jaune didn't have to focus on carrying Cardin's stupid box.

"Ugh," He stumbled around miserably, trying not to look like he was tired from the walk at all. Jaune really didn't have the endurance to match with the other hunters-in-training at all.

His nose felt stuffy as well, was he allergic?

He glanced up ahead, where his friends walked. Real friends, not what Cardin was doing to him. To his surprise, his eyes met those of Wynion.

Well, the surprise came from the concern he saw in his eyes. The faunus discreetly held up his thumb and tilted his head questioningly. A silent, are you okay?

Jaune nodded back, and Wynion faced forwards to Ruby. Last night was so unreal tha-

He stumbled forwards and nearly lost his footing to Cardin's push.

Jaune glared at his blackmailer, who simply smirked, "Keep moving."

"...Forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful," Ms. Goodwitch's stern voice reached his ears, "But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest. And I'm here to make sure-"

Cardin bumped into Jaune's shoulder, pushing past the burdened blonde. Wisely, he looked away from Cardin's glare. He just had to endure a bit more!

I'm tired of enduring.

"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates," He couldn't help but wince a little from her words, "We will rendezvous back here at four o'clock. Have fun."

With the smallest shred of hope, Jaune tried to get to his team-

"C'mon buddy!" Cardin grabbed his hood and mocked, "Let's go!"

For a minute, Jaune could only stare at his friends went on to collect their sap. Ruby. Wynion. Pyrrha...

Pyrrha was looking at him. She didn't even look that mad, just...

Hopeful.

It made it all the harder when Jaune forced himself to tear away from her gaze to follow Cardin.

Could he really keep this up for much longer?

"Hey!" Cardin laughed at Jaune as he collapsed to the ground, "Great work, Jaunnie boy. Not so hard, was it?"

The whole entire time Jaune was doing their work, Cardin and his team just sat down and mocked the blonde as he miserably collected their sap. At least Cardin was fine with letting Jaune collect his own sap alongside the rest.

"Auu..." He groaned from his collapsed position, "I think I'm allergic to this stuff..."

Cardin got up and walked over to the blackmailed student, "Great, great, great. So- Jaune- I bet you're asking yourself, 'Why did my buddy Cardin ask me to collect six jars of tree sap, when there's only five of us?'"

"That is one of the many questions that I have asked myself today, yes."

Cardin's smug grin only got bigger. That wasn't good.

"Come with me," The red-head smirked, "And you'll find out."

They... They looked like they were having a great time. Hanging out and collecting tree sap, it made him question whether he was really needed. Just over the ridge of where Jaune and CDRL peaked, Teams RWBY and JNPR were happily collecting sap.

"...Cardin. What's going on?" Why were they here?

Cardin ignored his question, staring off at Jaune's team. When he finally responded, it twisted Jaune's stomach, "Payback."

The blonde followed Cardin's intense gaze all the way to...

"Pyrrha?" Jaune scrunched his face up in confusion, "What are you-"

"That's the girl," The bully grit his teeth, "Red-haired know-it-all- think's she's so smart."

And then he noticed the box. The same box that Jaune had trapped those Rapier wasps in.

Cardin smirked and raised his voice, "Alright, boys. Last night, 'ol Jaune here managed to kindly get us some Rapier wasps. According to the essay he so kindly wrote, these wasps really love sweets, and I'm thinking it's time we teach her a thing or two," Team CDRL got to their feet, and Cardin pulled Jaune up to press a jar of sweet sap in his arms, "And you're gonna do it."

"Do what?" He knew, but he still hoped he was wrong.

"Hit her with the sap!" The bully confirmed Jaune's fears, "Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon."

Don't think.

Jaune turned to Pyrrha's form, pulling his arm back to throw.

Don't think.

He aimed at her back.

Stop thinking, or you'll stop.

He adjusted for distance.

...For some reason I thought we were friends. Even though I took his food away, put him through hell...

And he thought about the lies. The deceptions.

...For some fucking reason, I thought we were freinds...

Maybe he wasn't that bad. But putting his friends through hell- just for his own secrets? That wasn't what a hero did. And it definitely wasn't what friends did.

"No."

He couldn't.

"...What did you say?"

Because Jaune was a hero.

And so he turned around and prepared to make what might be the worst mistake of his life.

I need some time to plan out what's gonna happen. I think it's Blake's reveal next, right? Yeah I might do something with her. Despite being in the minority when I say that Blake is a characterless shit, the reason why I'm in the minority is that it's not nessiscarily (Fuck. I spelled that wrong. I goddamn know it,) true. She's just used more as a plot device than an actual character, and what she has isn't really used to characterise her, but everyone else/faunus. Every time she's in a scene, she seems to just be there to bring out something from someone or some other concept.

I'm rambling.

To Chryseum.

The reason why I put the chapter, 'Remnants' there was actually intentional. Over the course of the story, we've seen many emotions with Wynion, short as the adventure then was. We have seen him fight, play, steal, relax, cry, suffer... But the one thing that hasn't been seen is the concequences to his death, and we get a sneak peak as to what that looks like. I have now tricked your brain into fully caring about him and especially not wanting to see him die. And yeah, I know about Pyrrha, ughh... :( I'll try to resolve that soon.

Hope y'all enjoyed last chapter, I enjoyed writing it a lot.

Is it possible for me to get away with T still? I mean, violence was more implied rather than explicit, but still...

Someone come up with a half assed reason at least. Please, I beg you. Whether it be from judging this story from another's standards or some loophole in the Rules & Guidelines, give me an excuse. Please. I might even type the letter 'c', 3492 times at once.

I beg you.