Falling.
It was a sensation every Huntsman and Huntress was accustomed to. From the first day they stepped foot into a Huntsman Academy, they were trained on how to fall. They each had a landing strategy of their own that they would fall back upon whenever needed. A Huntsman or Huntress never knew when they were going to have to fall - but they always knew how to land. That, at least, they could count on.
Until they couldn't.
Until the fall was so prolonged, you had forgotten what it had felt like to touch the ground. Until there was no room for strategy, until you had to pick a god and pray that you survived the impact.
The Fall of Beacon was just that - a free fall.
One that no one walked away from the same person they were before.
(Some wouldn't walk away at all.)
The first thing everyone did when the world began to end was find their team.
Team JNPR raced to Pyrrha on the arena floor, the combined force of gathered huntsmen-in-training defeating the Nevermore in minutes. After ditching the arena once Oobleck and Port tell them to run, they meet the General. He gives them a choice.
This single choice changed their lives.
"You have two choices: defend your kingdom and your school, or save yourselves. No one will fault you if you leave."
Though their minds were already made up, Team JNPR, still so blessedly whole, shared a look. They conversed without words as if saving their breath for whatever time they had left. And with a nod, they chose to stay.
They chose to fight.
They chose to fall.
(And Pyrrha chose to die.)
(They jumped. It was a long way to the ground.)
The airship ride back to Beacon was tense and short. Team JNPR shared a bench, taking each other's hands into their own and squeezing tight. Their breathing synced, and for just a moment, everything seemed like it was going to be alright. As long as they were together.
The airship docked and they unboarded. Drawing his sword and wielding his shield, Jaune looked to his team. His family. He gifted them a bright grin.
"Let's do this, JNPR. I love you guys."
The others drew their weapons and returned the smile.
"We love you too, Jaune."
They turned to the battle, weapons drawn and in formation and still blessedly whole. They charged one last time.
After beating a few Grimm, Ozpin appeared amidst the chaos. Without another word or look to her team, as if she didn't trust herself to not turn back, Pyrrha joined him.
"Where's she going?"
Jaune shook his head in response to Nora's question as they all felt dread make a home in their chests.
"I'll go find out. You two stay here and keep fighting." And with that, he ran after her.
That was the last time Team JNPR was whole.
The last time Ren and Nora saw Pyrrha, she was joining Ozpin's side with resignation and fear on her face. The last time they had seen her, she was voluntarily walking to her death.
Nora looked to Ren and knew he was thinking the same thing as her. They had both watched many people walk away from them in their lives - this looked no different.
But Pyrrha was strong. Stronger than anyone they had met before. So they hoped.
And one last time, they fought for Beacon.
(They were free falling. Pyrrha would hit the ground first.)
Ren and Nora had always looked out for each other for as long as they had known each other. But, despite their best efforts, they still took some heavy hits. They had stumbled their way to the airship landing where they were met with the sight of two of their friends forever changed. They had asked around to see if anyone had seen the missing half of their team, but to no avail. No one had seen them, and no one knew where they were.
The battle had been brewing for hours, and for some reason it seemed to be calming down. The White Fang were retreating, Grimm were overtaking the school grounds, and after the promise of Weiss and Ruby to return with their teammates, Ren and Nora were ushered onto an airship to Vale.
They, along with the other injured Beacon students, had been set up in the lobby of a hotel. It was a makeshift medical center and was where lost teammates and family members would go in hopes to find each other once more. Ren and Nora leaned against each other in the corner closest to the door, watching the reunions in front of them and praying that Jaune and Pyrrha would be next to walk through the doors.
Their fear only grew when the world was bathed in a blinding silver light. It was brief, but it was definitely a cause for concern. Ren and Nora held each other tighter.
(They were weightless. Gravity was the only constant. There was no landing strategy, just a desperate prayer.)
A few minutes later, Jaune stumbled his way through the door and was instantly tackled in a hug by Ren and Nora. The three of them stood there for a minute or so, content to clutch each other, their constants in the midst of this uncertainty. When they broke apart, his teammates were quick to realize the tear tracks marking Jaune's dirt-stained cheeks.
"Pyrrha, she...Ozpin did something to give her magic, and now she's fighting this lady on top of the tower and she sent me away and," Jaune stopped to breathe, his breaths coming out in gasps. Once he composed himself with Ren's calming strokes on his back and Nora's soft reassurances, he finished with, "I told Ruby and Weiss where she is but...that woman was strong. She killed Ozpin."
Ren and Nora shared a wide-eyed glance and led Jaune to sit in the corner with shaky hands, Jaune squished in between them. At one point, a chill went through all of them, a brief burning pain shot straight through their hearts.
(Pyrrha was the first to collide with the earth.)
They looked to each other in fear, not one of them daring to say what it could've meant. No, Pyrrha never gave up on them. They wouldn't give up on her.
Another half hour went by, their minds preparing for the worst.
Time seemed to stop as Qrow Branwen walked through the door with an unconscious Ruby in his arms. She was so still and pale, at first glance it looked as if she was dead. As Qrow gently laid her next to Yang, they caught a glimpse of gold in his arms that caused their hearts to drop.
Nora was the first to voice their thoughts, her voice breaking. "Where's Pyrrha?"
(The ground was closer than ever. The wind was deafening.)
The question rang in the air, unanswered. Qrow surveyed the room with a solemn face before his eyes landed on the trio. He carried himself like he was no stranger to tragedy, to pain, to loss. To telling children that their loved ones were dead.
He walked over to them. Each step seemed to last an eternity, their eyes locked on the circlet in his hands. He knelt before them and extended the half-melted circlet, still radiating heat. When none of them moved to take it, their eyes watery and locked upon it, he set it in front of them.
He spoke, his voice raspy and thick. "When I got to the tower, this was all that was left. Ruby was unconscious. There was no body. I'm sorry."
The weight of his words hit them like a Leviathan. A piece of them was taken from them in an instant. One of the people they loved most was gone. Forever.
He gave them a sympathetic look before standing and heading back to his nieces.
(They hit the ground.)
They didn't move for hours, not when Glynda and other teachers tried to get them to a room to rest or console them, not when they ran out of tears, not when the room was all but empty. Each of them silently hoping that Pyrrha would walk through the door and join them. She never came. And they didn't move for a long, long time.
After all, it wasn't the fall that killed anyone. It was the impact when you hit the ground.
(Many, many months later, JNR stood before the statue of their fallen. And for the first time since the Fall, since the impact, they found the courage to stand.)