So, yes it's early. I have to do some homework tomorrow, and I don't need to be up late. Sorry.

I found a temple, I'm still wandering through it right now. Cell reception's been spotty though so if I lose you...
Damn Muse... Pit Trap... ROLLING BOULDER!
Disclaimer:.. I...don't...RWBY.

When you're out, loneliness, it crawls up in the ground

It's what you feel, but can't articulate out loud.

Oh you go to sleep on your own and you wake each day with your thoughts

And it scares you being alone

It's a last resort

Sleepsong-Bastille

"What is a huntsman, or a huntress? What do they-we do?" Professor Port leaned over his desk.

"They kill Grimm!" Nora shouted from the second row. Professor Port's mustache twitched into a grin.

"Well, yes. That does seem to be our primary purpose, does it not? After all, you are here, and we release you on a regular basis to hunt them, so it does make a certain sense that that's all that a hunter may do. But there's more. Anyone have anything to add to Miss Valkyrie's definition?"

The class took turns adding things that defined a hunter. Pyrrha suggested defending others, and Ruby suggested helping others. This led to a bit of an argument as to what the differences were. Then it came to Ren.

"Huntsman and Huntresses hunt." Despite its low volume, Ren's quiet voice carried quite well in the classroom.

"Precisely!" Professor Port shouted gleefully, the now filled chalkboard behind him seemingly forgotten. "It's in the name! Why, I remember…" As he launched one of his 'famous' stories, the class began to surreptitiously prepare for a nap, but everyone's attention suddenly snapped back to him.

"Indeed, the same way that you track Grimm, so too you can track a human."

Weiss raised her hand a bit shakily, "How- no, why would you need to hunt a person?"

Professor Port took in his audience, students shaken from what they had expected to be a quiet afternoon. Several looked nervous, or pale. A few had looks of intrigue on their face, but most seemed confused or upset. The Professor sat on the edge of his desk.

"Who might need to be found for some reason?"

Blake raised her hand, resting her elbow on the desk. "Lost hikers?"

Ruby caught her meaning. "Yeah, missing people. Like kids who wander off-"

"Or are kidnapped, people who go missing." Pyrrha interjected. Professor Port raised an eyebrow.

"Anyone else?"

Jaune raised his hand, "The kidnappers."

Yang grinned. "Yeah! Chasing criminals, jumping around the area, fighting bad guys-"

"Yes, yes it's all terribly exciting, Yang, but is that our job?" Weiss asked, "After all, we have police, laws against vigilantes-"

"None of the laws apply to Hunters," Blake pointed out, receiving an eye roll from the white haired girl. "In fact, local constabularies are often encouraged to aid hunters, no matter the case."

Jaune spoke up. "Yeah, but that's meant to be for Grimm attacks and helping interact with the populace, not policing them."

Pyrrha placed a hand on his arm. "But it doesn't have to be only about fighting. If you could help find a child or a brother or sister, whether lost or kidnapped, wouldn't you?"

"I would try, but it's not-"

"Technically, it's not," Professor Port stepped in, "and I love listening to a good discussion between my students, but in the interest of time I'm going to step in and explain why I've brought this topic up." He surveyed the class again, observing the surprised looks, they had expected him to go back to his story. "The reputation of the Huntsmen and Huntresses has grown to be legendary in places. This is a reputation that we are grooming you to accept. This means that we teach many different things, including hunting humans in both their natural habitat, and in nature itself." He stood up and began to lecture.

"Over the next few weeks, you will be taught how to hunt and be hunted. This is a bit different than just Tracking and Stealth, and Professor Greene will be covering the differences in her class a bit later. Stealth tactics that you use against the Grimm won't work; remember, your tracker knows many of the same tricks you do. Techniques that would hide you from Grimm just broadcast your location to your tracker. Since you will all be receiving the same instruction, I recommend hitting the library to find ideas you can use that your friends may not know." As the bell rang he looked at the class directly, "Take this from a senior huntsman: as huntsmen and huntressesses it is a question of when, not if, you will be called to help in a manhunt."

Jaune rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Memory-dreams, Ren called them. All Hunters suffered from them, and they were normally much more violent. Usually you relived watching friends die or a moment when you thought you were about to die. Rarely were they something as sublime as just a classroom setting. Of course, the subject matter probably had something to do with what he'd been doing for the past week. Crawling out of the makeshift shelter he'd created using a couple branches and a pile of leaves, he reviewed the carnage surrounding him.

The remnants of a massive battle were scattered around him. Trees lay broken or uprooted, their branches spread across the newly created clearing. Claw marks dug deep within the earth were the only remnants of the monster that had fought for its life here. Pulling his gear on, Jaune began searching for the one thing he was lacking: footprints. Grimm, as a rule, didn't attack other Grimm. While he was sure there were exceptions, he had yet to encounter them, and the tracks were suggestive of only a single monster.

A half hour later he was cursing his luck as he tried again in vain to pick up a trail for whoever, or whatever, had been fighting the Grimm. He hung his head; he'd never been the tracker of his group. That honor had been reserved for Ren and Pyrrha, as the two of them had a crazy ability to pick up on any trail. Sighing, he pushed off from the ground and rolled his shoulders, hearing (and feeling) some very satisfying pops from his back. As he stretched back his eye caught on a marking in the branches of a tree that had been uprooted. Moving closer he ran his hand over the cut in the branches. Looking over many of the uprooted trees he found similar marks, and in one patch of dirt he finally found what he was searching for: a single boot mark.

Bingo.

His feeling of elation lasted for all of a moment before he realized, it was only one mark. Sure, now he knew what to look for, but whomever had fought this thing had maneuvered primarily through the trees like some crazed squirrel. The markings… He moved to study them again. They did look familiar, probably somewhat like…"

"A chain scythe,"Jaune breathed. He hadn't expected it to be this easy, and he was aware that there was no small amount of luck in finding this. He immediately began to move from tree to tree, trying to see into their branches, looking for more chain marks.

"You… aren't Tai," the tree several feet away noted.

"What?" Jaune looked at the tree. "Who said that?"

"Me." Blake dropped from the tree branches. "I got here about ten minutes ago. I was trying to figure out what you were doing here."

Jaune sighed tiredly. "Not that I'm complaining, but how did you know I was here?"

Blake shrugged. "I didn't. I was heading back to resupply at a small village a few miles from here, I saw someone wandering around and decided to try to help if I could."

Jaune nodded, trying to think of something to say, when Blake spoke up.

"Why are you here, Jaune?" Her ears twitched a bit. "This is a ways off the beaten path for you. Last I heard, you were in Argus with your family."

The blond took a deep breath. "I spoke with Yang a week ago-" Blake's face grew hard.

"She sent you? She wouldn't even come herself?" A mix of hurt and anger flashed across the faunus's face, and Jaune hastened to explain.

"No, not really. I mean she mentioned that you were gone, and then I called Taiyang, and he read me the letter you sent him. After hearing about that, I had to come see you."

At the mention of Tai's name Blake's ears flattened and she took a step back, fear evident on her face. "Tai sent you?"

"Not really," Jaune said nervously, even as Blake relaxed at his reassurance. "It was more of... he gave me a place to start my search." The blond paused for a moment, then looked around. "Um, not to get off topic, but is there a place we can go that isn't so..?" He motioned to the clearing around them. "I'm feeling a bit exposed out in the open like this."

Blake nodded and motioned for him to follow her. "I take it Tai is furious?"

Jaune scratched his head nervously. "Yeah, you could say that. His concern for Yang outweighs his anger at you, though."

The dark-haired faunus gave him a sharp look. "What happened to Yang?"

"I don't know," Jaune admitted to her reluctantly. "How long ago did you leave?"

"A few months ago," Blake evaded. "Why did you come find me?"

"For the same reason I went to meet with Yang. I owed it to my friends to check on them." Jaune noticed a cabin coming into view through the trees.

Blake wasn't impressed. "That's it?"

"There were other reasons, of course, but that was a major one."

Blake paused to open the door before continuing the conversation. "When I left, Yang was… unhappy. I tried to get her to do things, but she just acted like she was betraying Ruby's memory by actually having fun without her. As the months went by, she got worse and worse. Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I wrote Tai a letter and left the same night. I had to. Yang… wasn't listening. She would go on about how Ruby's death was her fault, and no matter how I tried to explain it wasn't she just didn't want to listen." Crossing to the pantry, which Jaune noticed was very bare, she grabbed a box of tea and began to prepare it.

"Um, whose house is this?" Jaune looked around the spartan cabin.

"It's here for the huntsmen and huntresses. We're expected to keep it stocked, but the locals tend to do upkeep as they can." Jaune raised an eyebrow at this; he'd never heard of anything like that before. Deciding to muse on it later, he got back to his reason for visiting. "So was she fighting when you were still there?" The clattering of the tin cup that had been holding cold tea answered his question.

"She's what?" Blake's hands were shaking.

Jaune sighed as he sat at the table. "She's been fighting semi-professionally, and going by the number of fans she attracts, I'm guessing she's been doing it for a while."

"Dust." Blake slowly began to clean up the spilled tea. "I knew she was in a bad place, but I didn't think it was that bad."

Jaune moved to help her clean up, but was waved back. "I take it that you weren't aware of the balcony being closed either?" When Blake looked at him in confusion he sighed. "Blake, I don't know where to begin at all. She's pulled away from everyone. She thinks that she's dangerous because of the way that she handled the Salem situation, and she's locked herself away." The cat faunus gave up cleaning the spill and sat down across from Jaune, deliberately setting her still shaking hands on the table.

"How bad is it?"

Jaune winced. "Bad. She's had cables installed in the windows to prevent her from breaking through and jumping off the-"

"I get it," Blake cut him off.

"The door is also locked and alarmed, you know, in case."

"I figured as much!" the huntress snapped back, before taking a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm sorry. It's just hard to hear that your best friend is...taking extreme steps to prevent their own suicide."

"Blake, part of that is because her best friend left." Jaune leaned across the table, holding the cat faunus's hands still. "She needs support, and for that, she needs her best friend."

Blake shook her head. "She'll hate me for leaving, and if not for that then-"

"For what happened to Ruby?" Jaune questioned gently. "Blake, you said it in your letter. Ruby chose her death. Not Yang, not Weiss, and not you. I was devastated when I heard she died, and I didn't have to experience the moment that it happened." Tears began to run down the cat faunus's face, but she didn't try to pull away. "I get that you don't want Yang to be upset wit-"

"I-i-it was more than that!" The dark haired faunus was failing to hold back tears as she explained. "I've always run away from my problems, and when Yang started to spiral I swore I'd be there for her." Her tears were beginning to drip off her chin and onto the table. "I tried to help, and when that didn't work, I figured that I was right, I only made things worse. So I did the one thing I've always done well: I ran. I ran to find Weiss, who, despite her frigid demeanor, cares, and can help us snap out of our problems when they arise."

"Weiss?" Jaune asked in disbelief. The watery glare she gave him would have been intimidating, if he didn't feel like she could use a hug instead.

"Weiss," Blake gave a watery growl. "I sent the letter to Tai, hoping that he'd be mad at me for leaving, and that it would help him deal with Yang easier. I-i-ididn'trealize." She forced a deep breath as she started crying harder. "I didn't think about how long it would take, or that it would make all these problems with Yang-''

Jaune was sick of seeing Blake cry. Getting up, he pulled his friend into a hug. He'd never seen her like this. Actually come to think of it, he didn't remember any of team RWBY ever showing emotions like this before. Maybe they had done it in front of each other, but he couldn't remember even hearing about a breakdown like the ones he'd seen over the past couple weeks.

"I'm sorry, Blake."

"What for?" The faunus muttered into his shoulder, "I'm the reason for this entire shitshow, what on Remnant do you need to apologize for?"

"I'm sorry for your loss." Those five words seemed to push Blake over the edge, and she dissolved into sobs again. "You've had no time to mourn for yourself. You've gone from helping Yang to searching for Weiss to fighting Grimm. You need to go home."

"To Menagerie?"

"Yes. Go back, recharge, rest, mourn."

"But Yang? Tai?"

"Tai and Yang will be alright. Ren and Nora know to be there for them now, and that will help."

"And Weiss?" Blake's crying had begun to slow.

"I heard she went home a while ago. That's part of why I followed you. You're chasing someone who isn't here anymore."

"I see." Blake pulled back and wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry I lost my composure on you, Jaune, but thank you for putting up with it."

Jaune nodded and sat down again. "Honestly, I didn't expect you to break down. You've always been so headstrong… I couldn't imagine it."

Blake sat down too, putting her head in her hands as she sighed heavily. "That's why I didn't. Everyone needed me to be strong. I had to reform the White Fang, coordinate award ceremonies, take care of Yang and Weiss. After Ruby's… funeral there was still so much to do. Team RWBY had become a figurehead, but then Weiss left for out here and I figured Ilia had the White Fang well in hand, so I tried to devote myself to Yang. When that failed I came out here, but I still ignored my feelings. I was so used to ignoring them; it was easier, you know?"

Jaune did know the feeling. He'd felt it ever since Pyrrha had died. It had taken a conversation similar to this one with Ruby, with him breaking down on her, before he could finally face his feelings and sort them out. He cleared his throat and leaned forward. "Do you need help getting back home?"

"I-I don't know." Blake looked up, her eyes red from crying. "Part of me wants to do nothing more than go home and hide, and part of me wants to go find Yang again. If I know her, she's probably letting the tar get beat out of her as some sort of penitence." At Jaune's nod, she rolled her eyes. "Of course," she muttered.

"I can't tell you what to do," Jaune said as he stood up. "Again, my recommendation is for you to go home, rest, recover, and mourn. Then sort out whatever issues you have with your old teammates. Until you get your own head sorted out, though, you aren't going to be very much help to anyone, least of all yourself."

Blake gave a pained smile. "Listen to you, all mature. I still remember the scared seventeen-year-old who used to get so defensive when he was called vomit-boy. When did you grow up?"

Jaune returned her smile with one of his own, though he doubted his looked any more genuine. "The same time the cat faunus from across the hall took off her bow for good."

"War grows us up far too quickly."

"It does. Take care, Blake, and stay in scroll contact. No more of this off the grid stuff, okay?"

To: Gen. James Ironwood

From: Spec. Winter Schnee

Subject: Extraction

Summary:

The extraction of the asset codenamed Blade has occurred without any difficulty. The asset is awaiting debrief in my quarters.

I respectfully request to be there for debrief.

Specialist Schnee

To: Spec. Winter Schnee

From: Gen. James Ironwood

Subject: 1700 Debrief

Summary:

Request granted.

General Ironwood

Chapter Title Credit: Stupid Muse... kill...almost died...big bugs! BIG BUGS!
Gonna try for the next one to be up next weekish.

Straightup, anyone who's been paying attention probably noticed that the chapters fell from six to five, this (among other reasons) is because chapter (currently five) is really, REALLY, big. Like, it's big, okay? 13+thousand words of big. I like long chapters. It means the author cares, but if you would rather see seven chapters, then let me know before Sunday of
next week, otherwise I'll just assume everyone's good and we'll stick with five.

Thanks...Read- SPIDERS SHOULD NOT BE THAT BIG!.
R&R