Originally RP'd on tumblr between snuckintobeacon and Pyrrha-of-the-Grimm. Readers new and old, welcome. Again, pardon the odd structure and form as this is transcribed from a tumblr RP.

Jaune panicked, seeing Pyrrha collapse before he could catch her. For a moment, he thought he saw the bones move under her skin but shook his head. Scrambling for a nearby drawer, he pulled out an injector and pressed it to her neck. He hoped that the chemical cocktail would calm her nerves.

"Pyrrha, I don't know what's going on but I'm right here okay? I'm right here beside you," he whispered, kneeling next to her and taking her in his arms.

"Please, I don't," she gasped, "I don't think I could face her Jaune," she muttered as she clung to him as if her life depended on it. "Please don't make me go back Jaune!"

"Shhhh! Shhhhh…" he cooed into her ear, stroking her head.

He was shaking, confused and afraid of how the demons of her mind tormented her. Now he understood what it was like to watch and not be able to help.

"I won't… I won't ever Pyrrha. I'll never make you do anything you don't want to. We'll never face her. We'll hide here or… just run… we'll run and find somewhere no one can find us," he said.

She just sat there for a bit, hugging onto Jaune tightly as she calmed down, tears still flowing freely from her eyes.

"I didn't die," she said in almost a whisper, her voice cracking a bit from the sobs.

Confusion tore through Jaune. What the hell had she seen?

"No, you're very much alive and here," he said softly. "What happened?" he asked, still quite in the dark and afraid of what he had just witnessed.

Pyrrha's voice was small and quiet as she spoke. "I didn't die on the tower. I was- I don't know how to describe it, moved to where Salem was. I was dying, and then she… I didn't die Jaune, she changed me, made me forget!"

Her voice rose as she said the last bit. She was so frustrated, so angry with everything right now. How could she have forgotten her entire life up to that point, only to be forced to serve the one who did so?

Jaune's arms tensed around her to the point where they almost hurt. The revelation that she had just unleashed upon Jaune began like the tremors of an earthquake that shook apart his soul. If what she was saying was true… then everything wasn't for naught… his life's work wasn't in vain… and here in his arms was the actual Pyrrha.

"You didn't… die…" he said aloud to try and convince himself. So much failure had made him skeptical of hope. He had to test her, "Pyrrha what was on my Pajamas the first night we spent at Beacon?"

Pyrrha just shook her head.

"I don't remember Jaune. So much is still hidden from me, I only have a few of the pieces," she leaned back to look at him. "I do remember you wore footie pajamas though, and… Yang would tease you about it until you bought a different set," she said with a weak smile.

But that was enough for him as he hugged her tighter, kissing her on the forehead.

"I believe you Pyrrha, I believe you…" he said as tears began to fall from his cheeks and onto her head. "Welcome home…" he whispered as he smiled, laughing through the tears.

Pyrrha began to cry as well, this time with tears of joy. Things were still fucked royally for the two of them, but their relationship was on the mend.

"Home, huh?" she chuckled through the tears, "It's a bit bigger than Beacon."

Jaune helped her stand and wiped her tears, taking a step back and placing his hands on his hips.

"Look there wasn't a lot of options on the Beacon home market. But we've got stolen food, hot water, an armory that I can't get into, and warm beds," he announced proudly as an alarm sounded through the ship. "Aaaaaaaaaaand it may need renovations," he sighed, going to check the internal monitor.

Pyrrha nearly jumped out of her skin, still too used to alarms like that meaning she'd been found out and had to fight.

"This happens often?" she asked with a tinge of worry.

He sighed heavily, "Sadly yes. Stay here, unless you're mechanically inclined. It looks like one of the dust lines from the generators blew. I'll be back after I fix it or we blow up, either or."

Jaune was strangely nonchalant as he limped away, picking up tools from the hallways.

"You say that like you've blown up before," she said, not knowing if it was scary or impressive, being that he was still here. Still she ran after him, not particularly caring to stand around doing nothing at the moment.

"You might not remember but I was never the best at my studies at Beacon. Soooooo you'll have to say that I had to learn the hard way," he grumbled, opening a hatch on the ground and jumping in.

Inside it was loud, hot, and a maze and Jaune spent a good hour or two inside working. Pyrrha was about to follow, but the blast of hot air and the sound of insanely loud machinery kept her at bay.

"You know what you're doing now, yes?" she shouted down after him, worried when he had said he'd learn 'the hard way.'

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" he shouted back as he began to expertly fiddle with the machinery.

It was a few hours before he climbed back out of the hatch, shutting it with a grunt. His hands and face were completely covered in black, ruining the point of showering earlier that morning.

"Good news, we aren't dead. Bad news, we're still broke and need replacement parts," he announced. "And I'm hungry and too sober for this."

Pyrrha helped pull Jaune out of the hatch when he said that.

"Replacement parts? What's busted? Also you look like you need another shower now?" she said, looking him up and down.

"Ugh… yeah I'll get to that in a minute. Well there are two things that I need that I don't even know what they're called but I know they keep the power regulated so nothing, well… explodes from dust," he said in what could be called a disgrace to layman's terms. "What I did will hold for now but the long term we need replacements, for replacements we need money, and for money well, we need it… and I spent it all on you," he grinned.

"That you did, 'Master'," she giggled. "So then, what's our next course of action? You said something about mercenary work?"

Scowling, he gently swatted her head with a wrench.

"I'm pretty and am sure they have restraints in the brig I could find…" he threatened grinning. "Yeah so… Uhm… we sell our highly skilled selves and maybe make some lien. Uhm… Maybe you get a meal out of it? I don't know," he shrugged, smearing more of the black over his face.

"Couple of questions then. First, will you be able to keep at it with your busted leg?" she gestured at the obviously improperly healed bone and flesh of his leg. "I think maybe we should also see a doctor about that?"

"Been doing fine so far. And also, we don't have the money," he answered her, heading into the mess hall for some food.

He brushed off the topic of his injured leg, not wanting to get into it so much.

"It should be addressed after we get the parts though. Won't be able to make any money if you become crippled," she followed after him, easily keeping pace. "Second though, how do I go with you and not get recognized? I'm sure there's a bounty on my head, dead or alive."

Jaune missed a step and stumbled when she said that. He hadn't thought of that notion, staring at her in her old armor.

"Shit… Okay that is a problem. Uh… makeup? Or you could just stay here," he mused, stepping into the mess hall. "Hell I could probably make a fortune by turning ourselves in-…" he abruptly stopped, wide eyed and silent.

Slowly he turned to face Pyrrha and said cryptically, "I know what we're going to do…"

"Oh no Jaune, I know what you're thinking. A half crippled huntsman and a soul-starved Grimm-human thing turned over to probably well-armed authorities is a bad idea for us. How would we even claim the reward if we're both turn in?" she exclaimed.

Jaune grabbed his food to go and threw a package at Pyrrha as he quickly walked out.

"Come on!" he shouted at her as he went deeper into the bowels of the ship.

Weaving through derelict and powerless sections, he arrived at a heavily fortified and constructed door.

"Here is how! Inside of there is an Atlesian arsenal which includes explosives. I figure you're not going to let me turn myself in alone so here's what we'll do. They'll have to keep the reward money nearby so they can give it to mercs. We find out where and turn ourselves in there. Before that though, we plant a charge on an exterior wall. KABOOM! An exit, distraction, and our way to lien!"

"What?" he said, staring at the skeptical Pyrrha. "OKAY FINE! First we need to open up this armory somehow…"

Pyrrha just crossed her arms in front of her.

"That's not even the start of my concerns Jaune. I have an entire mental list of why this is a bad idea, staring with, and repeating, a half crippled huntsman and a soul-staving Grimm-human thing turned over to well-armed authorities is a bad idea!" she said once again.

Open mouthed, Jaune stared back at her as she destroyed his awesome plan.

Throwing his hands on his hips he said, "Okay, do you have a better idea? Okay, okay, okay, I can fix the soul-starved person part but I can't do much about the not-crippled-but-semi-functional huntsman. There's a band of mercenaries that roam around this area you can uhm… consumer…"

"Again, well-armed authorities. Then the moment we are revealed, unless we kill everyone there before a message goes out, there will be a message sent out and there will probably be a sweep of the area. How confident are you that this place won't be found out during such a search?" she asked, keeping her stoic disbelief in the plan.

"100 percent confident… okay 90 percent and a half. Her camouflage capabilities are still intact. And if we can get into the armory in front of us we'll be plenty well armed! And uhm… we can put a charge on their communications towers too," he said, really in love his plan and quite honestly… wanting to blow something up.

"You really want to blow stuff up, don't you?" Pyrrha sighed. "Let's see what we find behind the door, but I still have reservations about this."

She turned to look at the door, arms hanging at her side. "So what're you thinking?"

"Don't you want to blow something up?" he exclaimed in disbelief. "Okay door first, feed you next. Anyways so uhm… I figured that with your semblance… you could just… ya know, open it?"

He grinned wide as she could and braced to get punched in the face.

"I don't know I if I can? Do I even have my semblance anymore? I mean, you can cleary see what I am," she gestured to herself and the fact that she is a Grimm.

"You were doing fine earlier? Didn't you notice?" Jaune looked at her but then to the massive door.

He gave it one hard punch and then sighed, coming back to take Pyrrha's hand.

"Alright I submit, let's go think of something else. Don't try and force something you're not sure of," he told her, holding her hand and trying to head back the way they came.

"Wait, what do you mean I was doing fine before?" as far as she knew, she hadn't been able to use her semblance as long as she had been Grimm; same with her aura.

"Uh…" he paused, "you nearly destroyed my bedroom when you…" he stopped, realizing what he was about to blurt out. "Earlier this morning…"

Pyrrha looked at him, and tried to remember what had happened, but nothing of the sort came to her mind. However, looking down at herself, she saw her hands were glowing a bit. Did she… stepping towards the door, she placed her hands on its cold steel surface, closed her eyes and focused. Her body began to glow black, and soon so did the door. The sound of creaking metal began to echo throughout the passageway.

"Pyrrha what are you-," he began but the metallic creaks made him panic.

Going as fast as he could he got behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Pyrrha don't force yourself!" he shouted, panicked about the harm to she could do by overextending herself.

She ignored him. She felt this power, her power, coursing though her. It had been so long since she used it, it felt so unfamiliar, but she knew it. She forced it further, willing the metal to part until the partition grew wide in front of her. When the crack had widened to the point where they could walk through her semblance faded as she fell to her knees.

Jaune caught her before she hit the ground, the entire time cursing himself. He was a fool, an utter fool. The moment he got one of his friends back he used them, ignoring their restraints. Guilt chained him back as he checked on Pyrrha.

She was very tired, panting hard from the exerted effort on the door.

"Heh, looks like… I still got it," he smile was exhausting but she was proud at what she'd done.

Jaune didn't care about her smile, he cared about her health… And that brought him to a dark place. He went inside and grab a non-lethal rifle, slinging it on his back before silently taking Pyrrha in his arms. He carried her back to her room and set her on the bed to rest.

"Don't leave," his voice soft but his eyes raging. "I'll be back."

Going next door he donned his armor and sword. Pyrrha tried to resist, to get up and say she was fine, but she was exhausted. She could barely put up any resistance as Jaune put her in bed.

"Jaune, where are you going?" she called out to him, concerned by the look in his eyes as he left her.

He didn't respond, only giving her a weak smile as he stepped outside the room. He left the ship and began hiking towards the mercenaries.

Hours later Jaune returned, dirty, sweaty, but mostly unharmed. What was astonishing was the three prisoners he had with him, one carried in a litter held by the other two. He hered them into Pyrrha's room with his new rifle.

"Here Pyrrha," he said, exhausted and guilty, "take your pick. I had to kill the rest, these are the only ones left."

Pyrrha was dumbfounded by Jaune's actions. How did he do this? How many did he take on? And to get out unscathed like that, she hadn't given him proper credit. She swung out from the bed, feeling better after the short rest.

"This… this will work," she said, looking at the dead men walking. "You might want to leave," she said to Jaune, "I don't think you want to observe what's to come."

"You're weak and I don't want them to overpower you. I'll see this through to the end," he said, void of emotion.

With one hand he held his unsheathed sword, the other hands held onto the rifle.

Pyrrha shrugged, getting up from the bed and looking at the three morsels.

"Thank you Jaune," she said, a hint of Grimm-esque vibration in her voice.

A sword of bone grew from her right arm rapidly, stabbing into the gut of one of the standing men. Pyrrha wrenched the weapon out for good measure.

"Lucky you, you don't have to watch me eat your friends," she said with the same Grimm darkness in her voice as she pulled the man to the ground.

Jaune watched stoically as Pyrrha proceeded. The other standing merc screamed, trying to run past Jaune.

Mercilessly, the jagged edge of Jaune's sword swiped across the merc's chest. The dying man collapsed, gurling blood.

"Not to rush but you might want to hurry, this one will expire soon…" Jaune said with blank eyes.

That was a shame. Pyrrha reached a hand into her victim's chest and through the wound in his gut, tearing out his heart. She then smashed his head open to work on his brain. Those were the most important organs when it came to eating a soul. They were where most of the essence resided.

Seeing as the other formerly standing merc wasn't long for this world, she grabbed him and repeated the process. She managed to get a bit more off of him, and felt very much invigorated than earlier. Still, they weren't as filling as huntsmen for sure. Lastly, she turned to the poor bastard on the litter.

Throughout the whole order, Jaune didn't gag or flinch, however he did become visibly pale. This was gruesome even by his standards. They should've done this in one of the spare storerooms too. The mess would be hell to clean up. He watched as Pyrrha finished, blood everywhere.

"Good? Room for dessert?" he joked dryly.

She gave him no mind as she tore apart the injure man, helpless to her action as she ripped into him. Surprisingly though, he lasted the longest, leaving Pyrrha quite satisfied. Standinb back up to her full height, she wiped some blood from her mouth and sighed deeply. For the first time she felt truly sated.

Stepping over the pieces of the corpses, Jaune grabbed a towel and began wiping the grime off her face and chest.

"Well, that's one problem solved," he said, weary from the show of carnage.

She smiled at him, blood and flesh still in her teeth.

"Thank you Jaune, I am feeling much stronger now. And I apologize for doubting you earlier, I just," her voice became somber, "I don't want something bad to happen to you, especially if it's avoidable."

Picking the hairs that clung to her face, Jaune tucked the ribbons behind her ear.

"It's fine. I may be slow but I'm not helpless anymore. So… I want you to stay here. I'll go by myself and get the money," he said.

Pyrrha's brows furrowed at Jaune's proposition.

"I think you need to rest first Jaune. You look exhausted, and it has to have been at least half a day since you've slept. We can plan this out more later," she said, making a move toward him.

"Huh, oh, okay," Jaune mumbled, his eyes glazing over.

The shock from his raid and Pyrrha's feeding were finally settling in. His eyes lingered on the unfinished body parts, not really hearing her words. Jaune's body and mind were definitely feeling what Pyrrha was describing.

She tugged on Jaune's arm and began pulling him back to his room.

"You okay there Jaune?" she asked, seeing the glazed look in his eyes, concerned that Jaune had done too much too fast.

Jaune let himself be led by Pyrrha, phasing in and out of reality.

"Oh, Pyrrha you have blood all over you," he mumbled.

The blood brought back memories, faces, all those that he had killed before.

"I killed them didn't I?"

Pyrrha stopped to look at him.

"You did," she said plainly.

Again the disparate parts were pushing her to different things. He's a monster, not your partner, Jaune could never do that! You're a monster, forcing him to do that! It's the way things are, just accept it. He cares about you, that's why he's doing this, he wouldn't for any other reason.

"Oh, okay," he said again, "haha, I did it again… Oh well."

The strange thing was that despite his smile, he had begun crying. He sat in a chair in his room, pulling out more alcohol from a mini fridge.

"Jaune… why are you crying?" Pyrrha said, sitting next to him, ignoring the blood that was soaking into his sheets.

He didn't mind the blood because he was seeing it everywhere. If anyone saw the volume of his alcohol intake, they'd wonder if he was ever sober.

"I never got used to killing people, Grimm sure, but people… I know I had to, you know to survive, but I never thought as a Huntsman," he paused, chugging on the bottle of fire whiskey. "I see their faces everytime, the ones I killed. The ones I didn't save… them most of all… Do you remember all those you killed Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha thought for a minute, then shook her head.

"I guess the way you see the Grimm is the same Grimm see souls. You don't really remember one unless they really stand out. But that was before I started remembering. Now," and she looked in the direction of her room, "now I'm not sure. I hope I don't." She sighed, it seemed misery was quite common for them now.

He leaned over and rest his head on her shoulder, blood smearing over both of them. They were both so stitched up and torn inside that he wondered how'd they both survive. At least though, they had each other.

"I've killed 87 people so far," he mumbled, letting the alcohol do its trick. "Wish I didn't have to anymore. But… but we… have to… to survive," he slurred drifting off. "Don't go… out… without…" slowly he slumped off, falling into her lap. Both of them now covered in dirt, grease, blood and regret.

Pyrrha just sat there, running her fingers through Jaune's hair as he rested in her lap.

87 people killed to survive, Pyrrha thought, then shook her head. He didn't have to kill them he chose to, because of her. She didn't feel bad about that though, she'd killed so many more. She'd actually had to kill to eat, otherwise she would wither away until someone killed her. She wished she could fall asleep now, join Jaune in dream land, but energy from those three she'd eaten was still thrumming through her veins. So instead she just sat there, watching her partner as he slept.

Tossing and turning, Jaune had the same dreams he had each night. Pyrrha's hand melded in his subconscious, causing him to see his mother doing the same when he was a child. Then it would twist to him lying on the ground after being defeated by Salem, watching as her armies ravaged the field of his comrades. Then back, always back to when he was shoved into the locker.

"Pyrrha… No… Don't go… Salem… Die… Kill… me," he would mumble.

"Shhhhh Jaune, shhhhhh. It's alright, you're alright," she tried to soothe him in his sleep.

She leaned down and placed a kiss on his forehead, hoping this would help alleviate the nightmare he was obviously dealing with.

Jaune calmed for a moment and returned to peaceful sleep for a while. When he awoke, he was still somewhat drunk but had regained his wits… or whatever his intelligence stemmed from.

"Ugh, my head… and that smell. You stink Pyrrha," was the first thigns he chose to say.

They both did honestly. Another shower would certainly be order.

"Glad to see you're okay too Jaune. Sleep okay?'

"You're thighs are bony," he joked, wiping the drool from his face.

"I wonder why," she replied dryly. "Come on, we both need to wash off now," and she pulled them both to their feet, dragging Jaune out and to the showers.