The Heart of Winter

VIII – Run To The Hills

Jaune Arc

When Ruby was taken before Raven, Jaune was left to sit against his own stake and wait. Not that he'd really done much else the last few days besides bemoaning his broken nose. Having his Aura to heal him for over a year and suddenly losing it again sucked. The silence was starting to get to him – what conversation he had with Ruby since their capture had been brief at best and rather discouraging. Although it seemed like he'd made a breakthrough in Kuroyuri, any sign of Ruby's normal self was buried deep beneath a look of defeat.

Then there had been one conversation with Qrow before he'd vanished. With bandits at his back, he'd been painfully vague. What little he'd said left Jaune with a nasty feeling in his gut: they were collateral to make the older Huntsman do a job for Raven. If all went well they'd be allowed to walk away if Qrow returned successfully.

Jaune didn't believe it for a second. Like hell, the bandits were just going to let them go. If he and Ruby were getting out it was on their own. He was still working on the how of it all.

Or maybe not totally alone, he thought. Jaune looked to see his fellow prisoner not far off. The filthy man had done nothing but watch him and Ruby for the past few days but had seemingly lost interest as he looked to have fallen asleep. The blonde Huntsman didn't know what he'd done to be captured by Raven but only Vernal and her superior went near him willingly and even the younger bandit looked utterly terrified whenever she had to.

Jaune eyed him carefully, Qrow seemed to have some history with the man as well given they'd briefly exchanged words before the former left. Maybe he was an ally. Or maybe he was bad news and Qrow had been warning him off Ruby. He didn't quite know what to believe seeing as the other prisoner hadn't said a word the entire time they'd been there.

"How's your escape plan going?" The man asked without opening his eyes. So much for the silent treatment. Thankfully most of the camp was off eating so it wasn't like they were in danger of being overheard but it didn't change the fact that someone might be listening.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jaune replied bluntly, tone a little too obvious even to his own ears.

"Alright then," the man chuckled as he looked up to stare at Jaune with blue eyes. "Maybe another topic of conversation? How'd a pair of kids get mixed up with Qrow Branwen and end up out in the middle of Nowhere?"

"We were looking for someone."

"Ah," the man let his head tilt, "going to be like that then. I mean, it's not like you've got anything better to do than play story time with me."

He had a point, Jaune conceded. Talking to this man might give some insight into if he'd help them or not. Plus, there was no telling how long Raven's talk with Ruby would last and if he didn't fill the silence with something then he might go insane.

'You could always talk to me instead,' the voice from before answered in a purr and Jaune went rigged against his bindings. He and Ruby had been Raven's prisoners for the better part of five days and he'd heard not a peep from the voice in the entire time he'd be held captive. Still, there was something different about the voice – a more familiar note that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

Pushing the voice to the side, Jaune shook his head, he really must've been starting to lose it if he was hearing voices again. 'Rude.'

"I'll share if you go first, hobo," Jaune replied aloud, maybe a little louder than needed to try and drown out the voice. Maybe a real conversation would prove distracting from the one in his head. He could only hope. "How'd you end up all the way out here."

"I was hunting a renegade Maiden." Jaune blinked at how freely he'd admitted such a thing. What was more surprising was he knew about Maidens. Well, at least he had an idea of how this man knew Qrow if nothing else. It probably meant he was connected to Ozpin in some way or another too.

"Maiden?" Perhaps, it was best to try and play dumb until he knew more about the other prisoner.

"Don't play dumb, kid." The other prisoner sighed, seeing right through his feigned ignorance. "If you're hanging out with Qrow Branwen then you know damn well what a Maiden is. Especially if you're tagging along with a Silver-Eyed Warrior of all people. Where'd you find one anyway?"

"Uh, a what now?" Jaune blinked dumbly and the man raised an eyebrow.

"Never mind," he said eventually, shrugging one shoulder. "But the person you're looking for, a Maiden, right?" Jaune nodded stiffly. "Said Maiden wouldn't happen to be calling herself Cinder Fall, by chance?"

Jaune hissed back and the man looked on with regret.

"Well, good luck with that I guess." The man nodded.

"That's all you have to say?"

"Were you looking for some murderous declaration and sudden comradery?" the man asked, looking genuinely amused at the thought. "Listen, kid, that woman isn't worth your life so don't go giving it to her. Take it from someone who realised too late."

"You wouldn't be saying that if you knew what she'd done." Jaune snarled back as his fists tightened at his side. Who did this guy think he was anyway? Letting Cinder get away with her crimes was something he could not do.

"I think of the two of us I have a far better idea of what she's done and what she will do." The other prisoner shook his head. "Cinder isn't the kind of person you can just throw off a cliff or give an impassioned speech too and expect something to change. Killing her doesn't even begin to solve the real problems which you clearly know nothing about."

"Just who are you…?" Jaune asked slowly, there'd be no going back after he dived down this rabbit hole.

"Rowan Lupus," he nodded his head in greeting, "former guardian of the Fall Maiden, Amber Faraday. Now I'm just a shadow of a man who thought he could fix the problem but only made it worse. You?"

"Jaune Arc," he said in reply, "former Beacon student –"

"–With a grudge." Rowan interrupted. "Let me guess, Cinder killed someone you care about?"

"Yeah, you could say that…" Jaune mumbled looking down at the dirt for a long moment. Rowan grunted lowly, and when the blonde looked up he could see the older Huntsman watching him intently like he was finally figuring out the piece of a difficult puzzle. It made him uncomfortable to be so closely scrutinised.

"The girl that Ozpin was going to syphon off the rest of Amber's powers to," Rowan said with a sudden realisation. "Which means Cinder has all of Amber's powers. Guess Lionheart wasn't lying about that."

Rowan seemed to slump against his restraints and his eyes became glassy. It looked like he'd been vainly holding out hope that Amber was somehow still alive after everything that had happened. That he could save her. From the way Ozpin had talked about it, she'd been as good as dead regardless of what anyone else did. It seemed Rowan had believed otherwise.

But Pyrrha hadn't needed to be caught up in all of it.

'Destiny is cruel, isn't it?' Get lost, Jaune hissed back, he didn't need this right now. What had happened to Pyrrha was not destiny. Ozpin had lied to her to get what he wanted and all it had achieved was getting her killed. If only he… had he not been so weak and stupid. He might have been able to save her.

Ruby was right, they were losing. And he had no idea how they were going to turn things around, but he had to believe there was a way for them to do it. There just had to be.

"Piece of advice," Rowan said quietly as he looked up at the darkening sky, "let go whilst you still can, Jaune. I know you, I was you. It doesn't get any better going down the path ahead of you so turn back whilst you still can. If you don't you'll only get others killed because you can't let go."

Jaune wanted to reply. To say something in response. What he wasn't sure, but he knew he needed to say something, but Ruby came stumbling out of Raven's tent at that exact moment. Rather she was thrown out by Raven before the tribe leader started shouting orders at Sheep and a few moments later Jaune was free.

It took him a few minutes before the fact he was free sank in. His body ached something fierce when he tried to stand up after so long but he managed. Ruby offered him a hug of support. After a second, she let him stand on his own and he took a minute to walk around and get some real feeling back in his legs.

"You were right," she said as they say down together next to the fire, "back in Kuroyuri. All of this means nothing if we just lie down and accept defeat. We need to keep moving. So, let's figure a way out of here."

'Isn't she just a ray of positivity suddenly.' Jaune ignored the voice because seeing the determination in Ruby's eyes lifted his spirits. They had been laid down for the count after their encounter with Tyrion but they weren't done yet. Time to get up and go another round. 'Don't pretend you don't want to know what Branwen said. Don't ignore me, Jaune. You'll regret it.'

Looking to the side, Jaune did just that as he saw someone that could make a difference in the next round in their battle with Cinder. He nodded his head in Rowan's direction, Ruby following his gaze. She frowned, turning to look back at him, her eyes asking if this was a good idea.

It wasn't.

Jaune stood and walked over to Rowan, sitting down opposite him. The older man looked up, eying him for a second before looking over his shoulder to where Ruby stood. "Can't say I've ever met a Silver-Eyed Warrior before."

"I'm not a Silver-Eyed Warrior," Ruby said from her spot behind Jaune. "Having silver-eyes doesn't make me a one." Rowan hummed in mock thought but didn't reply. Looking over his shoulder Jaune had to wonder what all this talk of Silver-Eyed Warriors was but Ruby certainly looked emboldened compared to the past few days.

When the blonde looked back to Rowan he took a breath, but before he could ask Rowan shot him down with a blunt; "No."

"What do you mean no?" Jaune demanded in shock.

"Did you not listen to a word I said before?" Rowan's tone wasn't annoyed or sarcastic, or even condescending but rather pitying. He looked back at Jaune, almost silently begging him to not let this conversation go any further. "There is no happy ending where you're headed. Is this girl really worth the other lives it'll cost to bring Cinder down when she's only a small part of the problem?"

"Pyrrha," Jaune corrected. "Her name was Pyrrha-"

"-And this isn't about revenge." Ruby cut in before Jaune's voice could properly rise in anger. "We need to stop Cinder before she can do to others what she did to Pyrrha. It's what she'd want to do - to protect others."

"And that's a noble goal," Rowan nodded his head, "but not an achievable one because to even try you have to escape Raven and her goons which isn't happening any time soon."

"Not on our own," Ruby agreed, taking a step forward, "but you must have an idea of how to escape by now, right?"

"If I did do you really think I'd be still sitting here?"

"Yes," Jaune cut back in, glaring at Rowan fiercely, "because you're a coward. You're broken."

"Jaune," he could feel Ruby's hiss in his ear, her form now looming over him, but he refused to blink before Rowan. The older Huntsman looked at him differently than before.

"You realise what you're asking right...?" Rowan looked at them both now, worn and weathered. "This isn't something you come back from you'll be lucky if you're both not dead by the solstice and don't get me started on the long odds of you actually pulling this off."

"You say that like being a regular Huntsman has better odds of survival," Ruby said with surprising finality. "Every day could-"

"Be your last," Rowan nodded, sighing, "might as well make sure each one is as bright and helpful as the last; as Amber would say."

There was a long pause. Jaune could see the feelings of conflict behind Rowan's frown, and a part of him worried that maybe he'd still refuse them.

"So?"

"No." Rowan reaffirmed himself. Jaune felt ready to tear into the older Huntsman again for his cowardice again.

"You're not helping us really doesn't help our odds of surviving," Ruby said in a mumble

"My helping you means you won't survive." Rowan shook his head, letting out a low sigh. "It's not something I can explain but the short of it is am I ticking time bomb and you don't want to be around me when I go off. It won't be pretty.

"But, if you're dead set on trying to escape," Rowan said when he turned back to Jaune, "Sheep knows how to get out of here. I'm sure you two have noticed he doesn't exactly fit in around here, and I think he'd thank you for getting him away from the tribe. He'd get to disappear to wherever his heart desires and then you can go hunt Cinder."

"Can we trust him?" Ruby asked the rather obvious if necessary question.

Rowan snorted out a no in reply. "He's a bandit, just not a Branwen bandit if catch my meaning. Still, if he needs you as much as you need him, he'll come through for you. You just got to prove you're worth taking a risk over."

Rowan said no more as he let himself slouch against the stake, shutting his eyes and yawning. Taking the obvious hint, both Jaune and Ruby stood up and walked back over to their stakes to try and formulate a plan of some kind.

"If we're really going to do this," Ruby shook her head, "then it can't be about revenge anymore. Look where that's gotten us. We stop Cinder because if we don't she'll only hurt more people. We can't do anything for those we've lost, and more cold-blooded murder is hardly how they'd want to be remembered."

Jaune could tell the entire statement was a call back to their previous conversation. He nodded tightly. A part of him really wished he could let go of his hate in the same way Ruby had. But he couldn't. This mission to take down Cinder would always be about Pyrrha and nothing else.

'All this because of one kiss,' the voice was back again, with that same notable change that was hauntingly familiar. Still, he couldn't place it. Just where had he heard this voice before aside from in his own head? 'I do wonder what you'd be willing to do if you'd gone further than that?'

The taunting was growing more intense and Jaune was sure he was visibly shaking with anger. There was a hunger in the voice now as it continued its tirade – it'd found a weak spot and it sure as hell was going to keep stabbing at it. 'But that's part of the problem, isn't it? All that time, all those signs and you couldn't see what was right in front of you. Or maybe you just didn't want to. Maybe it's for the best things turned out the way they did, poor Pyrrha was only ever your partner, wasn't she?'

Shut up. Don't say her name again! Jaune seethed internally, Ruby seemed to be too distracted by working out the details of their escape to pay much attention to him. Believe me, I know you're not just in my head and if you so much as mention Pyrrha again like that –!

'My, you're touchy today,' the voice drawled, 'Tell me, Jaune, if our dear, sweat Pyrrha had lived what do you think you would have done? Would you have gone along with it: pretend to return the poor girl's affection when you so clearly didn't care for her in that way? Or would you have had the stones to tell her the truth? Oh, could you imagine the look on her face if you turned her down? Delicious.'

Bastard! The voice just laughed before it retreated into the darker corners of his mind, leaving him to snap back to the conversation in front of him. He'd missed a bit but Ruby and even Rowan were looking at him. Oh, he realised, he must've said that last part out loud.

"Jaune, are you okay?" He knew he was crying but had no real explanation as to why. He could hardly admit to what was going on his head, for more reasons than one. He carried with him so much shame and regret but if no one else knew he could keep a handle on it. He didn't want to think about how the others would look at him if they knew the truth.

Jaune grabbed onto the first thought that came to mind and narrowed his eyes, glaring at Rowan. "Bastard is really just going to sit there and do nothing whilst the world goes to hell," turning away he let out a hiss to himself, "how many people are going to die because he was too much of a coward to act?"

Rowan eyed him curiously for a long moment from across the space that made Jaune feel like the man knew what was going on in his head. In the end, he said nothing, and Ruby seemed to buy his excuse without much effort. It looked like she was just as disappointed by the man's refusal to help.

"If we do this right only one more person has to die," Ruby said, although her statement lacked her revived confidence.

"Now the first thing we need to do is work out Sheep's schedule," Ruby scowled, "the best idea is to wait a day or two before we try anything. I mean Raven wants to put us to work that works in our favour. It means we can learn the layout of the camp without any issues and find out where Sheep sleeps."

"And in a few days, we can go after Sheep when it's dark and be long gone before morning." Jaune finished, realising where this plan was going.

"It'll also mean fewer guards at the perimeter of the camp," Ruby nodded.

"We need to agree which night we want to do this and not eat that day," Jaune said, after checking there still wasn't anyone else within earshot. "We'll need some sort of Aura if we're going to make a run for it. Fewer guards don't mean we're home free. One might see us, so we'll also need gear but that might be hard, I doubt she'll let you near anything you could turn into a weapon if it can be avoided. Not to mention Harimau is the one who has your scythe."

"Trust me," Ruby smiled, "I have plenty of experience pretending to eat food from when I had to eat broccoli as a kid." Jaune wasn't entirely sold but made no comment. "As for Harimau... I'll figure that out once we find out where your sword and shield are."

Any further discussion was quickly abandoned when members of the tribe started wandering around nearby again, having finished their meals. Thankfully their plan was now set, they just had to execute it. One thing was certain though, they had a long few days ahead of them.

The next two days passed without much incident as Jaune and Ruby worked alongside Sheep, performing simple and degrading tasks. Sheep had barely spoken a word to them and it was only through luck that Ruby stumbled on which tent belonged to their taskmaster just before dinner on the second day.

Locating their gear had been an easier task because now both Crescent Rose and Crocea Mors were being stowed in a supply tent where the pair had spent most of their first day working for Sheep, cleaning weapons and sorting through old ammo. A bandit had stood guard the entire time.

There were a few bandits that looked at them with distaste and it was obvious there were some split opinions over the fact that they'd been set free. No one made their opinion as known better than Harimau, who spent much of the first night glaring at them after she returned from wherever she normally went during the days. The bandit was still carrying around Crescent Rose at the time, much to Ruby's poorly masked displeasure. Unfortunately, they couldn't do much about it. Harimau's ritual of glaring at them was cut short when Raven called on her. Although her displeasure at being summoned was clear, the bandit dared not defy her leader.

It took all of thirty seconds for Harimau to start shouting about something. Whatever it was about seemed to be a rather one-sided argument because even when Jaune strained his ears, getting as close as he dared to Raven's tent, he could not hear her shout back. The argument was over as soon as it had started and a minute later Harimau was storming out of Raven's tent sans Crescent Rose.

"You." Harimau hissed as her eyes found Ruby. Cracking her neck, the bandit woman looked ready to make a run at Ruby before the pink-haired woman who was one of Raven's lieutenants stepped into her path. "Move, Baiken."

Baiken's response was to use a thumb to gently push against the guard of her blade, partially pushing it from its sheath as her other hand came to grasp the hilt.

"Move," Harimau repeated, seething.

"You'll be dead before you reach her, Harimau," Baiken said with an edge of annoyance. "Is she really worth your life?"

"Is she worth yours?" Harimau replied cryptically. Jaune figured it was supposed to be a threat of some kind, but it wasn't like the white-haired bandit had any sort of advantage.

The standoff continued for some time, more than a few other bandits coming to spectate the whole event. In the end, it was Harimau that blinked first, standing down with another crack of her neck.

"That could have gone worse," Baiken murmured as she let her sword slide back into its sheath. From somewhere inside one of her sleeves, she produced her pipe, lighting it before heading in the direction of Raven's tent. Just about every bandit who had come to watch suddenly scattered before Baiken's ire could fall on them.

No one had seen Harimau since. Not that Jaune could really complain. Without her Sheep seemed less cagey and Ruby relaxed a little now the woman after her head was no longer around. With having gathered all the information they needed and the largest threat to their escape gone, it was time to act.

So, when the large bonfire was nothing but embers on the third night after being freed, Jaune sat up and took a deep breath. The time for their escape had come.

It'd been hours since the last bandit had retired to sleep, the guard should be in the process of changing if his timing was right which gave them a small window to act. A fog had rolled in, bring with it a surprising chill for the time of year. Next, to him Ruby rolled over from where she was pretending to sleep, looking up at him and nodding – they'd agreed the night before that when the time came he would be the one to deal with Sheep whilst Ruby would go and retrieve their weapons.

Reflecting on it as he crept through the camp, the fog would provide them with extra cover during their escape Jaune thought, thankful for the bizarre stroke of luck. Now they just needed the last piece of the puzzle: Sheep.

The tribes whipping boy spent his evening in a raggedy tent that had included several notable holes in the fabric. Slipping inside, Jaune found the boy was fast asleep on his cot with his back to the tent's entrance. Do his best to be quiet, Jaune slipped up behind Sheep and rolled him over. The motion stirred him awake as the blonde had hoped it would, but the surprise came when Sheep didn't seem at all surprised to see him in his tent.

The reason why made herself apparent a moment later, silently coming up behind Jaune and putting a large knife to his throat.

"Raven figured you'd attempt something sooner or later," Vernal said as Jaune could feel his heart drop into his stomach. The entire time Raven had known they were planning their escape. Using her spare hand to grab his hair, Raven's youngest lieutenant marched him out of Sheep's tent and back towards the large area at the centre of the camp where the others waited for them.

Raven stood before the newly relit fire with her arms crossed, Ruby held by Baiken as Momo held onto their weapons.

"I can only assume you talked them into trying this," Raven said, looking sideways at Rowan as Vernal threw Jaune down onto the ground, putting a foot between his shoulders to hold him down.

"You give me too much credit," Rowan replied dryly. He might not have been able to have seen much from his current position, but Jaune could see that Raven didn't look the least bit convinced by the renegade Huntsman's words.

"Dogs shouldn't struggle against their leashes, Lupus," Raven said as she unfolded her arms, "you might end up breaking your neck." The tribe leader stepped forward now as Vernal removed her foot, bending over to drag Jaune back up onto his knees. Raven stopped right in front of him, but he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of acknowledging her. Vernal just grabbed the back of his hair, forcing him to look up at Yang's biological mother.

Jaune caught the faintest hint of an approving smirk before Raven's face become like stone. Maybe his defiance had impressed her somewhat. "All you had to do was be patient and behave yourselves. Qrow would've been back in another day or so and we'd all have moved on. Instead, you break the trust I put in you and force my hand." There was no hiding meaning here, Raven's hand went straight to the hilt of her blade, the mechanism in the sheath spinning before she pulled out a blue blade. "I think one hand will be enough of a message, don't you Vernal?"

Jaune could feel the panic building as Raven gestured to his right arm with the tip of her blade. Yet Vernal never replied. Craning his neck, Jaune could barely see her looking past her superior into the fog as a distant scream cut the air. Everyone turned to look, the fog on the east side of the camp had turned red. It crackled with energy before a thundering roar cut across the entire camp.

The old Bullhead the bandits had stolen was now a fiery pile of slack and scrap metal.

"The Bullhead…" Vernal stammered and Raven's face became a portrait of rage. "Raven. what's going on?"

"Harimau." Raven hissed and Jaune swore he something in her eyes at that moment that wasn't natural. "We've been betrayed. Salem's forces have found us. Baiken, Momo, you know your tasks." Jaune was shocked to see the two older lieutenants not say a single word of protest - in fact, Baiken helped Ruby back to her feet before Momo passed her Crescent Rose and threw Crocea Mors over to him as Vernal released him.

"Raven you can't be serious!" Vernal as the others vanished into the camp and Raven walked over to Rowan.

"Don't make me regret this, Lupus." She said, before cutting through the chains in a single swing. He looked utterly shocked at the turn of events but did his best to scramble to shaky feet. "Vernal, you know what to do in this situation." Jaune was too busy grabbing his weapon to pay much else attention to the coming argument before he ran to join Ruby.

The argument Jaune had been expecting never came as from inside the mist, something stirred, fleshy footsteps thudding against the ground as the temperature dipped dramatically and the bonfire flared wildly. All five of them stood and watched in horror as a lithe figure taller than anyone else Jaune had ever met (which was tall given his father was just shy of seven foot) with white, leathery skin pulled tight across the bone and unnatural muscle. Grimm bone-like protrusion jutting out of both shoulders like pauldrons with black veins running from its chest up to its neck, but its face was worse as it bore no feature. No eyes, or nose, or ears or even hair. Just a band of small spikes jutting out at the eye line. Its mouth was fleshy and fixed in a perpetual teeth-baring grin; gnarled, serrated teeth that twisted every which way like a pit of rusting rotting spikes. Something was dragging behind it, shackled its right wrist.

The thing, because it was certainly no human, hissed lowly, the noise skull splitting as Jaune stood clutching his head. And then it spoke: "bRAnwEn." Jaune instinctively threw his hands over his ears. The thing's voice was something out of a nightmare, matching the rest of it, he supposed. rising and falling in pitch as its words were an assault on the ears. It was like a perpetual scream of pain which the monster could somehow talk through.

"Homunculi." Raven hissed back.

'It is. Through license of Her will, it has cometh to plunder and pillage.' the voice in his head laughed as Jaune's balance came back to him, 'Inheritor of Her boundless rage, from out of smoke it comes, born of fire and blood it shall drag its feet across this hollow earth. The embodiment of her fury, her one-winged angel ascended to begin the killing. It is. So, it is here.'

What? Jaune thought as the voice kept laughing.

'You might want to start running, Jaune. Things are about to get very messy.' If he was sweating before, he was now, and it had nothing to do with the sudden heat.

"sIlvER-eYeS." The thing hissed as its sightless gaze fell on Ruby after it examined the rest of their small group. "kIlL." With a jerk of its right arm, the thing it'd been dragging behind it suddenly came flying into view. A giant stone-forged axe with a jagged blade of raw, uncut red dust. Even then the thing looked almost fleshy in places with Grimm bones protruding from the shaft and a strange sphere embedded in the blade, a dark mist twisting inside it.

The creature threw itself at Ruby with such speed that Jaune didn't even realise it had moved at first.

"Vernal, what are you waiting for?" Raven shouted at them as it intercepted the things charge, catching the curve of its axe with her sword before she kicked out at it, "I'll hold the Grimm back. Now run!" Jaune needed no further prompting, and neither did Rowan who took off westward and the blonde followed, taking hold of Ruby as he did so. Only for her to stagger to a halt after a few steps, dropping to her knees as she clutched her chest.

"Ruby!" Jaune cried as he ran back to her. "Ruby, what's wrong!?"

"My chest hurts," Ruby said, sounding like she could barely breathe, "and I can hear them. In my head. All of them, Jaune. So many. It hurts."

"Hear who?" He asked quickly as he tried to help her up, thankfully the Grimm - if that's what it was - was no longer in sight as it was too busy dealing with Raven. Good thing too, otherwise the thing might have just forgone Raven and jumped them.

"All the people that thing has killed." Jaune didn't have time to reply or to question what Ruby was saying because as he scooped her up as Vernal came running around the side of the tent. She looked torn and the blonde could hear the faint sounds of clashing blades and shouts of people running to Raven's aid whilst she ordered them to stay back or they'd die.

"Come on, we're leaving!" Vernal shouted as she passed Rowan before cutting upwards to head north-west, "This way!" Jaune did as he was told and took off fast as he could whilst carrying Ruby. They had to get as far away as possible before either the Grimm killed Raven or eluded her long enough to pursue them. All Jaune really knew anymore was that the thing clearly wanted to kill Ruby and it wouldn't stop until it did so and he wasn't sure anyone alive could stop it.

Song: Run To The Hills as performed by Iron Maiden