So, uh, kinda messed up that last one at the end. It's no problem, got it all fixed thanks to the help of a helpful hirshja, so thank him for the fix at the end of the last chapter. Anyway, so this could be considered the first real chapter for you fine fellows, so have at thee!

I do not own Roosterteeth,

or the rights to RWBY,

and may Monty Oum be forever unbound by death.

It was drizzling over Beacon's courtyard, the dense clouds casting the world below in gray. Fitting, it would seem, for the information about to be delivered to teams _NPR and RWBY. It was the third day the esteemed campus was without their resident knight, and this time had done naught but heighten the anxiety felt by the entirety of both teams.

Weiss, filled with regret at her coldness, swore to apologize on his return.

Blake, who was never really close to him swore to change that.

Yang, who was a little angry, wanted to maybe, kinda, sorta punch his lights out for worrying her lil' sis.

Ruby, who just wanted to see her best friend again.

Ren and Nora, who both just wanted to see their brother in all but blood again.

Finally, Pyrrah. When he returned, she would first confess her feelings to him, before heightening his training regiment to obscene levels (Nora offered help with strength training). She was too scared to lose him again, so they would all be stronger so something like this would never happen again. After their first date of course.

So when it was told to the two teams that the Fourth Years sent to retrieve him was returning, you could safely bet that they all waited, some more begrudgingly than others, in the light drizzle. They were not alone, however, as Miss Goodwitch and Ozpin both wanted to see the return of the JNPR's leader as well. There were only so many times one could be pestered about return times before one went insane, after all. So the nine defenders of humanity, seven of which defenders to be, could only look on with anticipation as the bullhead slowly pulled into port.

Their anticipation was quickly met with despair, however, as the doors to the bullhead opened.

Medical staff rushed past the nine figures, causing all nine to worry as they retrieved the fourth year students. Two had to be carried out on stretchers as the other half of the team supported each other in their walk onto Beacon grounds. Upon passing the professors, they exchanged a few words before proceeding to the main campus, presumably to the infirmary. As the two professors looked back to the seven gathered before them with softened eyes, they took in the state of those gathered before them.

Pyrrah seemed to be in shock, a smile stuck on a face adorned with eyes in a thousand yard stare. Nora was supporting herself on Ren, who could only give as much support as possible to the small redhead. Ruby was constantly saying denials as she drew her head over further over her head. Yang had wrapped Ruby in a bear hug, though for the support of the younger sibling or herself was unknown. Blake seemed distant, and a bit disheartened. Weiss' face was contorted with regret with a tinge of sadness as she looked back towards the professors. They were not going to enjoy passing the news.

"The team was met with heavy resistance immediately upon arriving at the location, unsurprising given the sudden lack at the main territory occupier. It seems that we may have overestimated the strength of the Grimm that would appear, resulting in the state of the team." Pyrrah had sunken to her knees partway through, tears spilling from emerald eyes and over the cracked smile still stuck on her face. Ren and Nora weren't much better, Ren's stoicism cracking as he supported Nora as she was wracked with sobs. Ruby too had collapsed, dragging the elder sibling with her as they both shed tears. Blake shed a tear or two, more distraught at the thought than for any personal reason. Weiss' look of regret only deepened as she cast her gaze to the soaked cobble below.

"However,"

All seven students quickly returned their gaze to the two professors, eyes of all filled with varying amounts of hope.

"We do have an agent out there already that can attempt to track down your friend, one the two of you," he pointed at the present blonde and the red reaper. "Know quite well. Some dusty, old crow."

Ruby let out a cheer as relief flooded through the gathered students. Glynda only cocked an eyebrow at Ozpin as she quickly typed up a message to said agent. They both knew he would not appreciate the request, but they did have the very persuasive opinion of his nieces, so he should be up to it. With a wave of his hand, Ozpin dismissed the gathered teens, and as the seven made their way back to the dorms and the resident cookie addict spread Qrow's legacy to the corruptible youth (as Glynda put it), his old soul was tinged with worry. The state of the fourth years did not pose a promising picture for their Dork Knight.

Fuck it's cold

This thought made its way through Jaune's head as me made his way south, rain seeming to pour between the leaves above. He was absolutely soaked by this point, and shivering like he was more hyper than Nora with a sugar rush.

Gotta find shelter, build shelter, whatever.

Ah, yes. Plans. Single step, easy to understand, and agreeable with all involved. So he decided that where he ended up was as good as any spot to stop. Not like he knew where he was going without the sun anyway, so attempting to progress would be a dumb idea anyhow. So he gathered some tall branches that held a decent amount of leaves, and quickly set about forming some sort of cover for himself. It wasn't his first time doing so, as camping with his father tended to be more… extreme than most others enjoyed. Nicholas Arc's minimalist camping style went down to the tents they didn't pack. Unfortunately, all tinder that would be used to build some sort of warming fire was soaked, and given that Ren had been carrying the pack, he was kinda screwed.

Least I'm out of the rain.

That's it, positive thoughts. It's how you survive in Grimm infested forestry. So he huddled in the corner of his makeshift tent, Crocea Mors at his side and hoodie laid out to dry as he drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

Or he would have, had a furious growling not startled him back to reality. His sword was already drawn and he stood in a clumsy stance, one that would have better fit if he had a shield to pair with his sword. He paid it no mind as he instead focused on the surrounding noises of the forest. All he could hear at the moment was the constant pitter patter of the rain, its noise muffled on the leaves of the branches and the already muddy earth.

GROOOOOOOOAN

He almost smacked himself at his own stupidity as he recognized the source of the noise. He gave his stomach a glare as he settled back down. Of course he was hungry, it's not like he was already cold, wet, and tired. No, he would get hungry in the rain. The cold, drenching, scent masking, noise muffling…

This time he did smack himself as he struggled to put on his torn hoodie. Doing things one handed would definitely take some getting used to. So after a minute, he drew his sword and exited his little hut.

He hadn't hunted in a while. Well, not for traditional prey at least. He should have some skill left over from his days at home. As he looked back over his past however, and compared it to what he still knew, he knew two things. A, it would be a pain in the ass to find tracks in this rain washing down the earth, and B, he had no range. It wasn't as if a deer would just be strolling out here, especially not in this weather.

To the surprise of literally nobody, he was right.

In the stead of a deer, however, he did find something else, and it was actually very surprising.

Peeking around the edge of a tree, he confirmed what he saw to make sure he hadn't glimpsed a Grimm and thought it food. To his even greater surprise and joy, he hadn't.

A lone boar was digging through the softened earth at the base of a tree, its huffing and snorting audible from Jaune's distance of less than ten feet. It couldn't be over a yard long, and it's muscles bulged slightly beneath its skin and fur. A tough chew, and it needed to be cooked if he didn't want to get sick, but a valuable find nonetheless. So Jaune quickly crouched down, proceeding to move closer to its snorting form as stealthily as he could. The squelching of the mud beneath him was disappointing, yet it was also nothing that the rain failed to mask. He made it to a distance of three feet before he stopped pushing his luck. The rain was lightening by this point, and thus his noise canceler was almost out. He knew he would probably have one shot at this lunge if he wanted to preserve as much meat as possible, so he waited for it to emerge from the burrow.

And waited.

And waited.

And then he waited a bit more.

After a bit more waiting, the boar backed out slightly, revealing the back of its head and exposing it's neck. Jaune leapt forth, his sword leading the jump as it swiftly closed the distance between the flesh and blade. The boar let out a silent wheeze as its life was ended before it got the chance to squeal. The blade cut deep, severing the spinal cord and digging into the jowls of the hog. Jaune, with no small effort, removed his blade from the corpse, holding it out in the fading rain to wash off the blood that stained it's white metal. It worked, and he sheathed his sword afterwards, proceeding to bend down and pick up the carcass.

That... was not a good idea. One hundred and fifty pounds with one hand was a bit much for a lot of people, and he probably would have torn his rotator cuff if not for his aura. The realization that he would have to sacrifice some prime meat struck him slightly, as it seemed almost disrespectful to do so. He needed to eat though, and that meant he could only take parts of the boar. It also meant skinning and cleaning it, which he was definitely not looking forward to.

C'mon Jaune, you saw your own arm on the floor, distinctly NOT attached to your shoulder, you can clean a pig!

One shameless timeskip later…

One butchered boar and several dry heaves later, Jaune successfully had what he could scavenge off the borderline desecrated corpse. In a disgusting bag made from it's mangled skin was about five pounds of meat and a few bones. He left the rest for whatever animals decided to take up the free meal.

During his time spent cleaning the animal, he realized that he would need to get the meat either dried or cooked before it spoiled, and decided that a smoky fire was better than no fire. That didn't mean he wouldn't look for the driest tinder available, but it had only stopped raining a few minutes ago, so he would be lucky if he found much of anything. So he moved back to his makeshift hut, where he hoped to collect some wood from the innermost branches. To his luck, they were dry! Or, at least drier than the wood outside the hut, so he used it to build a small campfire.

Now the problem lay in actually lighting the fire. He could try twirling a stick in some wood, but he'd just end up tiring himself out before he actually accomplished anything. It wasn't as if he had any better options though, so he gave it a shot. To his surprise, it only took an hour and a half of spinning a stick against some wood!

To his despair, it only took so long because of the whole, you know, sudden right handedness? He was a righty before the whole… you know, so it was more the fact of having to do it one handed. Anyway, yeah, having only one hand made it a lot more difficult than it needed to be. So he blew on the fire in an effort to get it to grow, and it did so with it's natural hunger. The smoke was not as bad as it could have been, only leaving a small trail of black to taint the sky. He quickly set out a portion of the meat to cook on some flat stones, setting the rest out to dry for rations on the road.

Jerky. Unseasoned, pork jerky. Yay me.

He felt excused for his lack of enthusiasm, yet he quickly brought himself out of it nonetheless. He wished he had Ren's semblance, but no. Instead, he still didn't even know his. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he flipped the cooking pork over.

Wonder what the others are doing. Better without me? Maybe. Not the time to think about it now,

He prodded the stones that held the meat upon them away from the burning fire with his sword, letting them cool slightly before picking up and biting into the relatively bland meat.

Just got to focus on getting home. To them. To her.