Pyrrha had seen her share of Nevermores before. As part of her training she'd cut through dozens of them, though they proved to be quite the nuisance at times given her melee-oriented skillset. This thing would need a bit more than a rifle shot to bring down to earth.

"Does that thing have a forty foot wingspan?" Jaune wondered aloud, and Pyrrha had to nod. The thing was massive, given that it blocked out the sun and was easily a couple hundred feet up.

"We should probably pretend we didn't see that." Ruby said with a surprising amount of cheer, continuing to walk forward and towards said Grimm. "Just don't panic and it might not even notice us."

She could say that, but Jaune was simply dripping with apprehension. Pyrrha tried to give him a reassuring smile but she had a feeling that he wasn't exactly cut out for facing something that scary just yet. If he'd 'faced' anything at all, which she was somewhat skeptical of.

"If it does notice us, then we're going to get killed." Weiss argued, storming to Ruby and grabbing her by the arm. Pyrrha noticed a hint of fear in Weiss voice that Ruby seemed to be ignoring as she pulled her arm free. "We can't fight that on our own."

"Weiss is right." Pyrrha concurred, which actually made Ruby turn around. "Even if we could grab the relics, we'd be right in the Nevermore's line of sight. It'd be too risky."

Ruby seemed to consider this, her eyes measuring Jaune as her lips pursed in thought. Her gaze then shifted to Pyrrha and Weiss in turn, and all present could tell that there really wasn't any deliberation going on. Ruby didn't look like the sort of person to take anything too seriously, so the look of stoic thought was really not necessary.

"Not an option." She stated matter-of-factly. "We're on limited time to get our pieces, and we're being monitored for performance so we can't exactly run scared."

"They don't want us to fight something like that." Weiss countered. "Even a fully trained huntsman would have problems with that."

"Well we're not supposed to give up on the mission Weiss." Ruby countered, shrugging. "Just because it's scary doesn't mean we can let a town burn down, or a powerful Grimm wander around unchallenged."

"I'm not scared." Weiss huffed, crossing her arms.

The redhead could see Ruby's expression soften from her faux aloofness to something a bit more kind, the older girl stepping forward and putting a hand on Weiss' shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm not going to let my partner get hurt."

Pyrrha's teeth set for a moment at the phrase, her eyes drifting sidelong to look at Jaune. She wasn't so sure about that, but she'd have to have a conversation with Ruby later about it.

"That goes for you two as well." Ruby interrupted Pyrrha's thoughts and the Gladiator was happy it didn't seem anyone noticed anything amiss. "I know a few tricks to get us out of a bind."

"Ruby, I trust you, and you look strong..." Jaune audibly gulped as pulled his sword and shield from his back and set his lips in a line. "Let's go."

"You can say that, but we need a plan." Pyrrha sighed.

"Simple diversion." Ruby smiled, rubbing her hands together as she looked up at the Nevermore, which was slowly circling back to them. "I just need a bit of help from Pyrrha, and Weiss..." Ruby sized Jaune up for a moment. "lift with your knees, not your back."

Blake and Yang stood near the edge of the forest, both peeking around the side of a tree as they weighed their options. They could plainly see the Nevermore, and though it was now circling away from them they were still deciding how to move. They were within sight of the ruins, Blake could even see the pieces sitting on top of the pedestals as they glinted in the sunlight.

"Alright, so while it's facing the other way we make a dash for the ruins." Yang whispered, a wholly unnecessary thing given how high up the nevermore was. She almost seemed excited by the risk that they'd have to fight that thing, which caused Blake to smile a little in spite of herself. She could definitely see how Yang was Ruby's sister. She was less in-your-face than Ruby, which she appreciated, but they both had a certain playfulness about them.

"Ready?" Yang turned to Blake, who nodded. They both tensed, paused, then made a mad dash for the ruins. Blake was able to keep pace with the Blonde, and the two of them made sure to double check that the monster wasn't circling back as they ran.

When they reached the smooth stone steps that lead up to the central platform they paused, taking a position against a low wall. As they looked over at the great flying thing, they could see it scanning the ground, looking for some morsel to snack on Blake supposed, its gentle arc taking it further and further away.

"It looks like we're not the first people to get here, huh." Yang muttered as she started looking at the different pedestals. Of all 12 or so, three were missing, leaving an odd piece out and a bunch of pairs. The blonde walked up to a comically sized white knight and inspected it, tossing it up and down to gauge the weight. Blake could see that the other girl was sizing up the odd piece, making a judgement call in her head.

"I think we're supposed to just grab one at random." Blake said, standing between Yang and the other piece. "We run into people at random to make pairs, grab pieces at random to make groups."

Yang sighed before nodding, gripping her piece tightly for a moment then relaxing. "I was just wondering if my sister had got here before us."

As if on cue, the pair heard a great squawk in the distance.

Blake whipped around to see the Nevermore listing over, its trajectory thrown off as if it had been struck by a cannon. As it struggled to recover, and as it fought to right itself the sounds of people running came closer. Moments later Jaune and Weiss appeared on the scene, dashing into the ruins without much ceremony.

"What are you guys-" Blake began, but paused when she recognized what was going on. Weiss was breathing heavy and her expression could not be any more dour. In her arms, being carried bridal style and holding on for dear life was Jaune Arc. In fact, Jaune's eyes were wide open as he looked between Yang and Blake, any trace of his sickly-sweet smooth-talking persona completely gone while he hung in Weiss' arms.

There was a pregnant silence. Yang was struggling against the very fiber of her being to keep her laughter in check. Blake was trying desperately to wrap her head around whatever the fuck those two were doing standing so brazenly like that. Weiss looked like she wanted to get swallowed by the very earth itself as she avoided eye contact with either of the other two huntresses. Jaune looked as happy as a clam being carried around like this.

"So..." Yang drawled, her hands on her hips as she seemed to squint in contemplation. "Is it just me or is the entire Prince and Princess thing here all sorts of backwards."

It was Blake's turn to stifle a snort as Weiss' ears turned a threatening shade of red.

"Wait am I the princess?" Jaune asked, his expression pensive as he contemplated his position. The tension turned painful as he looked up into Weiss' baleful expression. Quietly, so much so that it could barely be heard over the breeze, he mumbled. "Weiss you sure are strong."

"Jaune if you don't let go of my neck in the next nanosecond I'm walking into the forest and feeding you to a bear." Weiss stated with such matter-of-fact malice that Jaune went limp in an instant, falling from her hands and landing on the cobbles with a thud. She brushed herself off for a moment, mumbling to herself before flicking an imaginary mote of dust off her shoulder.

"We're talking about this later." Yang said, her grin reaching from ear to ear.

"No we're not." Weiss hissed, marching over to one of the pedestals and snatching up one of the pieces, Jaune doing the same while rubbing his sore rump.

"Where are your partners?" Blake asked, surprised they were both taking one given their state when they arrived moments before.

"Ruby and Pyrrha had the bright idea of knocking the Nevermore out of the sky." Said the heiress with a scowl.

"They're fighting it alone?!" Yang nearly shouted, taking a step towards Weiss.

"Ruby and Pyrrha said they were going to 'clip' it, then run away and meet us at the cliffs." Jaune explained, frowning a bit. "I don't think they're planning on actually trying to kill it."

Ruby threw herself away from the falling Nevermore, flipping backwards as she did so to land against a tree. She'd crashed into it with enough speed that she was certain she'd broken its wing, her momentum great enough that she was surprised she hadn't torn it off. The Grimm writhed on the ground, flipping itself onto its huge talons and scanning the surroundings for what had injured it.

Pyrrha dashed through the woods to the flattened ring of trees, sliding onto the scene and reaching out with her semblance to detect Ruby and her axe. When she found a 'weight' that reacted to her semblance, she found it was much, much heavier than she expected. When she got close, however, it faded significantly, and she found Ruby surrounded by a small haze of petals that she slid into a pocket on her trousers, axe hanging from her back on a cord.

That's odd.

"You know, at this point I assumed it'd be fading out of existence." Ruby sighed, looking down to Pyrrha with a look of disappointment. "You know, going really fast is my entire thing, it's a bit disappointing that turning myself into a big cannonball doesn't do more damage."

"We can try again another time." Pyrrha said with a bit of a laugh, her gaze landing on the Grimm once more and feeling a bit nervous. The thing was certainly down, but it was not out. "For now, we should probably focus on meeting up with the others, this won't be chasing anyone anytime soon."

Ruby raised an arm as a gust of wind crashed into her, dust and gravel bouncing against her aura as the Nevermore beat its great wings. When it fell to the earth it flattened a wide swath of trees, and now it was trying to use its one good wing to fly back up, its broken limb moving at awkward angles. It was effectively grounded, but still rather dangerous.

"We've done enough damage, Ruby." Pyrrha shouted, holding her hoplon up to block the flying detritus. "It can't fly, and it'll take time for it to recover."

"Fine." Ruby sighed as she leapt over another volley of feathers and landed near Pyrrha. She grabbed Pyrrha's hand and gave her a grim look. "But if it gets up in the air again, we're finishing the job."

In a flash of red they disappeared, two tone red petals flying through the forest, their speed bolstered by the fair gale the Nevermore was blowing. It raced through the forest, around trees and through underbrush before breaking into the grassy clearing of the plain. The two reappeared and Ruby paused for a moment while the younger girl got her bearings.

"That is... a bizarre sensation." Pyrrha groaned, shaking her head as she tried to figure out where down was.

"I assure you," Ruby smiled, grinning at Pyrrha as she pulled her towards the cliffs. "When you fly with me you always land feet-first."

"I'm pretty sure my feet didn't exist for most of that." Pyrrha laughed with a bit of strain as she followed Ruby, obviously glad that they weren't traveling the entire way with her semblance.

As they dashed through the woods a comfortable silence fell between them. Ruby led the way, Pyrrha following close behind, matching the path that the taller girl was weaving through the undergrowth. The only noise they could hear was the sounds of boots against soft earth, their own breathing, and the odd chirp of birds.

Ruby could tell there was something up after a while. She had been focusing on her pace, her head clear as she ran, but she could almost feel the words on the tip of Pyrrha's tongue. Ruby would land from a jump for Pyrrha to surge forward, hem and haw, then fall back again. Normally the brunette was fine with letting people think through things... But they had a fair run ahead of them and it was as good a reason to take a break as any, even if she didn't feel tired at all.

"I got a rock in my shoe," Ruby muttered, slowing to a walk before backing up against a tree and tugging against the knot her laces were in. She stifled a giggle when Pyrrha nearly slid by, obviously too in her own thoughts to notice that they were pausing. "Just gimme a sec."

"Of course." Pyrrha smiled, taking the moment to tighten her own laces. The silence got a little thick as she stared gormlessly down at the earth.

"Do you want me to get you a shovel?" Ruby asked, waving her hand in Pyrrha's field of view. When the gladiator blinked she laughed a bit, settling back against the tree. "What's on your mind?"

"I'm not sure that Jaune and I are really supposed to be partners." Pyrrha said after some hesitation. Ruby regarded her without expression for a moment as she chewed over the thought. She wasn't exactly neutral in this, she had been jonesing for Pyrrha to be her partner. "But I'm not exactly sure."

"Well," Ruby began, crossing her arms. "You were looking at him when he was conked out, right?" Pyrrha nodded before opening her mouth as if to speak, but she relented. "Then you looked at moi, and he spoke up."

"I thought he was asleep until he said we were partners. I thought I was partnered with you because he was... Well."

"Dead to the world?"

"Right."

There was another pause as Ruby thought for a moment before scratching her head. "Well, as best I know, we can't say one way or another, and the profs are probably listening in on us right now." Ruby tied her laces up, completely forgetting to shake out the imaginary rock, taking the moment to think. "Jaune needs a partner that can look out for him given his particular... Needs."

"And Weiss isn't it." Pyrrha said with a sigh, nodding. "She does come across as a little abrasive."

Ruby scoffed at that, the corner of her lips turned up, "Abrasive is certainly a democratic way of putting it. The bigger issue is that with his over-earnest advances – and that's its own problem– will eventually cause her to snap. She'll throw him out a window. Or kill him. Or kill him by throwing him out a window."

"And so, someone must be on Jaune duty." Pyrrha finished, shaking her head.

"He's a good kid. Mostly. He is not Huntsman material in the slightest, looks like he's scared of his shadow... Definitely hasn't gone to a prep school..." Ruby noticed that Pyrrha wasn't exactly laughing with her on this laundry list so she changed tone. "He got in somehow, there has to be a reason. We can help him, together."

"And if we really are partners, you and I?" Pyrrha asked.

Ruby considered being partners a thing of convenience given that they were all going to the same school anyways. They might not be staying in the same room on the same teams, but they'd still be in proximity. But, as she looked at Pyrrha, she realized that wasn't the case for others.

"I mean," Pyrrha sputtered for a moment as she turned away from Ruby. "I can't believe I'm talking about this but you seem nice." Pyrrha covered her eyes before turning back around and sagging a bit. "I find it hard to make good friends, given my... popularity. But you've been very normal with me, and that's really important to me. If I had a choice, I'd choose to be partnered with you."

"Jaune is nice, but that's because he doesn't know. He's just as happy to chase after Weiss as anyone else. And that's fine, I mean, if Weiss doesn't mind. But you and I last night felt like a sleepover, and I've never been to one of those before." Pyrrha closed her eyes, feeling well and truly awkward now. "I'd love to spend more time with you."

"Wow." Ruby breathed, stepping forward and putting a hand on Pyrrha's arm. "I'll still be your friend regardless of whether or not we're partners." She put on her best smile as she lifted her other hand and lifted Pyrrha's gaze from the woods behind the brunette. "Jaune doesn't gotta be your best bud because he's your partner, and I don't gotta be a stranger because I'm not." She shook Pyrrha gently before pulling her into a hug, which the Gladiator returned rather hesitantly. "I don't know why you're feeling like this, I don't really understand what you've been through, but I'm still planning on being your friend."

Pyrrha squirmed a bit in the hold, feeling a little awkward with how intense Ruby had gotten all of a sudden. She did feel a bit anxious about the partner thing, but the emotional display was... Well it was a bit much. She felt even more embarrassed now.

"Thanks Ruby." Pyrrha pulled back and could see that Ruby was surprised by what she'd done, her brows furrowed as she backed up a step. "I'm more uncertain about Jaune though, I believe you."

"Yeah that was..." Ruby sighed as her face tensed. "Reminded me of someone." She flapped her hand dismissively as she started walking again, motioning for Pyrrha to follow. "That was embarrassing, wow."

"Does Yang get worked up easily?" Pyrrha asked, now curious.

"Yang?" Ruby sounded confused, not understanding how her sister related.

"You said I reminded you of someone?"

"Ah. Well." Ruby glared off into the woods away from Pyrrha. "You actually don't look anything like her, but I had a similar experience with someone opening up and it was a bit traumatic." Ruby sniffed dramatically, as if to emphasize the point. "Actually, now that you mention it Yang did throw herself into me when she realized that I was back. She's more of the standoffish type"

Ruby continued to babble, her levity returning and the tone shift giving Pyrrha a small amount of whiplash. She could tell Ruby was willing to rush away from the topic as quickly as possible, and when Ruby made a heel-turn into their youth on the island of Patch she knew for a fact Ruby was embarrassed. Deflection seemed to be her tool of choice when she was flustered, though Pyrrha had no idea what really caused it.

She half-listened to Ruby's meandering words, more than willing to let her talk about nothing while they walked. They were more or less following a deer path through the woods, the worn path weaving between trees and through bushes. Looking up through the canopy the sky could barely be seen, whatever light made it through was tinted slightly green.

Ruby eventually paused, turning and walking backwards as she held a pensive expression, her earlier state forgotten. "About Jaune."

"Yes?"

"Two thoughts." Ruby showed an uncanny ability to follow the path, but Pyrrha could see a tree branch sticking out of the earth... "One, Jaune needs someone to teach him how to fight, I don't think they teach the basics at Beac- gurk"

Ruby sailed backwards, her arms pinwheeling for a moment as she tried to stay upright. Before she keeled over Pyrrha was able to grab her arm and save her from the fall.

"Do they teach walking here?" Pyrrha chuckled as Ruby pouted and righted herself.

"Hey I could have died, and you're making fun of me?" Ruby huffed, shoving her hands in her pockets before squeezing in beside her compatriot on the path. "As I was saying, someone needs to teach him how to fight, and probably how to use an aura. You're the best choice for that, but, I won't be abandoning you to look after him." Ruby elbowed Pyrrha gently before glancing down the shallow ravine they were walking along. "I rely too much on my semblance for combat, both offensively and defensively, I can't tell him how to fight normally."

"I don't think that's true." Pyrrha said, eying Pyrrha's arms.

"Oh these?" Ruby said, her expression brightening as she flexed her arms in a dramatic fashion. Pyrrha considered herself and all the other Hunters-to-be rather fit, but they didn't often develop muscles like Ruby had. Those came from some weight training... "When Yang asked whether or not I had a firearm to pair with my axe I should have shown her these guns!"

Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh at Ruby's strained expression, the older girl throwing smoldering looks this way and that.

"You're going to hurt someone." Pyrrha managed between gasps of laughter, bringing a grin to Ruby's face.

"But honestly," Ruby continued, crossing her arms, "I work out to offset my semblance usage since it gives me some more options in a fight. If you ask Blake she'd probably tell you that I'm a lot of flash."

"Maybe." Pyrrha admitted, thinking of Ruby's form broadsiding the nevermore. "I think you're under-selling yourself."

"May-haps." Ruby conceded with a shrug. "Either way, you're formally trained. He'd learn better from Miss National Pride than from me, I'm too impatient. That said, again, I will help you with him, add some excitement to aura practice drills."

"And when will you and I practice?"

"I'll convince Weiss to let me go on Fridays and Saturdays so we can elope." Ruby sighed. "I'd enjoy getting some one-on-one practice with you myself, especially since Jaune so cold-heartedly stole you away as my partner. If you're going to hone your skill it's best to test it against the best, Hm?"

"Oh, so I'm not getting anything out of it?" Pyrrha teased, and Ruby stuck her tongue out at her. "I'm just kidding."

"Oh I hope you are, I'm gonna kick your butt." Ruby chuckled as she looked up to the sky.

The two chatted their plans for a while as the trees thinned out and they came to a great ravine. The earth dropped away suddenly into what looked like a three-hundred-foot drop, the opposite cliff wall marked with cracks and crags.

"We definitely didn't launch from here." Ruby sighed, looking up and down the ravine. There was nothing in sight that reminded her of the soft sandstone cliffs they'd launched from. They could be anywhere given how they had wandered through the woods. Down the way there was a collection of oddly shaped stone structures in the shape of something like a temple, the roof of which scaled part of the cliff. Convenient! "Wanna mosey on over there and find a way across?"

Pyrrha nodded, grateful that they were (seemingly) closer to Beacon. "Couldn't you fly us across?"

Ruby hummed for a moment, gauging the distance. "On my own almost certainly. But with another person it's harder to move."

"You were able to fly through the forest earlier no problem, right?"

"That's a bit different." Ruby sighed, scratching her neck. "There's probably a strong air current in the ravine," she pointed down at the fog that was shifting below, "and my semblance has to fight against the current to move. It gets much harder the more petals there are." Raising her hands the air around them started to swirl, leaving them in the eye of the storm. "I can make wind to channel the petals, but I have to make the gust before I move."

"So you're not flying in a windstorm." Pyrrha guessed, to which Ruby nodded.

"I could probably flip a tank with my speed and wind, but storms are significantly stronger than a strong gust." Ruby shrugged, flicking the gust, which was carrying some petals, down into the ravine. As it contacted the fog it displaced it like a bullet, but was swiftly swallowed up. "I've never been 'blown apart' before, but I don't want to find out."

The pair shivered at the thought.

"In a pinch I can do some interesting things. If I dash at full speed I can create a turbulence wave behind me that drags air with it. I've never tried dragging someone like that but it could theoretically work." Ruby gave Pyrrha a measuring look.

"Absolutely not."

Jaune was standing lookout over the ruins, a job he was happy with. He stood a fair distance away from the sheer drops on either side of the stone bridges, instead keeping to the middle of one of the staircases that lead to the top of the structure. He had been brandishing his shield in what he thought was a rather resolute and stoic, but his arm had been getting tired so he'd slung it over his back.

He was feeling a little bored. Weiss had been very pointed in her request for him to keep to himself, and the other girls had more or less parked him out of the way. He maybe didn't feel the most confident in his ability to fight... Grimm, but he had at least four spelunking badges from his summer camps over the years. He could scour a ruin with the best of them!

"Have you guys found anything?" He shouted up at the structure above him, his voice echoing in the chasm. Moments later a head of blonde hair peeked out over the side of one of the floors quite a ways up.

"Nope!" Yang shouted back, cupping her hands to amplify her voice. She pulled back with a grin and looked at the long promenade that approached the cliffside at the top of the run. She, Weiss, and Blake had made it to the top, but it looked like even if there had been a way up in the past it had been destroyed. There was a partially caved-in entrance to a cave in the side of the cliff but that looked sketchy as hell.

"I wonder who built this." Blake wondered aloud, eying the stacked stone pillars. She'd read fantasy books about ancient elven ruins and this almost fit the bill. Some pretty impressive people had managed to build all of this over a bottomless pit.

"There are some structures like this in Atlas." Weiss said, her arms crossed as she passed the Faunus by. "Deep in the Schnee mines there are some collapsed buildings that look like they grew out of the earth, they're so old. Same thing out on the ice plains. Someone had a terrible sense in where to develop a settlement."

"I'd say that when they made this place, they were thinking of... Living on the edge?" Yang opened her arms while Weiss groaned, and Blake's ears flicked under her bow in displeasure with the pun.

"Either way, if we go up this way we're going to need to climb." Yang sighed, hands akimbo on her hips as she scanned the last hundred feet or so of sheer cliff face. "Did anyone pack any rope?"

"Not nearly enough." Sighed the Faunus as she fingered the ribbon tied to gambol shroud. "We could try the caves, but I'm not interested in getting lost."

"Then we climb back down, pick a direction, and walk." Yang said with a bit of disdain. They'd walked quite a way just to get turned around like this. "There's gotta be a path up."

"Even if there is, someone has to carry Jaune." Blake said, her eyes drifting over to the heiress, who very pointedly ignored the comment.

"He might need support, I agree." Yang sighed, dramatically shaking her head. "He's a bit of a princess, he needs to get swept off his feet."

Weiss whirled on the two, finger raised, "If either of you keep making these jokes I will pay someone to kill you." Her eyebrows escaped to her hairline to accent the threat, her pleading eyes making it clear that she was only barely not kidding. "And if you tell Pyrrha I will cut out the middleman."

"Typical Schnee making someone else do their dirty work." Blake bit, rolling her eyes.

"I for one am confused whether you want to carry Pyrrha like that, or if you want Pyrrha to carry you like that." Yang thought aloud, missing Blake's dig. "Was it practice?"

Weiss was about to lose her goddamn shit, but before she could the topic of her embarrassment made itself very apparent.

Jaune made it up over the last step of what felt like hundreds and almost immediately keeled over from exhaustion. His lungs burned, and he held up a finger to keep back the girls when they walked over to see what was wrong with him. After a few seconds he was feeling a bit better so he lifted his head.

"So, why was I never informed about the house-sized Scorpions?"

"Because they don't exist." Yang replied flatly.

"So, there's nothing terrifying running at us from across the bridge?" Jaune asked.

"Oh my god that's a house-sized scorpion." Weiss gasped, looking over the edge to see a rather huge deathstalker chasing a pink and green speck far below.

AN: This chapter has seen far too many section re-writes. Apologies if there are some awkward bits, I might have rewritten the entire section before or after. OH WELL, take this as a reminder that you should really storyboard your chapters rather than just wing it when you're feeling lazy.