A/N: I forgot to say this on Monday's chapter but, whoo hoo, 25 chapters! A quarter of the way to a hundred chapters. Not that I'd actually publish that many chapters O.o

Anyways, it's been a crazy week and I couldn't get this to my beta, so every mistake is unfortunately mine. Sorry in advance XD

"So how're you going to fix your arm?" Nora asked, looking at it curiously. Jaune glanced at her, a little exasperated that she was starting to ask him questions now of all times.

After the experimented creatures tore Mirisu apart, they seemed to gain minds of their own, scattering like shattered glass across the ground. Within seconds, Team JNPR and Professor Goodwitch were the only people in the crater. The happenings of the last few hours were finally catching up to them, and they had decided that now was as good of a time as ever to take a break, sitting of rubble and taking a breather.

Nora seemed to be the first one to recover, already on her feet and grinning, chatting amicably with everyone else. With her on the job, the sullen atmosphere that occupied their minds started to clear, the team attempting to push the image of the animals tearing a body apart limb from limb.

"I can't really fix it here. I'll need some help." Jaune answered Nora, glancing at his automail arm, which lay across his lap. "I have a friend at home who did this stuff for me, I'll give them a call when we get back to Beacon." Nora nodded solemnly, before giving a grin and turning to face Ren, who was helping make sure Professor Goodwitch was functioning at full strength again.

Pyrrha decided to step in, sitting next to him gingerly. Jaune didn't say anything, waiting for her to make the first move.

"What… what happened in here?" Pyrrha asked tentatively. Jaune snorted a little and glanced back at the spot where Mirisu was murdered, now only seeing bones and blood splattered on rocks, making some of them much more red than they should've been.

"A fight happened." Jaune said shortly, inhaling a little before continuing. "I was searching through the houses when I found this one, went downstairs and found Professor Goodwitch, where we both decided to fight our way out." He shrugged, his normal hand playing with his dead metallic ones, something that Pyrrha was having a hard time watching.

"Yes but… your arm…." Again Jaune shrugged grinning weakly at the girl.

"Hey, at least it was this arm and not the other one, right?" Pyrrha frowned, not amused at the joke.

"It will still hinder you for a while though. And I was just wondering how she could've torn through the metal."

"Her claws were… really sharp." Jaune said, downplaying the danger with a dry tone. Shaking his head, he stood up. "It really doesn't matter. What's done is done, and I, uh…" Jaune squinted at the mess of blood and organs again, spotting something. "And I…" He trailed slowly, before moving forward. Pyrrha's brow creased in confusion as she stood up, making her way to follow him.

"You what, Jaune?"

"Give me a second here." Jaune muttered, walking hurriedly towards the spot. It couldn't be… No, that was definitely it.

"I did read about this before," Jaune continued speaking to himself, much to Pyrrha rising frustration. "It makes sense… She did seem to act like… but then there has to be…" Like a lunatic, Jaune grit his teeth, forcing his mechanical eye to activate, trying to pick out something in the dwindling light of the setting sun.

Suddenly, the eye lanced in pain, moving erratically and blinding Jaune as Pyrrha got closer. Pyrrha jumped back in surprise, before moving forward to help him. She was stopped when Jaune held out a hand, hissing.

"Stay.. stay back!"

"I- I'm sorry Jaune, what's happening, is there anything I can do—"

"Yes! Stay… back!" With those words Pyrrha stepped further back, eyes wide with concern, and a little bit of fear. Taking a few deep breaths, Jaune wrangled his eye back to order, blinking away the tears that had welled up in that eye while it was doing so.

A bit of silence continued on before Pyrrha decided to speak uncertainly. "Is… is everything alright Jaune?" Jaune nodded shakily.

"Yeah, I—yeah. I think my eye reacted badly to your Semblance."

Pyrrha gaped, putting the pieces together. "Your metal eye… and my magnetic semblance… oh my. I'm so sorry Jaune." The alchemist waved her away.

"It's fine, nothing to really worry about. I'm surprised it didn't happen any sooner, with us being partners." As always Jaune deflected the concern with a joke, chuckling a little. Pyrrha once again frowned, rubbing her arm.

"It might have also been because you don't spend as much time as one usually would with their partner." Jaune cocked an eyebrow, surprised to hear Pyrrha be so… aggressive towards him. He had never heard her take that tone towards anybody. Jaune was stunned enough to actually say that to her, in which she blushed a little.

"I'm not being aggressive! I just—You just frustrate me!" Pyrrha blurted out, flustered. Jaune blinked in surprise. Pyrrha pulled out a complicated expression, uncertain as to whether or not she should explain. Finally she gave in, slumping down a little, something Jaune had never seen her do.

"When… when we first met, it was such a surprise, finding out that someone hadn't known about me and my 'achievements'. It was so… so new to me. The moment that happened I started to hope that… I was hoping that you would be my first real friend in a long time." Pyrrha confessed, making a point not to look at Jaune. He was glad of that, grimacing at the reminder of how distant he was towards her in the beginning.

"Then when you didn't… do anything but read and isolate yourself, I just. I just thought you were antisocial, and didn't like making friends. I had trouble with that at first, but I settled on the fact that I could break through after a while, that you didn't really seem like you hated me—hated us." Her face turned bitter. "But then you just say a few sentences to Blake and you guys end up becoming best of friends. You guys share secrets and hide away in places that no one knows about…" Pyrrha covered her lower face with her hands, eyes closing. "And still I thought that maybe it was just easier for you to make friends with Blake because you and her were similar."

Jaune opened his mouth, then closed it again, looking away. It's true, he'd been a rather terrible partner. Pyrrha continued, her hands clenching.

"Then you started to talk more with Yang. And Ruby. And… and everyone else but your teammates, until we finally bring it up with you!" Pyrrha's eyes squeezed shut again. "And even then you didn't seem like you enjoyed our… enjoyed my company all that much." Her lips pursed tightly for a second before she continued, abruptly yelling. "Do you know how that makes me feel?!"

Jaune recoiled, stepping backwards at the intensity of Pyrrha's angry glare. "I—"

"Don't!" Pyrrha stopped him, inhaling. She continued softly. "It hurt. It hurt that I was your partner and I couldn't seem to even be friends with you. It. It made me think. Made me doubt myself." Pyrrha looked him in the eyes, emotions roiling inside of her. "I couldn't help but think the only reason why people stuck around was because I was just a good fighter." Pyrrha ended her rant with a whisper, her eyes slipping towards the ground.

For a moment Jaune was speechless, frozen where he was standing.

This was the problem with him. He only focused on himself, never paying attention to anyone around him. What was the use of all of this special knowledge if he always decided to be alone? Sure, there was the excuse that he had a rough childhood but…

Looking at Pyrrha, he was reminded that while she hadn't had her arm and eye torn out of her body, her life had been hard too.

There was never a good way of comparing emotional pain. They scarred the same.

Jaune reached out with his hand and wrapped her in a one-armed embrace, surprising her. Hesitantly, her own arms crept up and tightened around him, her head buried in his shoulder.

"I'm sorry I made you feel that way." Jaune whispered quietly. "I promise I wasn't doing it because you've bad company. If anything I'm bad company, seeing as how all I ever talk about is alchemy or 'beating down bad guys'." Pyrrha snorted a little with that, but didn't say anything, letting Jaune continue. Jaune hesitated, trying to think of what to say. "I'll be a better partner." Jaune declared, deciding that was the best course of action. "I promise. No more leaving you to the side." Pyrrha sniffled a little, looking frail, frailer than a four-time Mistral Champion should have, and looking more like a vulnerable teenage girl. Which she was, Jaune reminded himself.

"…Okay." Pyrrha said, nodding. Jaune smiled, moving back a little to look at her tear stained face, lips curved into a small smile.

"Really?" Jaune asked, not blaming her if she just wanted to cut ties to with altogether. Pyrrha nodded vigorously, her smile growing.

"Yes Jaune. Let's start over." Jaune smiled at that.

"Let's."

The two of them grinned and stood there, not saying a word but simply feeling that something… something changed, if only a little bit. It was a start, and maybe it was something the both of them needed.

"Augh, what a disgusting display."

The hair on Jaune's neck stood straight up, hearing a voice that he was sure he would never hear again. Turning around, he could see Mirisu, sneering at the two of them.

Given, half her body was gone, and only the upper chest and head, as well a stump of an arm was there, but she was there.

Alive.

How?!

"What..?" Pyrrha sounded horrified, taking a step back. Mirisu leered at the two of them, before gesturing towards Jaune with a nod of her head.

"Mr. Suave here probably knows exactly what I am, don't you, kid?" For someone who only had a part of a part of her whole body, she was being awfully arrogant, Jaune thought in annoyance.

"You're a homunculus." Jaune said shortly, stepping forward. Mirisu cackled, hair flying in different directions as her head rocked back and forth. Jaune could see it now. Just standing here, Jaune could see that parts of her were growing back.

"It's a relief that you know that much then. Thank Ouroboros for that." Mirisu purred a little. "Don't worry Jauney~ Give me a little longer and you won't need to think anymore."

"Like I'm going to let that happen." Jaune snarled, stepping forward. There had to be a stone somewhere on her body, it's what's keeping it functioning. Now where, where… There!

Jaune lunged forward to grab the stone before flesh completely closed over it, but was quickly stopped by Mirisu's lone arm, turning into a sharp point to try and impale him. With quick thinking and middling reflexes, Jaune stumbled to the side, collapsing onto the ground as he avoided the spike clumsily. The homunculus growled, redirecting the spike to impale Jaune.

Pyrrha had started to move the instant Jaune had, which wasn't a moment too soon. She used her Semblance to bring up several jagged metal poles, many of which came from the shattered cages, and slammed them down on top of Mirisu's body and limbs. Jaune pounced at the opportunity, diving once again towards the stone.

"I don't think so!" Mirisu whipped her head and her tongue, oh Dust her tongue, lashed out, meters long and clocked Jaune on the head, causing him to topple to the side.

"Jaune!" At this point, Ren, Nora, and Professor Goodwitch had noticed the commotion, and were rushing towards them to help. Jaune righted himself and pointed towards the exposed stone.

"Aim for the stone! Aim for the stone!"

Without any need for further explanation, Pyrrha levitated another pole and sent it flying, the hollow insides able to grab the stone and isolate it from the purple-haired girl's mass.

"No!" Mirisu howled, struggling as she could feel the power in her body ebbing away, replaced by unbelievable pain. She screamed and screamed her throat raw, unable to die from the multiple impalements but not able to faint from the shock either.

The sound was grating against the ears, loud enough to travel across the entire town. Jaune struggled to stand up, pulling out Crocea Mors and swinging it downwards, beheading the now-all-too-human Mirisu. The screaming stopped, and Jaune sank down onto the ground, exhausted once again.

He could sleep for a whole week at this point, and was ready to do so before he heard a murmuring from above the crater. Cracking an eyelid open, he found dozens of people surrounding the crater, looking horrified at the scene of carnage around them. A man appeared and pointed to them hatefully.

"See?! See what happens when we let Hunters do what they want in our town?!" The man was practically spitting at them in fury. "They destroy our homes! Our infrastructure! And kill one of our own after mutilating her body! These aren't humans! They're monsters! Kill them!"

Jaune groaned, at the point where he was more annoyed now than terrified.

When will this nightmare end?