A/N: Knew I was forgetting something. Enjoy!

There wasn't much conversation after that, Jaune finally put under the spell of his notorious motion sickness, clutching his stomach and trying his hardest not to be miserable, as well as spread his misery to his teammates, either with his whining or with projectile vomit.

Neither would be appreciated.

A few hours later, the Bullhead decided that it was finished torturing Jaune, and touched down on Beacon soil, opening up its maw to permit Jaune escaping its grasp. The blonde alchemist took advantage of this by collapsing into an unappealing blob, groaning about how the universe seemed to hate him, which was completely uncalled for.

The other occupants inside the Bullhead stepped out, ignoring the pitiful moans as they are used to them by now. Sure Pyrrha and his other teammates cast a concerned glance, but when they saw the usual amount of groaning coming from Jaune, they knew that he would be alright. And he was, picking himself after a few minutes of cursing all modes of transportation that didn't involve his legs.

"What's with all of the smoke?"

Jaune turned to the direction that Nora had pointed to, noticing a few plumes of smoke rising from afar, past the tree tops and almost touching the horizon. Frowning, Jaune struggled to recall what was in that direction. It wasn't Forever Fall, because that was behind them, and it certainly wouldn't be the ancient ruins, because those were a lot closer than where the fires had to be. What was…

The city.

The Valean city that was closest to the mountains, such as Mount Glenn.

"Are those the fires from the Breach?" Jaune asked, recalling what the professors had named what had happened there. Professor Port nodded.

"Not exactly. We have put out the fires, but a lot of the smoke remains, floating in the air." The port professor gestured haughtily. "Although, that wouldn't have happened if I was there, but alas, I cannot be everywhere at once. I have tried, again and again, to convince Bart to clone me, but for whatever reason, he refuses me on the spot." The grandiose professor shook his head sadly. "I will never understand that man."

"And I will never understand you." Professor Goodwitch said quietly under her breath, before robotically consoling the man.

"Pyrrha! You're back!" A speeding blur flew past him, tackling his partner to the ground, making the Amazon laugh and wrap her arms around the speedster.

"I'm glad that you're safe Ruby." Pyrrha said warmly, tightening her arms around the girl. The brunette smiled and buried her head into Pyrrha's chest, squirming a little. "Ruby stop it, that tickles!" The tone was meant to be serious, but fell a little flat due to the red-head's uncontrollable laughter.

"It's nice to see that everyone made it out in one piece." Jaune turned to see his fellow blonde, who sported a grin on her face, hands on her hips. Weiss stood beside her, and even had the tiniest hint of a smile on her face, nodding at each of her friends. Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, smiling at them all.

"Yeah. Piece of cake." Jaune winked, making Yang guffaw, as well as causing Weiss to bury her head in her hands. Grinning from pride, and to hide the shame of punning, Jaune laughed alongside Yang, happy that he was away from Ravenwood.

"Well it's certainly nice to know you're all having fun."

Blake had a similar expression on her face as Weiss, a small smile with her arms crossed loosely. There were a few other things that Jaune could pick out, like her faunus ears wiggling underneath the black bow that she wore, and her eyes subtly flicking up and down to see how hurt Jaune was. So it wasn't a surprise when she started to frown, stepping forward.

"What happened to your arm?" She asked, gesturing towards the stump where his automail arm usually was. Jaune had decided to tie up the sleeve so it wouldn't swing back and forth when he walked. With the concerned outburst, the rest of Team RWBY looked over to see Jaune's missing arm, concern visible on their faces.

"Oh no! What happened Jaune? Does it hurt? Are you going to be alright?" Ruby disappeared from Pyrrha's side, latching onto Jaune instead, mouth agape at Jaune's lopsided figure. Jaune shook his head, using his other arm to push Ruby away gently, laughing.

"It's nothing really. It… kind of got torn off, but I'll reattach it later." Blake frowned at that, crossing her arms.

"Where'd you put it?"

Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a little embarrassed by the attention focused on him.

"Oh I, uh, I had it on my lap earlier. It must've slipped off when I stood up to… leave the Bullhead." Blake had an amused expression on her face, shaking her head, knowing exactly how he 'exited' the ship.

"I'll go get it for you." She offered quietly, moving into the ship before Jaune could object. Instead, he just kept his eyes on her while she went in, absentmindedly petting Ruby's head. Another second passed before the cat faunus reappeared, hefting the metal arm under her arm.

"This is a lot heavier than I thought it would be." She commented before handing the arm back to him. Jaune nodded in thanks, grabbing the limb and stepping out of Ruby's hug. It was a lot heavier than Jaune remembered it to be, probably because it was always attached to him. Jaune looked around, finding that everyone else was looking at him as well.

"…What?" He asked cautiously.

"Aren't you going to put it back? Your arm." Yang pointed to the automail. Jaune blinked.

"What, like now?" Everyone nodded, not understanding why he was so hesitant. Was it something that he didn't like doing in public? All their fears were put on hold when Jaune burst out laughing, shaking his head.

"Oh no, that's not what I meant when I said I'd put it back." He waved the arm around, the whole thing flailing. "This automail arm is some complex and sensitive machinery. Dust, I wouldn't even know where to start trying to put this back in." Jaune shook his head. "No, I've got someone in my family that knows more about this stuff than I do. I'll probably tell them about it so that she can reattach it during the break." Jaune said thoughtfully, looking at the arm.

"O-oh. Okay then." Pyrrha said, nodding. Jaune snorted in laughter at how awkward everyone looked.

"I'm guessing you guys want to see it put back?"

Everyone nodded eagerly.

"Right." Jaune rolled his eyes. "Well, my dad's coming to pick me up tomorrow when the break starts, so I guess I'll call Pazi and tell her to hitch a ride with him too." The others nodded again, shifting from foot to foot. "Later."

"Right. Right. Of course." They all muttered, breaking apart and going back to talking with each other, as well as chattering about the semester break.

The semester was over. Huh. How about that.

Jaune remembered the condition that Ozpin had placed on him when the Beacon school year had just started, telling him to finish translating and interpreting the Alchemy books if he wanted to leave by the next semester. That goal had slowly slipped further and further into the back of his mind as he gained friends when he didn't need to. Jaune was pretty sure that was exactly what his father had planned for him when he sent him here.

"So, how bad was it that you got your arm chopped off over there?" Jaune turned to face Blake, who stood next to him with a small smile. Jaune rolled his eyes.

"It was pretty bad." He said flatly, smiling back at her. Yang seemed to overhear, and stepped in from behind Jaune, wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight hug.

"I doubt it was as bad as our mission, Vomit Boy!" Yang held one hand out, "Imagine, and underground lair, leading through a cave inside a mountain, where we had to stop an explosion from devastating the city! It was epic!" She clenched one fist, eyes shining.

"Last I heard, you guys didn't stop the explosion." Jaune said dryly, trying not to topple over from the hanging Yang, which was a lot harder because of how lopsided his center of mass was. Yang pouted, tightening her grip around his neck.

"We sort of stopped it! Kind of. It was still a success!" She protested.

"Uh huh. Grimm invasion in the middle of the city. To the point where there are still fires that haven't been put out yet. Very successful."

"It. Was. Successful." Came the sudden growl, Yang arms constricting more and more around Jaune's throat, depriving him of air.

"Y-you're right." He croaked out. "Very successful."

"You bet your tush it was." Yang nodded, finally letting go, allowing Jaune to slip out of her grasp and breathe once again. Jaune glared at her reproachfully, rubbing his bruised neck. Blake decided to step in before things got any worse.

"So what happened during your mission?" Blake asked earnestly, having not heard a thing. Jaune hesitated.

"We… tried to figure out what happened during the attack on Ravenwood. Apparently, someone in town caused it and uh, was a monster that had really sharp claws that extended and was experimenting on people and animals."

Yang and Blake didn't move, their minds trying to figure out what Jaune was saying, and if he was just joking or not.

"… What?"

Jaune nodded, going to pull out the Philosopher's Stone out of his pocket before he stopped himself, looking at the two girls.

"If you girls really want to know what happened, it would probably be a good idea for us to go into our rooms before we spoke to each other." Another curious blink from the two girls.

"Well, now we've got to go and figure out what this is all about." Yang grabbed onto Blake and Jaune's hands, pulling them towards Beacon. "To the rooms we go!"

Emerald tried not to whimper as a book flew past her ear, crashing into the wall behind her. Releasing a shaky breath, the girl loosened her hands, attempting not to look so on guard in front of Cinder.

The beautiful woman in front of Emerald didn't look so beautiful, face contorted and full of rage, a growling heard from the back of her throat. Eyes that flashed black, she grabbed something else on the desk and tossed it again, this time a sharp edge making contact with the thief's cheek, making her stumble, fall to the floor, and cry out in pain.

Cinder whirled around and howled at her. "Don't you dare make a sound!"

The girl stifled her voice, eyes wide and fearful. She couldn't have stood up if she wanted to, her knees were shaking so much.

Cinder released a breath, closing her eyes and forcing her boiling anger to subside, hands flexing, flames spouting and disappearing around her at random intervals. Finally, things started to calm down, and the air around her was only mildly warm, instead of stiflingly hot.

"So, to make sure that I am not missing anything," Cinder said, gritting her teeth and biting out every word. "Not only did the Breach fail… but the… girl lost her stone, and let all of the animals escape?" Emerald took a second to answer, trying to find her voice. Cinder was beside her in a second, hands slamming into the wall beside her.

"Answer me!"

"Y-Yes! Yes Cinder!"

The woman sneered at the trembling form underneath her, before she stood up straight, closing her eyes.

"If she hadn't died, I would have killed her myself." Cinder snarled viciously, turning around and finding a spot behind her desk again. Another calming breath was released.

"Nevertheless, plans will continue along as usual. Has the Amity Colosseum been… renovated to our liking?"

"Y-yes ma'am." The answer was barely a whisper, Emerald still clutching her face as blood trailed through the fingers. Cinder nodded.

"Very well." A pause, as the fiery woman thought of what needed to happen next. "You will need to continue socializing with this Arc for the moment. He, of all people, cannot know of our plans." Emerald nodded quickly, happy to do anything to appease the enraged Cinder. Another nod.

The red-eyed girl wished that Mercury was here now, instead of tying up loose ends at Ravenwood.

Cinder tapped her fingernails against the desk, finally having a semblance of calm.

"Very well. That shall be all for now." Emerald tried to fight a relieved smile from showing, lifting her hand as the wound on her cheek was healed by her aura. Bowing low, the thief started to walk backwards, trying to locate the door without turning around.

"I'll… go back to find Jaune now." She said in a meek voice. "He's probably arrived at Beacon by now." Cinder nodded.

"Very well. Make sure you clean yourself up before you go. You look like a mess." As Emerald opened the door and scurried out, Cinder called out once more.

"Oh, and I would like you to meet me tonight after curfew. Make sure you have your aura full." A brief pause. "And make sure to bring the usual."

Emerald couldn't hide a shiver this time, keeping her head bowed to hide the dread on her face.

"Y-yes, Cinder."