A/N: Reviews are much appreciated.

To say that Jaune's life had taken a bad turn would have been the understatement of the century.

It had started out innocently enough. Pyrrha had gone with him into the city to visit the forge. He had said that he didn't need her to come, but when she all but begged there was no way he could say no.

He never could say no to Pyrrha.

After they got his shield fixed, they realized that they would miss the last bullhead to Beacon if they didn't run back right then. To save time, they cut through some of the allies, which is how they ran into none other than Roman Torchwick.

After a long and intense fight (to the surprise of everyone there, Jaune lasted a full ten minutes), Torchwick finally managed to overpower Pyrrha and stab her with Jaune's sword before seemingly shattering like glass.

Jaune frantically called for help from Beacon, and they were there almost immediately. His hopes were dashed, however, when he learned that the injuries that she sustained would put her in a coma.

That's when everything spiraled out of control.

A video leaked to the local news showing Jaune and Pyrrha fighting, ending with Jaune stabbing Pyrrha himself. The fact that Jaune's sword was the one used wasn't helpful at all.

No one believed Jaune's story, not even his so called 'friends'. Torchwick had covered his tracks perfectly: no witnesses, the fake video, even the security camera footage from nearby stores had been tampered with.

Ozpin and Glynda were the only ones who stayed by Jaune's side through the whole thing, although he also got a letter from someone named "Qrow" stating his support. They believed that even if he had the capability to hurt Pyrrha, he never would. The council's response? Ozpin was removed as headmaster of Beacon Academy, with Glynda stepping down from her job as a result. Qrow, against his will, was promoted to headmaster in his place.

Without Ozpin to resist, Ironwood was able to steamroll over Qrow and bring his entire army into the kingdom for the festival. The majority of the civilian populace didn't mind and in fact welcomed the protection after having seen Pyrrha Nikos of all people put into a coma.

Jaune, meanwhile, was found guilty of attempted murder of a huntress and was sentenced to life without parole after a two month trial process. As he was being escorted out of Beacon, he wasn't surprised to find his 'friends', the people he could never forgive, waiting for him.

Ruby was first. "How could you do this Jaune? Why? Why?!" She was bawling her eyes out, and he would've felt guilty if he wasn't wondering what he'd done to earn this much distrust.

Weiss was next. "You were jealous of having such an amazing partner, weren't you? Well guess what? Now you'll just accomplish even less then if you hadn't gone to prison. I didn't even think that was possible." Jaune had absolutely no idea how she got that conclusion.

Blake was completely silent, not even looking up from her book.

Yang went to punch him, but stopped at the last second, mumbling a "you're not worth it" before comforting her sister. Honestly, that one hurt the most of all of them.

Ren and Nora were both holding each other, with Nora crying into Ren's chest while Ren gave him a look that showed only hatred.

As the soldiers hauled him past them onto the waiting airship, he had one parting gift for them: "What have I done to deserve this distrust?! WHAT HAVE I DONE TO YOU?!"

With that, the door closed, a needle was injected into his neck, and he was knocked out.

He woke up, naked, in what could only be described as a throne room; a big hall with glass windows that went all the way to the ceiling, complete with a chandelier, with a long table in front of a chair worthy of a king.

Or, based on who was sitting in it, a Queen.

Finding that he was bound to the floor, he tried to thrash around enough to remove the bonds, but that only attracted the attention of the woman on the throne.

"You're awake." Hearing the voice made Jaune stop. Her appearance wasn't much to go by, but she definitely didn't look human.

Bone white skin, with blackened veins running across her face and arms, with blood red eyes. White hair, spread in a bun that screamed "evil", wearing a black robe with hints of red. Frankly, hearing a human voice confused him more than anything else. The voice was also enough to cause the doors to open, letting in three people that he recognized because of team RWBY.

"Cinder? Mercury? Emerald? What's going on?" These people were supposed to be exchange students from Haven! What the hell are they doing with whatever this being is?

"Now is not the time for questions, Jaune. My name is Salem, and we have business to attend to. Mercury." The gray haired teen moved forward, injecting him with another sedative that was just strong enough to make him numb, before untying his bonds and throwing him over his shoulder.

Unable to resist, he was forced to watch as he was dragged into what was best called hell.

It was a complete barren wasteland, with rocky terrain and enormous purple crystals sprouting from the ground. The sky was even red to complete the hellish look the place had going for it. The only way he knew he was even on Remnant was the broken moon, still in the sky.

And that's not even mentioning the Grimm.

They were everywhere, of all different types and ages. Ursas, Beowolfs, Deathstalkers, Nevermores, all of them were there. Running around, flying, some just sitting and watching.

And, now that he looked closer, some were coming out of the ground itself.

What looked like tar pits littered the entire ground everywhere they walked, and the Grimm were coming out of them. Dear God. This is where the Grimm come from.

They finally stopped walking and Mercury threw him onto the ground.

"Now, in case you couldn't figure it out, this is where my Grimm are made." Jaune noticed the way Salem said 'my'. "We've had some... difficulties finding a test subject for an experiment of mine, but now that we have you, we may begin." And with that, Cinder kicked him into the spawner.

It was the most intense pain he'd ever felt in his life. It felt like he was getting ripped apart by blades on every part of his body. He tried to scream, but that only let the liquid inside and made it hurt even more. He could feel his insides moving, as well as protrusions on both his upper and lower back. His bones became harder and his fingers briefly became pincers before they changed back. And these were only a fraction of the changes he could feel.

Whether it was 5 minutes or 500 years Jaune couldn't tell, but his insides finally calmed down and the pain faded away. Not only that, but he could breathe the liquid like he had gills. While he was content to simply stay down there until he died from starvation, Salem had already reached in and grabbed him.

He was ripped out of the spawner and thrown to the ground right in front of Emerald. He looked up at her, hoping for an explanation, but all he got was her taking a picture on her scroll with a smirk on her face.

Mercury and Cinder yanked him up to his feet, forcing him to stand even though he still couldn't feel his legs. He couldn't even react in time to the scroll thrown at him, with Mercury having to catch it and force it into his hands in front of his face.

What he saw terrified him.

It was clearly the picture that Emerald had just taken, and he was completely unrecognizable. His skin had turned a deathly pale white, his veins turning black in a way that was not unlike Salem's. All of his hair had turned jet black, making him look like he had fur. A liquid was running through his veins, probably the liquid he'd just swallowed, and wherever it went he could feel his body changing to accommodate it.

But his eyes - blood red, the eyes of the Grimm - were what scared him the most. They looked as though no matter what emotion was on his face, his eyes would only show hatred.

He finally let his body give in to what it wanted, and passed out right there.

When he woke up, he was in another unfamiliar place, but this time it was much less luxurious. It seemed to be a cabin, and while small, it was a cozy place. There was furniture such as couches and chairs in what he assumed was the living room, with a fireplace roaring next to a large stack of wood. There was no food, as far as he could tell, but, looking outside, he realized he wasn't hungry after at least 12 hours of not eating.

He was confused, wondering if it was all a dream, until he looked down at his hand and saw how white his skin was. That's what did it for him. This is real... what the fuck did she do to me?!

His musings, and terror, were cut off when he heard a vibration coming from one of the chairs. Investigating, he noticed a scroll, not his own, was sitting on the arm of the chair, saying he was getting a call from an unknown number. Knowing who it probably was, he picked up the scroll. Salem's face appearing was not a surprise at all.

"Hello, Jaune." The way she talked was like she was talking to an old friend. How is she so casual? What is she?! "Before you say anything, know that I won't hear you. You're comments will fall on deaf ears. Now, let's talk business." The way she said business sent shivers up his spine.

"Take this scroll and walk outside. There are some things you need to know."

Sitting below the CCT in the Beacon vault, Ozpin and Glynda had a lot of things to think about.

First Ms. Nikos is put in a coma, then Mr. Arc gets the blame, then Qrow takes my place, and now Mr. Arc's missing? There has to be a reason for all of this.

He'd had his suspicions from the very beginning that there was something much bigger happening then Pyrrha's attempted murder. Unfortunately for him, he had failed to see just how much bigger until the council had removed him from his position as Headmaster. It was not until then that he realized just how much he'd played into his enemies hands.

Luckily for him, despite Ironwood being able to bring in even more forces than he would've if Ozpin was still Headmaster, Qrow had let Ozpin and Glynda stay on campus inside the vault. In his own words: "Beacon needs its wizard, Oz. Besides, we both know you'd end up manipulating everything anyway."

Thus, with nothing to do other than monitor Amber's health and make sure it doesn't start to fall, he had nothing else to do but think.

Why would they specifically target Mr. Arc? Ms. Nikos makes sense, she's a celebrity, but aside from his lineage Mr. Arc was a relative nobody. He needed fake transcripts for heaven's sakes.

Ozpin was well aware of Jaune's transcripts. After all, it would've been stupid of him to forget when he had Qrow give them to him in the first place.

Such potential taken away from him, but why?

He was cut off when the elevator opened and Qrow, in all his alcoholic glory, walked in. "Still thinking about the Arc kid?"

Ozpin could only nod. "I still can not understand why they would target him. They are not the kind of people to do things without reason."

Qrow took a swig of his flask, making Glynda step back due to the smell. "I get what you're saying. In all honesty, it's been bugging me too."

"You mean to say you actually care about something?"

"Of course I care, Glynda." There was a surprising amount of anger in his tone that sent both Glynda and Ozpin back a step. "If what we think is true, than this kid got his entire life fucked up by a literal Queen of evil. I wouldn't-"

He was cut off when Ozpin's scroll buzzed. All three of them froze, knowing that any texts that Ozpin would receive now could only bring more bad news. Hesitantly, Ozpin grabbed his scroll and opened it. He couldn't stop his heart from racing when he saw who texted.

Salem.

They'd had many conversations since she'd converted, mostly him trying to show her the light again. She'd always tried to show Ozpin that humanity was a curse that needed to die, with Ozpin trying to show her that humanity wasn't as evil as she thought it was.

She had never started a conversation, however, making him of all people scared of what he could find.

His fears were completely justified. He almost dropped his scroll in shock. The other two noticed his reaction and looked over his shoulder, where they adopted similar expressions of shock and sadness.

The text was nothing more than a picture. It was a picture of Jaune, but with his new look, Ozpin couldn't help but realize how much he looked like Salem, and that only could only mean one thing.

She had transformed him. Another bright soul lost to the darkness.

They all reached that conclusion at around the same time, and that's when their reactions hit. Glynda actually started crying, leaving Ozpin to comfort her as best he could, while Qrow tipped his flask as far as he could to chug his alcohol as fast as possible.

While he was doing that, his scroll got a text as well. Already tired of everything that had happened in the past two minutes, he whipped it out and opened it as fast as he could. Relief hit his features.

"As bad as the timing is, I finally have some good news. Pyrrha's starting to wake up." That got their attention. "Ready to see if we were right?" They both nodded, and after Glynda dried her eyes they got on the elevator to go upstairs.

However, all three of them had the same thought on their mind: I don't know if I want to be right.

The process was a very painful one. While she was waking up, Pyrrha could feel all the damage she took in the fight. It was quite a shock for team RWBY and the Renora pair, waiting for her to wake up, when she simply started screaming and thrashing out of absolute nowhere.

They quickly surrounded her and held her down, with Blake calling for a nurse. One came quickly enough, giving her a sedative that numbed her pain without knocking her out. It took effect very slowly, but after about 5 minutes she had finally calmed down.

Despite not feeling pain, she could still barely move, so it took another 5 minutes before she could even open her eyes. When she did, she could see six of her friends waiting for her by her bedside. Wait, why six?

Immediately, she was dragged into a surprisingly gentle hug by Nora and Ruby, both of whom were bawling their eyes out from sheer happiness. Looking around, she could see everyone else had a similar look of happiness. She started to smile, then realized a key issue:

Jaune wasn't there.

As fast as her body could allow, she started searching left and right, hoping to see that familiar mop of blonde hair. But alas, he was nowhere to be found. Is he...?

The thought of Jaune dying was enough to make her shoot up in bed, against her body's wishes, knocking the two small girls off of her while she was at it. She tried to talk, but realized that her throat was the driest it had ever been.

Weiss realized what was happening and gave her a glass of water, one that was downed in mere seconds by the dehydrated redhead. Finally she was able to voice her concern in a croaky voice: "where's Jaune?"

"We were hoping you could answer that."

She looked to her right, and saw Ozpin, Glynda, and the man she recognized as Ruby's uncle Qrow were standing in the doorway. Despite everyone else clearly scowling at them, something that confused Pyrrha greatly, Ruby rocketed towards her uncle.

However, in a display that shocked them all, Qrow grabbed Ruby's head before she could hug him, gently pushing her to the side in a way that clearly said 'not now'. She looked sad, but didn't fight it.

Ozpin entered the room, ignoring the angry looks everyone else gave him, and walked to Pyrrha's bedside, kneeling next to her. "Pyrrha, what do you remember of the attack?"

Pyrrha, trying her best to stay awake, answered as much as she can: "All I can really remember is being stabbed. What happened?"

Yang scoffed and spoke up. "What happened is your ass of a partner-" she was cut off by Qrow extending his weapon.

Yang looked terrified and shocked that he would pull his weapon, but she let him explain. "She didn't ask you. Let him answer." The pure anger in his voice shocked Yang even more and left no room for argument.

"What did she mean 'ass of a partner'? Where is Jaune?" Their faces showed even more confusion, if that was possible.

"I can't tell you until you remember who attacked you. I need you to focus Pyrrha. Focus on your attacker."

She closed her eyes and focused. Everyone held their breath, doubt starting to spread throughout the room. The silence was so strong you could touch it until Pyrrha finally broke it.

"Torchwick."

That one word was enough for everyone in the room to officially panic. Naturally, Ozpin was the first to recover. "So what you're saying is that Jaune was not your attacker?"

Pyrrha gasped. "No! Jaune would never hurt me, why would you ask that?!"

The reactions hit the teachers like a train. Glynda, surprising everyone, starting bawling her eyes out, with Ozpin, surprising everyone again, hugging her and started crying as well. Qrow, meanwhile, went to take a sip out of his flask, but when he realized it was empty, he chucked it at the wall, shattering it in front of all of them.

The students, meanwhile, simply stood there is shock, slowly realizing the gravity of the mistake they made.

Jaune was innocent, and they'd completely betrayed him when he needed them most.

They felt disgusted with themselves. It must've shown on their face, because Pyrrha had to ask "what did you do to him?"

Qrow actually started laughing, but it was the kind of laugh that sent a chill up everyone's spine. "They gave him over to the Atlas government, that's what they did."

Pyrrha's face lit up in horror, staring at her "friends". "You did what?!"

Ruby spoke up tentatively. "Pyrrha, all the evidence pointed to him. It only made sense-"

Pyrrha was too angry to even let her finish her sentence. "No, Ruby! It doesn't make fucking sense!" They were now even more stunned then they already were. Pyrrha had never lost her cool before, so hearing her curse was astonishing. "Jaune would kill himself before he hurt me! Before he hurt any of us! How could you believe he'd try to kill me?!"

They all had no answer that, so they let Glynda and Ozpin's tears fill the room instead. Qrow cleared his throat again.

"I guess this is the best time to mention that he was kidnapped at some point."

"Kidnapped?! What do you mean?!"

"He means it literally." Ozpin had finally recovered from his crying fit. The state the Headmaster was in... it scared them, to say the least. They had never seen him with anything other than a smile or knowing smirk, even when he lost his job. To put it simply, the Headmaster looked completely broken.

He pulled into his pocket, pulling out his scroll. He wasn't even able to speak without having to sniffle. "He was taken by dark forces in an attempt to get to me."

"What do you mean dark forces?"

"CAN YOU JUST LET HIM FINISH HIS FUCKING POINT?!" Once again stunned into silence by Qrow's anger, the others looked to Pyrrha. The fact that they didn't expect the "if looks could kill" glare from Pyrrha made them wonder to themselves why they thought she'd be okay.

Qrow, meanwhile, was simply too angry to let this go on any longer. "He was kidnapped and turned into a Grimm, okay? You threw your friend to the wolves and let him be transformed into just another creature of darkness. There, are you fucking happy?" With his piece said, he handed Ozpin's scroll to Pyrrha before walking out of the room.

Pyrrha gasped, not even trying to hide the tears that came down her face. The others tried to move to see the scroll, but Pyrrha's voice silenced them all. "Get out." Her voice was low and left no room for argument. Nora, however, decided to try anyway.

"Pyrrha, listen-"

"OUT! GET THE FUCK OUT! YOU'VE HURT ME ENOUGH!"

Everyone knew better than to try to fight the rage in her voice, and everyone was out of the room as fast as they could go. With only Ozpin and Glynda still in the room, crying on each other all over again, Pyrrha could finally join in with a simple realization.

Jaune was gone forever.

Because of her friends, she was alone once again.