Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum, not me. This is merely a fanwork meant for entertainment purposes only. Cover image courtesy of Jan Chrt (jeni-cek on deviantART). All rights reserved.

It hadn't been an easy day for Jaune. Sure, it had started out well, what with the whole 'Pyrrha and I are somehow a thing now holy crap how did that happen' debacle. Unfortunately, this was most definitely the high point of his day, since once he received the letter from 'Weiss' requesting he infiltrate the Red Hunter compound, Jaune had a sneaking suspicion that things were going to go downhill, and even if he tried to go in the other direction, they were going to continue dragging him with them whether he liked it or not.

"...so anyway, that's how I ended up in the tunnels beneath Vale. Er, I think that's where we are, anyway." Jaune finished, brushing bits of loose debris from his hair, "So how'd you get down here W- er, Bianca?"

"Oh, I just teleported here." she replied offhandedly, pacing back and forth over the cracked cavern floor, "There was a bomb that was going to go off in the main building, so I needed to make sure my niece here made it out alive. It just wouldn't do to be without a host at such a pivotal time, now would it?"

Jaune brought himself up in a standing position, checking over his usual garb to make sure everything was in place. It seemed like nothing had been damaged in the chaos, but there was something missing. Something important.

"Er, Bianca?"

"Yeees, Jaune?"

"Did you see my weapon up there? Maybe propped up against a wall or something?"

Bianca massaged her temples and, as she did so, proceeded to fall flat on her face onto the ground.

"Weiss- er, Bianca! Are you alright?"

Jaune found it was a lot like holding jelly as he struggled to prop Bianca up against a wall, her face set in frustration.

"Gah, why does she have to be so tall and skinny!" she whined, "It's like trying to walk in heels, except...well, I'm already wearing heels, I suppose."

Bianca pouted.

"It's- it's like walking in two pairs of heels! Do you have any idea how hard that is?!"

"Er, Bianca?"

"What do you- oh, right, your weapon. I don't remember seeing anything up there, no, but if you're worried about it being caught in the blast, you're likely better turning your attention elsewhere. I mean, if all it took to destroy a legendary weapon was an itty bitty explosion, I bet they'd all be long gone by now, hm?"

"I guess you're-"

"And besides, what do you need that thing for, anyway? I have my weapon, and I think you'll find I'm much more competent with it than Weiss ever was!"

BOOMF. Bianca had managed to trip over her own feet. Again.

"...this proves nothing!" she protested, putting on a very wobbly effort to get upright, "Er, okay, maybe it proves something. Something dumb. Stupid stilt legs…"

Making an almost emoticon-like melancholic expression, Bianca fumbled at her belt, drawing Zinnia to its full length and, not a second later, dropping it on the floor.

"This...er…this doesn't normally happen, I swear!"

"Is Weiss still in there?"

"Yup, but she's sleeeeeepy. Whatever that bomb thing was, it drained her dry as a desert, so she's going to need some time to recharge before I can let her back in the driver's seat."

"If you let her back in the driver's seat."

Bianca tilted her head to the side, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, so now you bring up the moral implications of possessing a functionally unconscious individual. And here I thought it'd be the first thing you'd say!"

"For someone who's struggling to walk, you sure did dance around that statement pretty well."

"If I wanted my sentences over-analysed, I'd write a book. Lay off, butthead."

"Butthead? What are you, ten?"

"Thirteen, actually! Now if you'll stop arguing for a moment, maybe we can actually make a plan of action. Want to know what step one is?"

"...pick up the sword?"

"Yeeees, that would be a good idea, Jaune, unless you were planning to fight any Grimm we come across with those noodly arms of yours."

"At least I can control my noodles, Miss Bumbles." Jaune retorted, wrapping his hand around Zinnia's hilt and bringing it up to the...light?

"Wait, where's all of this light coming from, anyway? I didn't notice any torches coming in."

"Look closely at the walls and ceiling, Jaune. Who knows, maybe you'll actually learn something?"

Disregarding Bianca's snippy tone, Jaune cautiously approached the nearest wall and, looking it over with a more thorough eye, he soon spotted little varicoloured shards embedded within, each emitting a surprising amount of light.

"What is this stuff?"

"Unrefined dust crystals, or at least, what was left of them after the miners had their way. Back when I was still alive, the caverns beneath Vale were still a reasonably new discovery, but I guess there's been a lot of work put into them since then."

"So they just left them here?"

"Looks that way, and from the feel of things, there's a few Grimm who've decided to take up residence here in the meantime. If we're going to make it out of here in one piece, you're going to need to use Zinnia to its full effectiveness."

"I was about to ask about that, actually."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, 'cause I was wondering why you have these dust thingies on your weapon if your semblance is teleportation."

"I can do it through glyphs, you know, but I feel like you're missing the point somewhat. You realise that you don't need a glyph semblance to use Zinnia, right?"

"I don't?"

"It's not your ordinary dust rapier, Jaune, if there ever was such a thing. Just pull the trigger and...poof! Dust projectiles."

"And they gave this to a thirteen year old?"

"Well my brother got his weapon at the same time, so they didn't think it would be particularly fair if I didn't receive mine when I hit thirteen."

"That doesn't really...you know what? Nevermind. I don't really want to hear about Schnee family politics right now...or ever, if I can get away with it."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Beneath all the murder and subterfuge, I guess we are pretty boring."

"Uh huh. Wait, hold on, I just thought of another thing."

"Good golly, will wonders never cease? What's that now, two unique thoughts? In a row? Is that some kind of personal record?"

"Dust, you're worse than Weiss sometimes." Jaune grumbled, "At least her snark didn't get in the way of actually doing things...most of the time."

"Hey, you try reverting to toddler-like body control sometime. I'm sure you'll find the experience just lovely."

"Fair do's, but let's try and stick to the point. I mean, you teleported to get down here, right?"

"Mmhm."

"So can you teleport us back up?"

"Yyyyyy- no, not really."

"Why not?"

"Well, I managed to get down here because I had your aura signature to reassure me that it wasn't just blank rock, but I can't feel anything from up above us."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"Imagine if you had to walk around with a blindfold on for a bit, except that, instead of bumping into things in your way, you could end up walking inside them. Are you really feeling that lucky?"

"...so that's a no?"

"I've died once already, Jaune; if at all possible, I'd rather not make a repeat performance."

"In that case, what about this one?"

Since the way back was essentially a dead end, there was really only one way forward. Unfortunately, as the pair wandered up and around the bend of the cavern, they soon found themselves confronting a huge metal mesh, essentially barring them off from the rest of the tunnel system.

"You want me to take us over to the other side, right?" Bianca asked, holding onto one of the walls for support.

"That was the idea, at least. Can you do it?"

"I don't see why not. I mean, I teleported an entire mansion before, so what's a stilt-legged girl and a lanky boy to that, hm?"

"Hey! I am not-"

BAMF.

"-lanky?" Jaune finished, the feeling of momentarily not existing leaving him a little short of breath. From the looks of things, the tunnel now split into two paths, and while it was a little difficult to pinpoint which one it was coming from, Jaune definitely heard a faint growling noise emanating into their portion of the cavern.

"That...doesn't sound good."

"What, you don't think it's some kind of Grimm bunny rabbit?"

Jaune readied Zinnia as a strange rumbling began flowing through the floor, followed by an even stronger growl. Suddenly, the earth to Jaune's left began to rupture, and from out of it sprung an enormous mole-like creature, it's characteristic white Grimm claws coming in for a slice to his neck. Just in time, however, Jaune managed to step backwards and, wielding Zinnia much like a club, slammed the weapon down hard onto the mole Grimm, sending it careening off into the cavern proper, snarling.

"It's a rapier, Jaune, not a longsword! Thrust, don't slash!"

Trying to remember what he'd seen from Weiss' practical demonstrations at Beacon, it was only by a stroke of luck that he realised the mole was coming in for another attack and, unable to dodge this time, put up a shield to block the attack, momentarily stunning the mole. Taking the opportunity, Jaune gripped Zinnia with both hands, slamming the point down right into the Grimm's torso. Unfortunately, this particular Grimm didn't seem content to give up without a fight, and, with Zinnia still embedded within it, the creature began digging down with tremendous force, trying its best to tear the weapon out from Jaune's grip.

"The trigger! Pull the trigger!"

His obedience instinct finally kicking in, Jaune's index finger curled around Zinnia's decorated trigger and, with a firm pull, launched out what appeared to be some fantastical fire and ice mixture into the Grimm. An unholy shrieking pierced the air for a moment, before being cut away to make room for silence.

"...not too bad, Jaune." Bianca commented, walking over to inspect the Grimm's swiftly disintegrating corpse, "I can tell you're not used to the weapon, though."

"I definitely miss Crocea Mors right now, but if this thing keeps me alive, I don't really care if I look like a complete moron using it."

"No kidding with that one."

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

"Huh? Sounds kinda like a...scroll?"

Jaune gave Bianca a hard look as she rifled through her pockets, eventually pulling out the familiar thin shape of Beacon's touted touchscreen devices.

"Nnnope, looks like some kind of tech to me."

"It's...that's the name of it, Bianca. A scroll."

"Ooooh, I get it. So I guess I just- bah!"

As Bianca pressed a finger against the scroll's surface, the slippery tech suddenly flew out of her grasp, smacking into a jutting dust crystal in the wall with a worrying CRACK.

"...woops?"

Just as Jaune considered whether or not going off on some kind of tirade would be a good idea, the scroll began perking up, a slightly garbled message coming through the speakers.

"Weiss…" Ruby's slightly distorted voice sounded, her tone tinged with concern, "If you're still alive, please send us a message back as soon as you can! We were all standing by in case you needed us, but then everything just sort of...exploded! It was horrible! Cardin's digging through the wreckage right now, but he's not finding anything...please be still alive. Please."

Bianca glanced towards Jaune.

"That girl...she cares about Weiss a lot, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, I guess they do seem pretty good friends." Jaune muttered enviously.

"Friends? That's not quite how I was reading it."

"What?"

"Nevermind, Jaune. Right now, we need to focus on getting topside, and fast. You might have taken care of the Grimm from earlier fairly well, but there's no telling how many might still be in here. For all we know, we might be the only living things...for miles…"

Bianca stopped, peering over to one of the tunnel exits.

"Do you hear that?"

"There's this sort of humming sound…"

"That's just the crystals, Jaune. Listen closer."

Straining his ears as hard as he dared, Jaune put all of his focus into listening, perhaps for the first time in his life. For a second, he was quick to dismiss it as nothing but, after a while, there did seem to be something...metallic?

"I hear it."

"It's coming this way, Jaune!"

"Damn it...come on, to the walls!"

Scrambling over to the sides of the tunnel, Bianca and Jaune pressed themselves against them as far as they dared, thankful for the odd rocky outcrop that made spotting them a little less easy. The pair could only wait as the metallic sound increased in volume, until finally, a figure Bianca recognised as Karyan stomped out from the right tunnel, her cape in complete tatters. Coming to a stark halt as she entered the chamber, Karyan began scanning the room with the same amber eyes that had so pierced through Weiss before. After a few seconds, Karyan drew her sword, walking straight towards Bianca.

I remember her...she was the one who caught me when I tried to sneak into the guild hall! What do I do, what do I do?

As Jaune prepared Zinnia for some kind of surprise attack, Karyan once again came to a halt, using her free hand to put up a 'stop' symbol in his direction.

SHNK. With strength that rivalled Nora, Karyan slammed her broadsword into the ground, and, perhaps due to the nature of the sword itself, it slid into it like soft butter. Her work apparently done, Karyan resumed her inexorable march, and if not for Jaune, it was possible she would have left without saying a word.

"Wait!"

Karyan turned, her expression dead.

"What did you do?" Jaune asked, trying his best not to look towards the sword.

Karyan merely shrugged.

"Gave you a fighting chance."

Karyan resumed her walk, undeterred.

"Don't waste it."

As the intimidating figure melted into the shadows, the clanking of her boots ceased...but, unfortunately, that did not mean it was silent.

"Jaune?"

A cacophony of Grimm cries seemed to shake the very earth as hundreds of ivory monstrosities rushed out of the tunnels, every single one of them seeming to want only one thing; Bianca.

"Jaune!"

There was no choice. There wasn't even the thought of a choice.

Jaune gripped the sword.

Soulwithlife here once again, delivering another tasty chapter of None Of Your Business! Bon appetit, mes amis!

In any case, I must say that I'm feeling a lot more comfortable with a weekly posting schedule and, unless I say otherwise, new chapters will continue to be posted every Thursday from now on (or in this case, the very very early hours of Friday T_T). I'm juggling a lot of other projects at the moment, including my own sci-fi novel, so having a little more leeway in updating this is definitely a weight off my shoulders.

So, what did you think of this week's chapter? Things you liked? Things you didn't like? Things you got confused about and googled and still stayed confused? Not to worry, my friends! For all of this and more, simply pop a little something in the reviews section, and your wish will be my command! Unless it's spoilers, anyway. Those are seeeecret.

'Till next time, readers!