Welcome to Chapter 10! I'd like to thank Anonymous Reading for raising a point about the characters in his review of the previous chapter, and I figured I should address it here too:

For Ruby, she is still a skilled fighter, but in this story the fighting won't be that often given the setting. In the meantime, her development mostly comes from her young age, and in the absence of fighting she becomes the innocence of the cast. They're all kids thrust into a world of chaos, after all. Of course, it's not going to be that obvious now, but I hope it'll become clearer as I flesh out her character later on in the story.

Hope that cleared some things up, and if not, feel free to leave a review or send me a PM with your questions! Until then, here's what you came for:

"So it would appear you resolved the matter," Adam said flatly. "There are no survivors, I believe?"

"Unfortunately, only their commander remained when I arrived on scene," Ozpin reported. "I was unable to convince him of the error of his ways, so I eliminated him."

"Very well," Adam replied. "Is there anything else you have to say?"

"Yes," Ozpin answered. "Regarding my request…"

"Ah, yes," Adam said, as though he had just remembered something trivial. "Very well. Your results are satisfactory to say the least, so I suppose a reward is in order."

Typing lazily on the keyboard in front of him, Adam spoke without a modicum of interest to the Defect before him.

"I will release a small number of Defects from the concentration camps as promised," he said. "However, their backgrounds will be checked thoroughly and only those who possess no threat to our cause will be released. Naturally, their Collars will not be removed either. You understand that, do you not?"

"Of course," Ozpin replied. "Thank you for your generosity."

His chest burned with white-hot fury, but he held it back. Even if it was small, he had managed to make progress. Letting his emotion get the better of him here would only backfire. Above all, it would dishonor the name of the valiant man who had entrusted him with his life.

"I shall take my leave," he said, the anger flaring in his eyes. Even if he sought a future of equality, a future without violence, he could not erase his own hostility.

He could not help but want to make them all pay with their blood.

He tried catching his breath as he crashed violently into the ground, but his enemy did not grant him that luxury. Rolling out of the way just in the nick of time, Jaune scrambled to his feet as his opponent's weapon cut deeply into the ground.

If he took another hit, he was done for. Rather than charging in blindly, his best course of action was to observe, defend and counter. However, that was easier said than done with his opponent's speed.

Bringing up his trusty shield – finally reunited after all this time – Jaune felt his arm go numb at the impact, barely able to withstand the force. He had bested Grimm before, but this was just ridiculous.

He felt the weight shift. His opponent was using Jaune's raised shield to escape his line of sight, while pivoting around him to hit him from behind. Jaune had forgotten to take into account the difference in their weapon characteristics. Regardless, he was not going to let it end like this.

Charging forward, albeit a little crudely, he threw off his opponent's balance and spun around, thrusting his sword forward. It hit the enemy in the shoulder, but did not pierce through due to Aura. Satisfied with that result, Jaune attempted to put some distance between them with a backwards leap-

A loud gunshot broke his train of thought, and the impact from taking the bullet sent him flying back further than anticipated. Falling on his rear, Jaune groaned and lay on his back, letting go of his weapons.

There was no need to check his Scroll. With a precise shot like that, there was no way his Aura levels would not drop into the red zone.

"Dang, should've seen that one coming," he said aloud, sitting up and dusting off his clothes. "Nice one, Ruby."

Folding Crescent Rose back into its compact form, Ruby sat down next to her sparring partner with a smile on her face.

"But I'm surprised, Jaune," she said. "I didn't expect you to be so good! You've improved a lot since we last fought back at Beacon!"

"Well, I wasn't just slacking around," Jaune replied. "Even if I haven't been able to spar for real, I've been training my mind and body all this time, y'know?"

"Glad to hear," Ruby said, standing up. "Let's head back; Weiss will start complaining about using her glyphs for camouflage if we sit around too long."

"Yeah," Jaune agreed, getting to his feet and picking up his weapon. "Say, Ruby. You feeling alright? I thought you'd be more down in the dumps after… you know."

"Oh, that," Ruby replied, her head drooping a little. "Yeah, I was, but Weiss talked me out of it. I can't stay depressed forever, right? I'm the leader after all."

"Ruby…" Jaune trailed off, looking for something that might tell him it was another lie.

"Say, Jaune," Ruby said out of nowhere. "Do you think… things will ever go back to how they were?"

Jaune hesitated. Perhaps he should have told her the truth, and say that there was no way everything could possibly be the same again. Perhaps he should have kept silent, and let her derive that harsh answer on her own. However, he could not say those simple words. To him, speaking from the heart was a lot easier than speaking from his mind.

"They will," he assured her. "We just have to believe it will. If we don't believe, how will our teammates follow our vision?"

Ruby smiled. Jaune may not be the best of fighters, but she had to admit that he was a better leader than she was.

"Thanks, vomit boy," she said.

"Stay strong, crater face," Jaune replied, bumping fists with her.

They knew that nothing would ever be the same again. They were well aware that the world could never be the same again when people they knew had already died. They were not emotionless, and they were by no means battle-hardened adults, but they knew their purpose. They knew their roles.

With a firm resolve, the two leaders returned to their teams, determination flaring in their unwavering gaze.

"Well, now that everyone is here, let's begin," Weiss declared.

Everyone sat around the table, either on the floor or on the small stools. While their moods had improved since their discovery of Cardin' and Velvet's death a week ago, the atmosphere was nonetheless not one filled with optimism.

"We've located a defense base here," Weiss began, pointing to the location. "The soldiers here monitor any and all transport in and out of Beacon. If we want to get to the central control tower, we'll need to be able to enter Beacon at the very least. To do that, we'll take over this base and use the helicarriers for transport. If we can take over Beacon, we just might save Vale. It's a sloppy plan, but we just might be able to pull it off now that Team JNPR is here."

"How're you so sure?" Pyrrha asked. "We can't be sure that the White Fang will just give up if we take out their leaders."

"The leaders stay at Beacon to make sure the central control tower isn't sabotaged," Blake explained. "If the tower's destroyed, it'll render the Collars effectively useless. When that happens, humans can start fighting back. The number of humans and Faunus against the White Fang's oppressive rule vastly outnumber the White Fang's forces, which is why the latter tamed Grimm to make up for it. Once their leaders are gone, the White Fang can be neutralized."

"Well, that aside," Jaune pointed out. "Even if it does work, how are we going to pull this off? Sneaking into a helicarrier is one thing, but launching an assault on their stronghold isn't something eight of us can pull off."

"Don't underestimate us, vomit boy," Yang said, waving her finger at him. "We know a bunch of people who're willing to help us raid our former castle."

"Right," Ruby chipped in. "We've made contact with several of the resistance forces hiding from the White Fang. They're groups who have freed a lot more prisoners than we have, so their numbers are reliable, but most of them have Collars."

"That's right," Weiss added. "Blake knows a group of Faunus against the White Fang and is willing to aid us as well. However, our reinforcements can't go around actively due to their need for protection and overall large size, so we'll take over the defense base not only to get access to the helicarriers but also to make it our base of operations."

"So they're willing to help us, but only if we do all this work for them and get them a base?" Ren asked, receiving four grim nods in reply.

"Unfortunately, we're on our own for this mission," Weiss sighed.

"Wait a minute," Nora spoke up. "If we take over their defense base, won't they know about it and shoot us down the moment they see us approaching?"

"That's why we needed two teams on this," Weiss declared, pointing to the map again. "While one team takes the defense base, another team will attack this communication tower."

"They only have the one?" Pyrrha asked.

"Luckily, yes," Blake replied. "From what we could gather, the White Fang destroyed many possible places that could be used to relay information to confuse the human troops when they attacked. After their victory, they had to pay the price for that by having only one communications tower left standing to take over. That's why when we take it down, we can confuse them for a good few days if we have control over the defense base as well."

They knew that it was a sloppy plan. They knew that the risks were high, but at the same time they knew that their opponent was not as powerful as they appeared to be; the White Fang suffered many casualties in their attack on Vale as well, and their overly effective destruction of important infrastructure led to their resulting less-than-perfect defenses becoming their weak points. They were powerful, sure, but they were not unbeatable.

"They destroyed too much, so they have less to use for themselves?" Jaune asked, raising an eyebrow. "Would they really be so careless?"

"It's not as if they had a choice," Weiss pointed out. "They were weaker in numbers to begin with, so they'd have to resort to these methods. Frankly, I'm surprised they even left any communication towers left standing after that at all."

Jaune nodded. He had seen the sheer amount of violence wrought by the White Fang at Beacon on the night they attacked. He even remembered wondering how Beacon was still left standing at all after a raid like that.

"So our teams will be going to separate locations?" Jaune asked. "That doesn't sound too safe."

"We don't really have an option," Blake reasoned. "Besides, it'll be easier to sneak around with a smaller group."

"What do you say, leader?" Ren asked.

"Well, if I refuse my legs will be broken," Jaune muttered, hearing Nora's goofy laugh at that. "We're in. We can't just sit around and do nothing."

Even as he said that, Jaune felt an ominous sense of foreboding from his own words. He knew very well that the plan was dangerous, and that there were many risks involved, but the uneasiness was more than just feeling nervous about a big operation.

It felt eerily like a premonition of death.

Now that I think back about it, I should have stopped you. If I think back on it, there were many things I could have said to make you stay behind.

Now, everything I ever had to say, and everything I will ever want to say, will forever be left unsaid.

I should have stopped you back then. I should have talked some sense into you. You were my partner, and an irreplaceable part of me. Yet, I let you walk into the jaws of the enemy. I let you down.

And in the end, my weakness cost you your life.