I do not own RWBY or any of its characters. Otherwise, I would 100% have Ren's apron.

Chapter 17: Just A Problem

"Thanks again professor!"

Ruby Rose turned and bid the energetic professor a small wave as she walked out of the classroom. The hooded girl had been forced to double back to retrieve the forgotten notebook on her desk. She could have easily used one of her teammates notes to study - Weiss had an extensive amount written down compared to anyone else - but the thought of leaving all of the little drawings she had made within the margins could have easily been frowned upon, had anyone taken the time to open it.

Professor Oobleck gave a slight nod as he proceeded to gather various notes from atop his podium, "Not a problem, Miss Rose, but be sure to keep better track of your belongings in the future." He waved the papers in his hand in emphasis, sending a couple of pages falling to the floor in doing so.

"W-Won't let it happen again!" Ruby replied nervously, closing the door behind her and taking a deep breath.

'Glad that's all over,' She thought.

It had been a long day. Combat class was fun, since she had been able to face off against a fellow first year from Team VCNO, Conrad, and his super-amazing fire sword.

It had made Ruby wonder if she could somehow get Crescent Rose to burst into flames too.

She cupped a hand to her chin in thought. It was definitely something to consider carefully, one wrong move and her poor hood would be set aflame. Couldn't have that happen now.

In the end, Crescent Rose was already an amazing creation, and she was happy enough with it.

Even if fire would make it-

Ruby shook her head free of weapon ideas and continued along towards the dorms.

It was unfortunate that Jaune and Hiro didn't enjoy the class as much as she did, they seemed to have a lot of trouble throughout it all. Maybe Jaune could get some tips from Pyrrha, seeing how they were partners after all. Hiro however…

Ruby's face fell in remembrance, Hiro did not have his aura unlocked, that much had been said. What really worried Ruby, though, was that he had practically launched himself away from her when she was only trying to help. She was sure he had his reasons for it, but… It still hurt when she saw how scared of her he looked after he landed on the table. If it wasn't for Yang stepping in and slamming him and Romulus to the floor, Ruby was certain that she would have been sputtering an apology.

Maybe she should stop by and do that before she went back to her own dorm room.

"Ema! Ema!"

Ruby stopped and spun at the sound of shouting coming from behind her. Hiro had appeared from around the last corner out of breath and seemed to be searching around frantically for something.

"Hiro! Over here!" Ruby called out.

"Ruby?" Seeing her, Hiro dashed over to her as quickly as his still-recovering body would allow.

"You really shouldn't be running around like that, you just got out of the infirmary again." Ruby gave a friendly smile. She had to stop herself from laughing at the awkward, slightly hunched-over way that the boy was running towards her. Hiro stopped before her and placed his hand on his knees as he panted to catch his breath. Ruby took this opportunity to ready her apology, waiting for him to stand back up. "Hiro… I wanted to apologize… for earlier in-"

"Ruby, have you seen Ema?"

Ruby was taken aback by the interruption, but answered nonetheless, "No, I haven't seen her since class let out. Didn't you leave with her?"

Hiro groaned and ran his hand through the bit of red hair on his head, "Yeah, I did, but… Look, something happened and she ran off. I had hoped she had just gone back to the room but…"

The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out his scroll and… another scroll? "She left her scroll on her bed and I can't find her."

Ruby's eyes widened, "What? Do you think she ran away?"

Hiro shook his head, "I'm not sure, but I need to find her and… I just need to find her." He cast his gaze down to the floor as he spoke.

Her gaze softened, "Hiro, what happened?"

Hiro let out a sigh, "I said something I probably shouldn't have, Ruby. All I was doing was trying to help her relax a bit and…" He rubbed his eyes, "I brought up the idea of writing to the friend I saw her with before and she ran off."

"Wait," Ruby took a step closer, "You mentioned Stephen?"

Hiro blinked, "Uhh…"

"That jerk broke up with her last weekend you… you…" Ruby gestured around as she tried to think of a nicer word to use in place of something more crude.

"...dingus?"

"Yes! That! Whatever that is!"

Hiro placed his head in his hand, "I… Dammit. I didn't know."

"That's what I heard the day you and I met, before the robbery anyway." She continued, "I don't know the whole story, but it wasn't fair after how much time they spent together."

Hiro backed up and leaned against the wall next to them, "I need to fix this…"

Ruby closed her eyes. Due to the size of the campus, it would be impossible to locate a single student by yourself , especially in Hiro's condition. All teams could use their scrolls to locate the position of the other members, but without Ema carrying hers with her, it would make things much more difficult.

Also, the mouse girl had a knack for blending into the crowd, even with those ears on her head. Ruby had often bumped into her unintentionally at Signal several times due to this, and knew that intentionally searching for her would be a challenge as well.

"I'll help you look for her." Ruby said, finally. She looked up at Hiro's shocked expression and continued, "I'll call the girls and have them help out too."

Hiro seemed speechless for a moment but upon seeing her determination he gulped down any protest and nodded, "Alright. I'll grab Romulus and we'll search the school. Top to bottom."

"Right." Ruby said, reaching for her scroll as she began to run off, "Good Luck!"

Ruby was certain Hiro had said something back to her, but was too busy calling up Yang on her scroll and running to hear what it was. After a few rings, her sister finally picked up.

"Hey, Rubes. What's-"

"Yang we have an emergency. Get the girls, and meet me near the courtyard. Ema's missing."

=||-{([O])}-||=

I cringed and slid around the next corner, trying not to lose my balance as I ran along faster than I should have in my current state.

"Dammit, Romulus, PICK UP!" I called into my scroll as it continued to ring. I was making my way to the training hall personally to get the wolf boy because he had not picked up his scroll when I called him before. I kept trying though.

I was extremely grateful that Ruby had offered for her team to help search for Ema, without it I wasn't sure I could cover even half the school by myself.

The knowledge of what had happened weighed on my mind as well. I had saved Stephen and Ema a few days ago and he just up and decided to cut it off with her. What had changed? Was it because what happened at the park? Or was it something worse? Either way, for the girl to be so broken up over this as she was, it must have been a one-sided separation.

Worse than one sided maybe. Perhaps he really wasn't as kind as he came off to me as, and instead just saw whatever relationship they had as just a hassle. It made me sick to think about it.

I shoved the thoughts from my head as I saw Romulus exit from one of the training rooms in nothing but his pants from his combat attire and a towel around his neck.

"Romulus!" I shouted, gaining my teammate's attention as he looked in my direction.

"Hey, Hiro. How's studying?"

I stopped in front of him and waved my hands back and forth as I caught my breath, "Forget about that," I panted, "Why didn't you… answer your scroll?"

Romulus shrugged, "I turned it in off while I was in there. Why, something happen?"

I sighed and pulled out the second scroll, "You can say that. Ema's missing."

His eyes narrowed, "Missing?"

"Yeah. Team RWBY is off looking for her already, Ema left her scroll in the room and took off. We need to find her."

Romulus nodded, not intending to delay any further, "Let's go."

I turned in dismay as I watched Romulus run off, "H-Huh? Wait, what about your stuff?!" I called out as I ran to catch up with him.

"It's not going anywhere! I'll get it later!"

I rolled my eyes but didn't argue as we ran down the hallway. I brought the scroll in my hand and keyed Ruby's name, it didn't take long for her to answer.

"Ruby, I've got Romulus and were starting our search. How are you guys doing on your end?"

"Weiss and I have searched all of the east wing but haven't found her. Yang and Blake have searched the dorms and have moved on to the west wing already."

"Head to the airship dock and gardens next, Romulus and I are already in the training hall so we can start here."

"Got it."

I ended the call and pocketed both scrolls as I focused on running, ignoring the screams of protest coming from my back.

Romulus looked back at me as he ran, "Do have any idea where she might have gone?"

I shook my head in response, "Is there any way you can, like… I dunno, smell where she is?"

I saw Romulus tense up at my words, "That better have been a joke!"

The two of us searched the few buildings that made up the training hall and combat classrooms but did not find any trace of the mouse faunus. I grew steadily more and more worried as much as I grew tired from the strain on my body from not having any rest. Even my bio-mech limbs felt heavier as the sun began to fall.

RWBY wasn't having much luck either as the four of them were unable to find any sign of her. I had hoped that with the number of people searching we would find her easily, but that was not the case. I was about ready to call Jaune and ask for his help too.

I stopped running after a while and leaned against a nearby column as I heaved in precious oxygen. Romulus had stopped beside me to catch his breath as well, albeit much easier than I had.

"Dammit… She has to... be somewhere." I said between breaths.

Romulus grumbled, "It's getting dark. If we don't find her soon, I'm the only one who'll be able to see anything."

"Why's that?"

"Faunus don't have trouble seeing in the dark," He rolled his shoulder as he stretched, probably a bit sore after a workout and then running around so much. I guess aura only helped so much with that.

"O-Oh." I stood and stretched my aching back out as well, feeling a few pops as some of the tension disappear.

Romulus sighed and leaned against the opposite side of the column, "You're good at thinking on your feet, can't you work out where she went or something?"

I let out an amused breath, "I'm not sure it works quite like that. Plus that's only happened when I'm in combat so far, and only for fighting back."

"So, what. You want me to threaten you or something?"

"Please don't."

I heard a sigh from behind me as Romulus walked into my line of sight, "C'mon, just try it." He stood for a moment, in thought, "Pretend she's didn't just run away, maybe she's being held against her will or something. How would you solve that?" he gestured to me as he finished.

I groaned and looked up at him, "You have a weird way of trying to help. That just makes me even more worried."

"It either helps or it doesn't. Just try."

His urging was starting to get on my nerves. Why couldn't HE just try and figure it out, I didn't see why I was so special.

Aside from the obvious.

I finally let out an exasperated breath, "Alright fine… Just… Just be quiet okay?"

I saw his tail flick slightly, "Finally. You're harder to persuade than I thought."

I glared at him but didn't say anything before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.

I needed to find Ema, that was my mission. I tried to imagine a situation that coaxed my quick-thinking nature to take control and solve the problem. Like when we were at Signal, or back in the park.

Back in the park.

Back in the park when I saw Ema being bullied I decided to stand up and help, even though no one else did. I became confident in the face of the group of bullies even when I was severely outmatched. The same thing happened at Signal, when it came down to it, my confidence was what increased even if my skill was still sub-par. I had to recreate that feeling somehow, find a way to get me thinking like that again.

I was silent for a while as I tried to focus. I needed to find Ema. For all we knew, she could be just fine, or she could be… not fine. I needed to find…

My eyes opened and I began to pace around the courtyard we were in, losing myself in thought.

"Well?" Romulus asked as he watched my every move.

I let out a weak grin, "I think I have something… Give me a sec…" I stopped and turned towards Romulus, "What places have we checked so far?"

Romulus crossed his arms, "All together, I'm pretty sure we've checked nearly the whole school at this point."

"Hmm…" I narrowed my eyes and brought a hand to my chin.

"Do you think that we might have missed her somewhere?"

I thought about it. Out of the six of us searching, no one has seen her. The school, while large, had only so many classes and rooms to hide in. The odds of us missing someone in the hour and a half of searching was extremely low.

I shook my head, "No. I don't think we missed her, there's no way."

"Then what then?" Romulus brought his palm up expectantly, "Are you saying she left the school or something?"

Did she leave the school? It was possible, the emerald forest was not that far from school grounds and there were airships that left at regular intervals throughout the day. I brought my scroll up and checked the flight schedule. No, the earliest shuttle she could have taken leaves in twenty minutes, and there were no others that left after she ran off. She would have just missed it.

"She couldn't have taken a shuttle," I turned my screen towards Romulus, "there hasn't been any to take."

Romulus inspected the schedule and then rubbed his eyes, "Alright, so she is here then."

"...no. She's not." I replied slowly, "We've already decided that she can't be in the school."

The faunus boy groaned, "Is she here or not?"

I was trying his patience for sure, but the feeling was mutual as I felt a migraine coming on. I ignored it for now.

"It's possible she went to the forest." I proposed, looking up at Romulus.

The boy mimicked my expression, bring his hand to his chin, "Yeah, that's true." He paused, "But the only direct way to get there is using the launch pads, and you can't just use them whenever you want."

"...what if she didn't use the launch pads." My expression serious, "There is more than one way down."

Romulus's eyes widened, imagining the worst, "You don't think she…"

I shook my head, "No, I don't. But remember the end of our initiation?" I nodded and continued, "The stairs."

"But that's…" Romulus leaned back against the column, "There's no way, even an hour ago there would be no light hitting that part of the cliff for her to see-" He stopped in realization and looked up at me.

I nodded my head, "You said it yourself, faunus have no problem seeing in the dark."

I looked up at what little sunlight was left and pulled out my scroll, quickly sending a message to Ruby about my theory before turning back to my teammate.

"We don't have much time. If we run into any Grimm in the dark, I won't be much help." Not that I was much at the moment anyways.

It was Romulus's turn to look serious now, "No, you stay here. I'll go check it out."

"No," I immediately declined, "it's my fault that she ran off in the first place. I'm going."

"You can barely walk any more," He gestured to my legs, which felt like lead now, "do you really think you can make it down all those stairs?"

I smiled, "My question is, do you think you can keep up?"

Romulus just stared at me and turned around, "You are one crazy wall-dweller, Hiro," He flashed a toothy smile back at me. "I think we'll make good pack-mates."

With that, he began running. My smile widened and I pushed my left leg as hard as I could manage, just barely able to keep pace with Romulus. My body protested, but something made me ignore the pain. It was still there, for sure, but It was almost like it wasn't at the same time. I didn't have time to think on it too hard as the two of us made our way to the edge of the school, eager to find our missing teammate.

=||-{([O])}-||=

The darkness enveloped the forest by the time that Ema woke, the cold breeze sending a shiver through her body. A small sneeze escaped her as she rubbed her shoulders for warmth. How long had she been asleep? It was difficult to tell.

Nearby, Prototype, the current title for her incomplete weapon, lay dormant in its transport mode. It was the only thing she had to keep her company and mitigate her sadness. All of the time she had spent working on it, the amount of countless hours of designing and building, it had all accumulated into the one thing that would never leave her side.

Reaching over, the young girl pulled the metal form closer, the dust-based energy within generating enough heat to help counteract the cold night air. The weapon's warmth was soothing and eased the faunus's mind.

"I shouldn't have come…" Ema muttered to herself.

Beacon was one of the few places that had always fascinated her. Transforming simple, aspiring students into full-fledged warriors was so amazing that she could never believe that she would get the opportunity to be a student there.

Before, it was nothing but a fool's dream. Having lived most of her life as an orphan, she had only managed to attend Signal with an academic scholarship by scoring first on the district entrance exams. Her part-time job as a mechanic was barely enough to pay for the small, single-roomed apartment that she called her home.

Thankfully, a good portion of Patch's residents did not hold ill-intent towards the faunus, so she was able to get by on what she had, if only just. She had even been so lucky as to have someone like Stephen… Her… boyf-

Ema choked back another sob at the thought, "If this is how I handle simple drama… how do I even expect to fight grimm?" The small girl wiped her eyes clear on the sleeve of her uniform for the umpteenth time.

There was nothing she could do to rid herself of the image of his angry face. To remove the sound of his voice as he brutally, and mercilessly belittled her on the ferry that day. The incident in the park had not been the first, but it had been the final deciding factor in his decision. Even after all of the pleading, the apologizing, the tears; none of it changed his mind.

The moment they had arrived in Patch, he left her behind.

Now here Hiro was, and, much like Stephen had, he was showing her kindness and empathy. It hurt to compare them, but the similarity was obvious. Up until the end, Stephen had acted in very much the same way towards her.

Ema knew it was wrong to assume the worst, but…

As a small gust blew through the forest, Ema curled tighter around Prototype, "It's cold," she whispered.

It would have been a simple matter to increase the weapon's power consumption and generate more heat, but the Dust crystal inside would be drained much quicker than she could afford to replace any time soon. It was best to save it for now.

"Emmmmaaaaa!"

Ema's ears jerked upwards as she turned her head towards the treeline, the sound of voices calling to her filling the silence of the forest.

"Hiro?" Ema stood, cradling Prototype in her arms closely, and slowly began moving towards the boy's distant voice. "Hiro, is that you?" She hesitated, afraid of what he would say when he found her.

Slowly stepping over a fallen log, Ema made her way through the forest as the rustling of bushes caught her attention.

"Hiro?" Ema nervously called out.

She stiffened as a low growl responded to her voice. Ears flattened to her head, Ema took several steps back in fright as a large grimm emerged from the foliage, its red eyes bore through the white, bone-like mask as it crawled towards her.

A Beowolf.

"Y-You're not Hiro…" Ema's voice was barely audible as she was overcome with fright. The two stared at one another for several seconds before the beast leapt towards her with a roar.

"AHH!" Ema was just able to dive away from the grimm's outstretched claws as they rushed passed, and quickly stumbled to her feet to escape.

Her path was cut off however as a second Beowolf skidded to a stop in front of her, making her abruptly change directions, forcing her to run further away from the school. Luckily, her small frame was able to maneuver much easier through the dense undergrowth than the pursuing creatures, who were forced to climb over and around large roots and fallen trees.

"C-C'mon, Proto, a-attach already!" Ema begged as she struggled to affix the weapon to her bracer. With all of the running around, it was difficult to get it to link properly without slowing down, which she didn't want to do.

*THWACK!*

"Gah!" In an instant, Ema was lifted off of her feet and sent flying several yards, falling harshly onto the cold ground and sending Prototype into the bushes. A third Beowolf had caught her by surprise and landed a clean hit to her side.

Ema cringed and sat up, shaking her head, "Ugh…" Her eyes widened at the sight of the Beowolf being joined by its brethren with a howl.

This was it. Even if Hiro was out looking for her, he wouldn't be able to find her in time, let alone help her fight off this many grimm at once.

Her hands scrambled for her weapon, "Proto! W-Where are you!" Her search came up empty and she resorted to pushing herself back away from the advancing grimm.

A loud screech caused her to bring her hands up to her mouse ears as the largest of the group moved forward with another howl, almost savoring the fear that emanated from the small girl. Despair filled her heart as she felt her back meet the side of a tree root, sweat dripping from her face and mixing with her tears. She had no weapon, and nowhere to run. There was nothing she could do. Howling in the distance only served to remind her that there was still more monsters to face even if she were to escape the ones before her.

With a whimper, Ema resigned herself to her fate and watched as the Beowolf raised its claws for the last time.

"Hrrghhaa!"

A figure burst forth from the trees, slamming into the side of the Beowolf like a cannonball and sending it sprawling to the ground. They landed where the beast once stood, and rubbed their shoulder with a flick of their tail.

"Three on one hardly seems fair." Romulus grinned and turned towards Ema, "Are you alright?"

The mouse faunus would have blushed at seeing the shirtless warrior had the situation been less serious. She went to nod but the two remaining grimm had begun their own charge, "R-Romulus look out!" She cried out, pointing over his shoulder.

Romulus's expression hardened as he spun and eyed the incoming claw from the closest Beowolf. The boy leapt over the swing and brought his foot down onto the creature's head, bouncing off of it as the second Beowolf swiped at him as well.

Romulus landed in a crouch across from where he had started, turning to face his opponents as they focused on him before clashing once again.

"Ema, get out of here!"

Ema was frozen as she watched in awe as the boy - her teammate - continued to fight the two Beowolves without his weapons. He was able to evade their strikes every time, but it was notable that he did not have a way to finish them completely. She needed to find Prototype and leave before-

"HRGGHAAAARGH!"

Ema jumped, startled, as the first Beowolf returned, leaping at her once more with a loud roar.

It didn't reach her, however, as it was knocked aside by a small object - it was Prototype!

The weapon struck the grimm's head and knocked it off course enough for it to miss Ema before falling to the ground nearby.

"Yahoo!" The Beowolf shook off the attack and turned just in time for Hiro to come crashing down onto it, his left fist plowing straight into the side of its face and forcing it back.

Hiro hit the ground and stumbled, panting as he held his arm around his midsection tightly, "Sorry to keep you waiting." The boy stood shakily as he spoke, giving Ema a mock salute. The mouse faunus took note that he also did not have his weapon with him, and his condition was not much better than it was earlier. Yet still he fought.

Across the clearing, Romulus was showing obvious signs of slowing down, his exhaustion finally starting to catch up with him, "Hiro! Grab her and get out of here!"

Hiro turned, a look of uncertainty on his face, "What about y-"

"Just go! I'll be right behind you!" Romulus yelled back, narrowly dodging another claw from a Beowolf, only to be backhanded by the second one, sending him onto his back.

"Gah!" Romulus felt the air leave his body upon impact, but used the momentum to flip backwards and onto his feet again, much more winded than before.

Ema glanced at Hiro as he brought his scroll out and opened it. The trio's aura levels were quickly displayed on the screen, or at least the lack thereof.

She still seemed to have a fair amount of her aura left, having only been struck once, though it seemed that Romulus had lost more than half of his already. Having been training before then, it was an unfortunate situation, to say the least.

Of course, it wasn't as unfortunate as Hiro's situation. As his aura was not unlocked, it was not displayed alongside theirs and was instead greyed out. If he so much as took a single hit in his condition, it wouldn't end well.

Ema was shaken from her thoughts as she felt Hiro grab her wrist.

"We need to go." He said, pulling lightly.

Ema nodded, "R-Right."

Hiro pulled her along, reaching down mid stride to pick up Prototype before running in the direction of Beacon. By now, the first Beowolf had regained its senses and begun pursuing them and was hot on their tail, creating a crashing and snapping of branches behind them.

"Ema, let me borrow your weapon!" Hiro yelled and held out his left arm.

The pair stopped just long enough for Ema to clamp Prototype to his arm - Hiro letting out a grunt of pain at the hastiness of it - before the Beowolf landed beside them snarling.

"Take THIS!" In an instant, Prototype had shifted into a gauntlet and let loose a stream of energy as Hiro hurled his fist into the creature's mask, shattering it and sending it flying back into the trees.

A loud hiss emitted from the gauntlet as it released leftover propellent before Hiro collapsed to his knees.

Ema was beside him immediately, "Hiro! W-What did-"

"That attack isn't going to keep it down for long… We need to keep- Hrrgh!" Hiro grimaced in pain at his attempt to stand, his entire body beginning to burn at the slightest movement.

Ema maneuvered under his right shoulder and helped him to his feet, "Y-You really shouldn't push yourself so hard. Your body can't take the stress." It was amazing though, how much he could actually take without an aura. The mere fact that Prototype was not breaking his arm - which she had considered a fluke before - was astonishing.

Hiro shook his head, "It won't matter if we don't get out of here." With her assistance, Hiro and Ema continued their way through the forest.

The mouse girl looked back nervously, "W-What about Romulus?" She murmured.

"He'll make it." Hiro replied.

The Beowolf's howl could be heard as it most likely began chasing them again, forcing the two student's pace to quicken as much as possible.

Soon, the trees thinned and gave way to a clearing with a cliff wall scaling up before them. They had reached the end of the forest now, and just had to find a way up. The stairs were nowhere in sight, as they had strayed away from where they came down.

Hiro shuffled over and leaned against the rocky cliffside, taking a chance to catch his breath, "We need to find those stairs… and get out of here." The boy quickly reached into his pocket and retrieved his scroll again, bringing up a map of the area. His eyes scanned the screen for a moment, finding their location, "That way!" He tilted his head along the wall towards the left.

Ema nodded and moved to help Hiro move, but he held up his hand to stop her.

Before she could question him he brought his arm up, "You're gonna need this. I can walk on my own, but that's about it." He shook Prototype lightly on his arm, "If we run into any more trouble, you'll have more luck than I will using it."

Ema hesitated, briefly unsure of her own capabilities before nodding and using her holo-terminal to shift Prototype on to her arm, linking it with the bracer.

"Let's move." Hiro pushed off from the wall and struggled forward as quickly as he could manage, Ema following alongside him. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Hiro switched his scroll to the aura display. Romulus's aura had dropped further, sending a feeling of worry through her head. She hoped Hiro was right about him being okay.

"HRRRRGHHH!"

Another Beowolf appeared from the treeline, charging in their direction.

"Ema! You're up!" Hiro stepped back, allowing Ema to move to the front.

"R-Right, got it!" She stuttered and rose Prototype in front of her, "Blaster, left!" The weapon shifted and revealed its barrels at her order. "Rapid Fire!"

The air between Ema and the approaching beast was immediately filled with gunfire, causing the Beowolf to stumble, but not stop advancing towards its prey.

Hiro's eyes narrowed, "It's not stopping, we need to hit it harder!"

"Got it!" Ema nodded, "Full power!"

The end of both barrels glowed before discharging a pair of larger bolts that hit the Beowolf center mass and sent it tumbling to the dirt.

"That's it! Keep firing!"

At Hiro's command, Ema fired off volley after volley of blasts, each one hitting the grimm and pinning it down until it started to smoke and vanish from the field.

Ema took several shaky breaths before shaking herself back to reality, "C'mon!" She grabbed Hiro's hand and pulled him forward as more growls came from the treeline.

Each time they made it about twenty feet, another Beowolf or even two or three would emerge from the trees. They must have wandered right past the entire pack on the way into the forest.

"Ema, two more coming up behind us!" Hiro called.

Ema turned and pushed Hiro behind her as she rose Prototype up once more, "Firing!"

*WHIIIRRRRrrrrrruuuuuu...*

Ema's expression fell at the sound of the blaster winding down, out of power.

"N-Nonononono." She muttered and rapidly punched in commands on her terminal, but the gun refused to fire.

"What's wrong?"

Ema turned back to Hiro, a worried look on her face, "It's out of power!"

Hiro's eyes widened, "No, not now!"

The pair of Beowolves roared and charged forward, eyes glowing in the dark night air.

"Shield, left!" Ema commanded, the underpowered weapon slowly lurching around in an effort to obey its master's wishes.

As it locked into place, Ema swung the shield around and slammed the grimm aside just in time for the second one to take advantage of the opening, its jaws wide open to bite her.

"Wahh!" Ema flinched.

*Clang!*

Ema blinked, unbelieving.

"What's the matter you poor bastard. Can't get a good taste?" Remarkably, Hiro's arm was inside of the Beowolf's mouth. Even more astonishing was that the beast seemed as confused as Ema was as to why it could not bite the boy's arm off like it should have.

"All right big fella. You wanna play?" Hiro growled back at the grimm and twisted his arm around, grabbing hold of its snout and squeezing it. Hard.

Though it was faint, Ema could swear she heard the grimm whimper as Hiro pulled its head down to his rising knee, slamming it into its face and pushing it off of him.

It wasn't possible, but she saw it with her own two eyes. Without an aura, Hiro had stopped and overpowered a grimm singlehandedly.

Ema had questions piling up to ask him, but when Hiro collapsed to the ground in front of her she forgot about them completely.

"H-Hiro!" Ema turned the boy over onto his back, cradling his head in her arms. He was still breathing.

"C-C'mon. Get up!"

Her head rose to the sound of growling as the two Beowolves returned for revenge, behind them a third one with a cracked mask stood watching. Its red eyes glared menacingly at the two of them, almost relishing their impending demise.

Ema pulled Hiro closer, unsure of what else she should do. There wasn't exactly anything that she COULD do at this point. Her heart pounded in her chest at the thought of dying, and at the thought of Hiro dying.

It was her fault that they were out here. She ran away because she was to weak to handle something as simple as a memory. How she wished she could have just forgotten about Stephen, then none of this would be happening, and they wouldn't be about to die.

Tears stained her face, she had cried so much in the last few hours that she wasn't sure if she could stop at this point. She was so scared, and it was likely that fear that brought the grimm to them. Her own fear was about to kill them. It was a sick irony.

"I… I'm sorry, Hiro." Ema choked out, her tears beginning to fall onto Hiro's face below.

He had done so much for her, and she had barely known him more than twenty-four hours, but she could do nothing in return but cause trouble. Just like she always had.

...

"It's only natural that a science geek would fall in love with a lab rat..."

"You're just wasting your time with her. I mean really, HER going to Beacon? She couldn't beat her way out of a wet paper bag!"

"You're my problem! You've always been my problem! You're just one big problem I don't want to deal with on a daily basis any more!"

...

Ema closed her eyes, choking back sobs, "I'm sorry..."

*Poh-Whhhhhhhiiiiiii-BOOM!*

The area in front of Ema exploded into flames as the two Beowolves were launched backwards. Ema's eyes shot open and watched as a blur of yellow blazed past her and into the nearest grimm, knocking it skyward with enough force to hear a crunching sound as it impacted.

"Hrrghaah!" Yang followed up her devastating uppercut by following the beast up and slamming the heel of her boot down onto the helpless creature's head. The crater the carcass made as it returned to the ground was impressive. Once Yang landed next to the already evaporating remains, she had already set her sights on the second Beowolf and dashed off to take it out too.

"How is he?"

Ema shook herself free of the awe and looked towards the new voice, where she found Blake kneeling worriedly as she looked them both over. "H-He needs a doctor. H-He shouldn't even be out here." She managed to reply.

Blake switched her attention to her, "What about you?" She eyed the poor girl's tear-ridden face softly, "Are you going to be okay?" Ema wiped her eyes and nodded.

Blake let out a sigh of relief and took a brief glance at her teammate, "Keep an eye on him and rest. Ruby and Weiss will be here soon." She stood as she finished speaking before making her way onto the battlefield as another handful of grimm showed up.

Ema watched in fascination as the two girls fought on against the grimm, neither of them having any trouble taking down one before moving on to the next. The mouse girl surveyed the clearing, and noticed that she did not see the Beowolf with the cracked mask. It had either been defeated already, or had fled into the night. She had hoped it was the former.

Soon, the R and W of team RWBY arrived and the field was quickly filled with the decaying smoke of defeated grimm.

Once everyone had decided they were no longer going to be attacked, they gathered around Ema, who was still clinging to Hiro's unconscious form.

Ruby, hesitantly, was the first to speak, "Is… he?"

Ema shook her head, "He's still breathing."

"Ohthankgoodness…" Ruby let out a held breath at the positive confirmation.

"So can you explain what exactly happened here?" Weiss asked, annoyance identifiable in her voice.

"Weiss-"

"N-No…" Ema cut in, stopping Ruby before she could scold Weiss, "It's fine… It was my fault."

She gazed down at Hiro's calm slumber, ironic, given what they had just gone through. It was still swirling through her mind, knowing that she was the one who had caused this mess.

"I'm sorry for making you all worry, and for causing a problem." Ema hid her eyes behind the ends of her bangs, mouse ears pulled close to her head.

Surely they were angry at her for running out here, and Hiro would be even more so for having come to her rescue once again. It made her sad knowing that she had been the cause of his pain, every time. Was this why Stephen left? Because she caused him pain and she didn't even notice? And now with team RWBY having to step in, she finally began to understand how much of a burden she was to everyone.

"Please…" She whispered, hands shaking as she grasped Hiro's shoulder, "Please… don't hate me…"

Don't hate me…

…

"What are you talking about?"

Ema brought her head up, eyes meeting Ruby's as the young leader knelt down beside her.

Ruby gave the girl a soft smile, "Why would we hate you?"

Ema looked at everyone, confused, as they all moved closer to her, Yang even resting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Weiss was the only one who did not move from where she stood, arms crossed, with only a neutral expression on her face.

Ema could not hold eye contact with anyone, and resigned for looking at the ground in front of her and Hiro, "I've only been here one day and have already had to be saved by everyone because I was weak. I couldn't face what had happened and tried to run away, and only managed to hurt others." She placed her free hand softly on Hiro's chest, "And it's not the first time someone has been hurt because of me. I only manage to cause other people pain, and I'm not strong enough to do anything about it. I'm just…" Ema clenched her eyes shut, holding back more tears, "just a problem for everyone…"

A cold silence filled the air, the mouse faunus had left everyone at a loss for words.

"You're wrong…"

Ema's eyes flew open at the sound of Hiro's voice as he gazed up at her with a tired expression, "Hiro!" "You're awake!" "Thank goodness." Ruby, Yang, and Blake shifted their attention to the red and brown haired boy as he finally awoke from his slumber.

"You're not a problem." He continued as best as he could, "Everyone needs a little help from time to time. I'm practically a walking example for that at this point." Hiro chuckled, "You remember back when we were fighting at Signal? If it weren't for you, I would have been skewered by that arrow during the first few seconds."

And he was right. She didn't know it then, but without an aura that first shot would have been fatal if she hadn't stepped in to block it.

"Back during initiation, Romulus came to my rescue too. I was seconds away from being Death Stalker food when he showed up and saved my life." Hiro had a small smile on his face as he spoke, Ema's eyes did not leave his as he did so.

"B-But you're hurt-"

"Because of my own decisions, Ema." Hiro cut her off, his response sending a small shock through the mouse faunus as her eyes widened.

"I asked if you trusted me when I borrowed Prototype for the first time, and you said yes. You might not remember it, but I do. So trust me when I say that you're not a problem."

"He's right." Yang leaned in, "You're not a problem to me either. In fact, I actually had a bit of fun fighting all those grimm." The blond grinned widely.

Ruby nodded, "And I'm super excited to have someone I can talk with about new weapon designs!".

Ema turned her head from side to side, seeing that everyone was agreeing with what was being said, including Weiss, if only just.

"You're not alone. We'll be there for you as much as you'll be there for us." Blake added.

Hiro nodded, and Ema gave a small shriek as the boy pulled himself up far enough to give her a reassuring hug, "That's what friends are for after all."

Friends. They were her friends.

Ema tried to choke back more tears as her sorrow was replaced by warm happiness, failing to stop herself from crying even then. After a moment she wrapped her arms around Hiro's back, burying her head in his shoulder as everyone pulled in for a group hug; even Weiss was brought in after some coaxing from Ruby.

They stayed like that for several minutes until Ema finally calmed down enough to release her teammate, still smiling at her.

"You think you can smile now?"

His question caused a small grin to find its way to Ema's face, he was really something else.

"That's better." he chuckled.

"What's going on here?"

All heads turned as a familiar face appeared from the forest, "R-Romulus!" Ema stuttered, "Are you-"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." He waved her off, "Just took out half a dozen Beowolves bare handed with no shirt on. I do it all the time, no worries."

From the look of the boy's tail, it appeared that he did enjoy ripping apart the grimm that were unfortunate enough to cross him. If one were to actually check his aura levels at the time, they would reveal how drained he really was.

"Aww," Yang stood and motioned both arms to the boy, "Do you want a hug too?"

Romulus's eyes narrowed, "Don't even think about it."

With the help of both Ema and Romulus, the injured Hiro was carefully lifted to his feet as the group began their journey back to Beacon, where a very unhappy Professor Goodwitch would be waiting for them with detention slips for each of them.

The trip back was filled with tales being shared between Romulus and team Ruby as they described their own fights against the grimm. Hiro, who had been unconscious during their arrival, listened with interest as Ruby explained how she had beheaded three grimm in one swing. (It was only two, but Ema didn't want to spoil the story)

Ema stayed at Hiro's left side, opposite Romulus, as the two of them helped their friend up the long stairway to Beacon. The girl would occasionally glance up at Hiro's face and share a smile with him when their eyes met. It was amazing how he seemed to emanate a comforting warmth, similar to how Prototype did when she was sad.

Maybe Beacon wouldn't be so bad after all.

=||-{([O])}-||=

A/N: As much time that I spent struggling to get this chapter written, I still can't help but love how it ended up being. I'm going to save all review replies for the next chapter because I am desperately needing some food and some sleep.

Weiss: You really couldn't eat while you finished this?

HiroNinja: Nope. Takes my attention away from the story.

Weiss: *Sigh*

HiroNinja: Big thanks to Flamewing98 and SakuraNights01 for looking this chapter over!

Weiss: Really, thank you. This chapter would have been a mess were it not for you two.

HiroNinja: Wow. No faith from the homefront.

Weiss: None whatsoever.

HiroNinja: Meh. Stay Gold everyone!

UPDATE:

I just saw the most recent episode of RWBY about an hour ago(V3 Ep11). Watch it if you haven't. If you have, stay strong.

(Goes to cry self to sleep.)