Happy Easter Monday everyone! Sorry this is late, I'll explain why at the end of the chapter.

"War is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory"

George Clemenceau

Chapter Fourteen—Regroup

Jaune took several deep, calming breaths, steadying his racing heartbeat. His disobedient hand hovered in front of him but refused to move any closer to Jaune's target, its instincts of self-preservation overcoming Jaune's own commands.

He didn't want to do this. By god he didn't want to do this. He wanted to fake his death, run away to Mistral, dig a nuclear bunker there and bury himself away from this nightmare, never to look back. That's what his instincts were screaming at him to do.

Unfortunately, his conscience had other ideas.

It was only right that he attempted to do this. He was the leader. This was his responsibility. And goodness knew he had skirted that for long enough as it was. This had to be done. And even though he wished he could be anywhere expect in front of this suffocating tent and what Jaune knew lay on the inside, he knew he could do this. At least, he told himself he could.

He hoped he could.

Without letting himself a moment more to realise how screwed he was, Jaune gritted his teeth and, with a mental effort that was truly remarkable, reached out and snatched the entrance flap to Naomi's tent. Even as his body internally screeched, he flung the bit of fabric wide open and almost walked face first into the person exiting the tent.

A blue and green eye blinked at Jaune. Jaune's cobalt eyes blinked back. "Errr…" he began lamely.

Cat's eyes flashed with restrained fury as she realised who she had almost face palmed against, her standard emotion for Jaune burning away the shock that had occupied them nanoseconds before. "What do you want?" she snapped.

"Is… is Naomi in there?" he stuttered, then winced. It was her tent. Where else would she be? Cat's raised eyebrow said as much.

"Alright, enough of this bullshit," muttered Cat. She fixed her venomous gaze on Jaune. "We need to talk."

Crap. Crap, crap, crap. This was worse. This was so much worse than sorting out Naomi. At least Naomi wasn't liable to rip Jaune's throat out if he said the wrong thing to her.

"Can, can this… wait?" Jaune stuttered, daring to hope. "It's just that I was kind of hoping, to, uh, talk to, um, Naomi…" Jaune's pitiful excuses shrivelled up to a crisp and died a painful death under Cat's burning eyes. Her glare was answer enough to Jaune's question.

"We need to talk," she repeated, any and all argument flattened beneath her stubborn determination. Jaune's will crumbled, and he meekly followed Cat into the woods surrounding their camp. Jaune couldn't help but draw a comparison between this and being led to his execution.

When they'd travelled a fair distance away, and Cat stilled showed no signs of stopping, Jaune dared to ask, "Cat, where are we go—?"

"Shut up," she ordered, and Jaune obliged.

When they were quite a way into the forest (and out of shouting range of the camp, Jaune noted) Cat finally halted. Jaune winced, waiting for the ire that would inevitably turn on him. He wasn't disappointed.

"Just what the fuck do you think you're doing?" Cat demanded, spinning on Jaune. Jaune cowered under the weight of sheer loathing that bore down on him from that gaze. "Everything you've done up to this point has been stupid and unleaderlike. You have the crazy idea to take on an Atlas base and as a central part of your plan, you send a kid straight into the most dangerous place you could have."

"I… Buzz wanted t—"

"By sheer dumb luck, your plan works," continued to rant Cat, ignoring Jaune's protests, "but surprise, surprise, shit hits the fan, and because you're so busy rushing at a swarm of Grimm, just begging to be killed, Naomi has to go after you, and then Buzz after her. And because of that, Buzz dies." Jaune shuddered.

"I didn't mean for that to ha—"

"But then, instead of making sure your section is ok, you leave the rest of us to pick up the pieces you left. Nuke wouldn't have even eaten anything if I hadn't been forcing her to. But you didn't visit her once! Not a single bloody time, in four days. Did you even consider what Buzz's death would do to her? Did you even check to see if she was coping?"

"I know, I should ha—"

"But no! You decide you have it so much worse than the rest of us and go into mopey mode. You left us without a leader when we needed one most."

"Cat, I'm sor—"

"You think you're the only one who was affected by what happened? Well guess what, dipshit: we all lost Buzz that day, not just you. We all wanted to give up, but you know what? We couldn't. You couldn't! But you did anyway an—"

"I know!" shouted Jaune. Now it was Cat's turn to take an involuntary step back, shocked that Jaune had dared to interrupt her. A part of him was equally horrified, and desperately tried to reign Jaune in, but Jaune stuffed it into a deep corner of himself. Cat was right to be mad, and he wanted her to know that he agreed with her. That he didn't think what he'd done had been acceptable. Or even forgivable. "I know what I did was wrong. I know I should have been there for you guys. I know that I should have been the one to look after Naomi. I'm sorry, Cat. I wasn't a good leader."

Cat stood stunned for a full second, before disdain washed over her features again. "Sorry doesn't help that," she scorned.

"I know," Jaune sighed. "I know. I can't go back and change what I did, or rather what I didn't do. But I'm going to start trying to fix things from now on. That's what I was trying to do at Naomi's tent."

"Some things aren't so easy to fix," Cat sneered, "like a dead sibling." Jaune flinched. Every word from her mouth was like venom spat into his face. "Do you have any idea what that's done to Nuke? She doesn't want to eat anything. She can barely walk. She just sits in her tent and stares. Nothing I do will make her talk. Nothing I do seems to help. She's not the same. But you apparently don't even give enough of a shit about that to find out for yourself."

"Is that why you hated me these last few days?"

"Partially," was all she said. Jaune looked at her. Really looked at her, desperate to find what was really the source of her distain for him. Trying to read Cat was like trying to look into a locked and chained metal box; Cat had completely sealed her feelings away from the outside. Any other person might have given up and assumed that the hatred Cat was showing was the only thing to be found, but Jaune knew better. He'd grown up with seven sisters and knew that rarely what was being shown on the front was the end of the story.

So he looked into the only place Cat couldn't close off completely, the keyhole to the impenetrable container she'd placed herself in: her eyes. He followed them down into the depths of those blazing colours: the stormy, untameable ocean of her right, roaring and roiling in an uncontrollable azure fury as she looked at Jaune. There was resentment there. Her left eye burnt no less passionately, but it was with the harshness of an oak, the immovability of the grass covered earth; an emerald mountain judging Jaune with the surety of a force of nature. Blame was the dominant emotion there.

But still he looked deeper, down and down and down into the pits of her onyx pupils, until finally, he found what he was looking for; the place that even Cat probably thought was buried too deep beneath her rage to be found. There he saw… sadness. And helplessness. Cat was putting up a furious front to hide those emotions behind. Why hadn't he seen this before?

"You really cared about Buzz, didn't you?" Cat stiffened immediately, and Jaune knew he'd guessed correctly.

Cat pursed her lips, and for a moment looked like she would refuse to say anything else. But then she seemed to deflate, and some shadow of pained sorrow fell across her face. "I was an only child growing up," she mumbled. "Nuke's like the sister I never had. And that made Buzz my brother by extension."

"Do you blame me for getting him killed?" Cat's smouldering eyes were answer enough. "Cat… I'm sorry—"

"Don't say that," she snapped, some of the fire coming back into her voice, "like it's all alright. Like this can just be brushed off with a simple apology. It can't. It can't just be forgiven and forgotten, no matter how much you want that to be the case."

"You're wrong," Jaune whispered sadly. "I will never, never pretend that day didn't happen," he vowed. "I will never try to forget my failure. I will take that memory to the grave. And I promise you, I will never let that happen again." Although Jaune spoke of Buzz's death, he meant so much more than that. Pushing away Pyrrha when she'd tried to train him because of his pride. Never again. Hurting his team by throwing a jar of sap at them because of his fear. Never again. Rushing off to face the Grimm alone, heedless of how his squad would react because of his stupidity. Never again. Jaune Arc had made more mistakes as a leader than anyone in the section. Each of those had threatened to tear him apart. Each of those had made him stronger. Now wasn't the time for wishing those mistakes hadn't happened.

Now was the time to learn from them.

Cat was watching him with an odd expression, but at least some of her loathing seemed to have seeped away at last. "You asked me what I thought I was doing," he said. "I'm going to start making amends for failing to be a good leader. I'm going to fix this section, starting with Naomi, if you'll let me."

"It might already be too late for her," muttered Cat miserably.

"I'm not ready to give up on her just yet," Jaune told her sternly. "Are you?" Cat's eyes were ablaze with defiance as she looked at him. "Good," he nodded. "Now I need to do something I should have done a long time ago." Jaune turned away from Cat and began to head back to the camp towards Naomi's tent.

"About bloody time," he heard Cat mutter behind him.

"Naomi?" asked Jaune as he ducked into her tent. The inside had a stale, musky smell to it, and the interior was dimly lit, a few shafts of sunlight piercing through holes in the canvas the only source of light. It was so dark in fact, that he didn't notice Naomi immediately. However, as he glanced around, his eyes soon fell onto spiky, blue hair. It was matted with dirt and sweat and hung limply over her left eye. Naomi was sitting on the floor, her knees pulled against her chest, her arms wrapped protectively around them, and she rocked back and forth slightly. She looked… lost. But her visible brown eye still flicked to Jaune when he entered.

Good. At least she was responsive.

"Naomi," he said softly, as if trying to coo a frightened animal. Naomi made no response. "Naomi, talk to me," Jaune begged. Naomi just continued to rock. What did Jaune even say to her? What could he possibly do that would make the pain of losing Buzz any less? "Naomi… I'm sorry," was all he could say. "I'm sorry for what happened to Buzz. He was my friend too. One of the first I had in this army. I wish… I wish it didn't go the way it did." The words were rushing out of Jaune's mouth now, an unceasing torrent of pleads and confessions. "Buzz didn't deserve what happened to him. He deserved to get home more than any of us. He was always so positive. So optimistic. So young. He… I should have been the one to die there. That's what a leader should do, isn't it? He should be the one to protect his team. But I didn't. I wasn't able to get to him. I… I…" Jaune guttered off into silence. Naomi was still watching him, still rocking. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

This wasn't what Naomi wanted to hear, what she needed to hear. Wishful thinking wouldn't bring Buzz back. Jaune couldn't keep looking to the past. The time for that was gone.

"But… but Buzz did die. He died… to save you." Back and forth, back and forth. "Buzz gave up his life for you, Naomi. He loved you so much, he was willing to sacrifice himself to save your life." Back and forth, back and forth. "But what you're doing now, shutting down and giving up…" Back and forth, back and forth, "...You're spitting on his memory."

Naomi stopped rocking.

"Buzz wanted you to have life. He wanted you to survive and get home so bad, he didn't even mind if he died for it. But you're not even trying to get back to Vale. You've given up. You've made his sacrifice worthless. If you don't keep fighting… then Buzz died for nothing."

Silence. Naomi brown eye tracked Jaune without a word. Even in the darkness of the tent, Jaune could see it glistening with tears. But then that eye fell to the ground, and Naomi resumed rocking.

This was hopeless. "I'm sorry Naomi," whispered Jaune, turning to leave.

"It should have been me," a meek voice whispered behind Jaune, barely louder than a hiss of escaping breath. Jaune spun back to face Naomi. "I should have been the one to sacrifice myself to save Buzz. I'm the older one. I should have been the one to protect him, not the other way around…"

"I know Naomi, I know." Jaune remembered what Naomi had revealed to him the night before it all went to hell. How she had spent her whole life looking after her brother, keeping him safe. And then in the one moment where it had really mattered, Naomi had been unable to save him. The guilt of that must be tearing Naomi apart. "But Buzz no doubt knew that too. He knew you'd be willing to give your life for him, but he didn't want that. His last act was to give you life. And maybe… maybe to give us life too." Naomi rotated to look at him fully, her fringe finally falling away to reveal her second eye. "We can't do this without you Naomi," Jaune told her. "You're the smartest person here, and we'll need those brains if we want to figure out a plan to get out of here. If we want to survive.

"Buzz wanted to be useful to the team; that's why he volunteered to infiltrate the Atlas outpost. You must have figured that out, Naomi. Well Buzz's final act was the most useful thing he could have done: saving you.

"I can't bring Buzz back, and I'm sorry about that. But don't you see? You have to live. You have to get up and keep fighting. If not for yourself, then for Buzz. For what he'd want. Don't make his death be for nothing."

"How?" Naomi whispered, her eyes glimmering. "How can I go on without him?"

"I don't know," admitted Jaune. "But I do know one thing. I'll be there for you. And so will Cat. And probably all the others as well. And maybe… just maybe… we'll find a way through this. Together." He extended a hand to her. "Will you let me help you?"

Naomi stared long and hard at the palm in front of her. So long, in fact, that Jaune wasn't sure if she would move at all. But then slowly, hesitantly, she reached out and gripped his hand. Her fingers felt frail and weak, but Jaune held onto them tightly, lending her his strength as he hauled her to her feet, and led her out into the sunshine.

Later that morning, Jaune stalked through the camp, gathering his men. He found Bounty munching on a ration pack, Aiden on sentry, Phil cleaning Aeron Wasp, Finn resting in his tent and Terry standing guard outside Jaune's command tent. He told them all he wanted them in his tent in five minutes, where Cat and Naomi were already waiting, then headed inside himself.

Jaune waited for his squad to arrive, going over what he'd say to them. Things were bad, but not unsalvageable. They had so much work to do, but if they started now, they might just be able to see it through. Goodness knew when they'd be ambushed by another large force of Grimm again. They needed to do something before that happened.

Terry entered first, followed closely by Phil and Aiden. Bounty came next, grumbling that he was missing his breakfast, and last came Finn, though he didn't look too happy about it. Jaune waited another few moments, feeling his heart hammer against his chest. He'd never been very good at public speaking, and now that everyone was here his legs were converting to jelly and his bowels turning into water. But nonetheless, he stepped forward to address his men.

"Ok everyone, I called you here now because we need to talk," he began. "We need to figure out how we're going to get home. So far we've done nothing but walk and hope for the best. That clearly isn't working. If we get attacked again, by Grimm or Atlas, we won't stand a chance. I need suggestions on how we could get back to Vale."

Jaune paused for several seconds, looking to his men. They shuffled around awkwardly, kicking their feet and avoiding his eyes, but none of them came up with anything. That in itself was weird. Not that they didn't have any ideas, but that none of them, not even Bounty, had anything sarcastic or snarky to say. Something wasn't right.

Eventually, it was Finn who broke the silence. "I can't believe this," he muttered. "Fine then, if no one else is willing to say what needs to be said, I'll be the bad guy." He turned to Jaune and squared his shoulders. "What makes you think we even want you to be our leader anymore? What makes you think you deserve it after what happened? You messed up, Arc. Badly. Buzz died because of you—" Naomi flinched "—and since then you've done nothing to make it better. You can't just prance in here now calling yourself leader and ignore all that."

Jaune blinked, then looked around to the others. "You've all been thinking this?" Not a single set of eyes were brave enough to meet his. Even Phil stood shamefaced, so he'd clearly had his doubts at some point, even if he'd ultimately come to the conclusion that Jaune was still a good leader.

Jaune bowed his head and loosened a shaky breath. So that was why everyone was so awkward around him. He understood why, and in their situation he may have felt the same, but… it hurt. That so many of them doubted him. That deep down, even his friends thought he couldn't succeed.

"Guys, I… I'm asking you to believe in me. You voted me in as your leader. Now you need to trust me. Trust that I will do everything I can to get you all out of this. That I will get you all out of this. Trust that there is a way, and that we will find it."

"And Buzz?" asked Finn. "Did you get him out of this too?" Jaune closed his eyes quickly, masking the sudden liquid that rushed into them. No. He hadn't.

"Bullshit," came a feral growl from behind Finn. Jaune opened his eyes in surprise, blinking away the moisture. "Buzz died because of all of us," snarled Cat. She was on her feet in front of Jaune, facing the others, her body placed protectively between Jaune and Finn. Her gaze was furious, and she shot daggers at everyone in the tent. "I wanted to blame Jaune. I think a part of me still does, but deep down I think—no, I know—it's bullshit. We were all there. We could all have pulled Naomi back, or stopped Buzz from going after her, or moved sooner to get her back behind our line, or any number of other things which would have saved him. But we just sat there like fucking chickens, doing nothing. And you can give yourselves any number of bullshit reasons why you didn't react, but I for one know exactly why I didn't move until it was too late. Because I was terrified. Scared shitless. We were all cowards that day, and we all share the blame for that."

"Cat—"

"But you know what? I'm sick of being scared. I'm tired of feeling hopeless and pessimistic. I'm done with thinking I'll die out here, alone and abandoned. If I do go down, then I'm doing it swinging." She turned, facing Jaune, her eyes aflame with passion. "Tell me you'll get us home. Tell me you won't shut down again when we need you. Promise me that you'll do everything in your power to not let anyone else die out here."

"I promise," said Jaune, and he meant it.

"Good," nodded Cat, and it seemed to Jaune almost like some of the tension in her body eased at that moment, as if whatever dark thoughts she'd been caring on her shoulders had been lifted at the realisation that she didn't have to face them alone. "Then I trust you, Sergeant Arc." Cat turned to glare icicles at the other members of Beta section, as if daring them to contradict her assessment. None did.

"Me too," stated Phil instead, coming to stand beside Jaune with Cat. "I wouldn't want anyone else leading me."

"I… apologise for doubting you, Jaune," said Aiden, joining them. "I know you will do everything you can to save us. I will follow you to whatever end."

Now Naomi stood on unstable feet, and Cat rushed to support her. But Naomi's voice was steady as she said, "For Buzz."

Jaune looked around at his rapidly growing band of followers, and felt his chest swell with pride even as tears stung his eyes again. They were really willing to follow him. Even after he'd messed up, they were willing to give him another chance. Words couldn't describe the gratitude he felt at their commitment.

"Do… do you reckon they'll give us medals for this?" asked Terry hopefully. Jaune couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. "Well, uh, just cause… I figured if we survive this it might be a good thing to, uh, show my dad. Prove that I did it, you know," Terry mumbled, his face turning crimson.

"If we survive this, I reckon they'll give us all trophies," answered Jaune.

"Then count me in!" grinned Terry.

That left just Finn and Bounty. "What do you say, guys?"

Bounty leant back in his chair, pulling on his scraggly beard as he thought. "Eh, sure, why not," he eventually decided. "It can't be any worse than the alternative." He came over to join them, but Jaune noticed that he moved as far away from Cat as possible. Just another thing he'd have to deal with later.

"Finn?" Jaune asked. Finn said nothing for a few seconds. He pulled a hand through his dark hair and over his scratchy stubble. He seemed to consider them as they stood there around Jaune, no doubt noticing the hostility and the guardedness against him that even Jaune could feel. The others wouldn't welcome him. Jaune could see as much, and apparently so could Finn, for his face darkened, and his eyes became jaded. He opened his mouth to spit on Jaune's offer—

"Finnegan, please," whispered Aiden. "I would like you to come with us."

Finn stood, his mouth slightly ajar, before closing it with a snap. He stared long and hard at the wolf Faunus, eventually coming to a decision. "Fine," he rumbled. "I'll stick around."

Jaune sighed in relief. He'd done it. He'd convinced his section to trust in him once more. Now he just had to make good on his promise to Cat and get his team home. "Ok, guys. Here's the situation we're in…"

The squad remained quiet the whole time Jaune recounted the conversation he had had over the radio, and once he had finished, Aiden sat back and considered what he had heard.

"Wait, what?" demanded Cat. "The military is just leaving us to die? We don't even know where the fuck we are. How in hell are we going to get to that base?" That was Cat all right: ever the one to cut straight through the crap.

"That's what we're here to decide," explained Jaune. "We'll never be able to get there if we just walk and hope we'll stumble across something. We need a plan. So, any suggestions anyone?" Beta squad looked to each other questionably.

"I could, I mean, I might be able to make us a simple GPS system," offered Phil. "Probably. Maybe. If I had the right tools. Or the right materials. Which I don't."

"Real helpful, Lightning," remarked Cat.

"Why don't we just attack another Atlas base?" suggested Terry. "Maybe they'd have a map there."

"You want to attack a whole base for the sake of a single map?" scoffed Finn. "That's ridiculous."

"No, it's not," interjected Naomi, stirring from where she sat huddled in the corner. Finn blinked at her, surprise she was even talking, let alone defending Terry. "We won't survive a walk back, but we don't need to. What if we flew?" The others stared blankly at her for a moment, before realisation dawned on their faces.

"I don't get it," said Terry. Well maybe not on all of their faces.

"If we can't walk, we need another mode of transport," explained Naomi, her voice gaining strength as she continued. "Well what about an airship? A bullhead would undoubtedly include a GPS system as well, killing two Nevermore with one stone."

"That could work," mused Jaune.

"Except for one problem," interrupted Finn. "How do we find another base." No one had any answer to that. The last one they had found easily enough, thanks to the high density of bullheads that had been flying overhead. Alas, they had not seen an airship for days now, so that option was off the table. Aiden racked his brain silently, searching for a solution. If only there was a way to find out where Atlas was. Where their ships were flying, and where they were going. They needed more information before they could do anything else, but how could they get it?

"Maybe… maybe I could, I don't know, make something to help," offered Phillip. "I'm good at making stuff. Except, again, tools and materials…"

"You could dismantle the transmitter to get the materials you need," Terry encouraged. Phil stared at him aghast. Bounty chuckled—

And that's when it hit Aiden.

"The transmitter," he whispered. The others looked at him.

"The transmitter," he repeated, "that is the key. We took it from an Atlas outpost, did we not?" Jaune nodded. "Then surely it was tuned in to Atlas's frequency. So what is to stop us from retuning it back."

"Then we could intercept their signals and figure out where they are," finished Naomi. Aiden nodded.

"Err, one problem guys…" interjected Phil. "I, I don't remember what the original frequency was."

"I do," stated Cat. The others looked to her. "What? If I hadn't remembered which frequencies we'd already tried, Lightning would have been going around in circles forever."

"Then… then we can really do it," thrilled Terry. "We can really find out where they are."

"It will not be that simple," added Aiden, curbing Terry's excitement. "They are unlikely to give coordinates often for fear of being intercepted, and they may even use a code. But if we listen to them for long enough—"

"We can figure out their code," finished Naomi.

"And find out where a nearby ship is," nodded Aiden.

Aiden felt something tremble through the group at his words. Some shiver of excitement, of hope, rippling between them. They could really do it. There was a way. It was a small chance. Little more than a glimmer of light in their otherwise murky world, but where there was even a sliver of a chance that they could make it, there was hope. And hope, like a smallest spark on a pile of kindling, was reigniting the fight in each and every member of Beta section. Even Finnegan's chin was held high and his jaw set in determination.

"What are your orders, Sergeant Arc," asked Terry, turning back to their leader.

Jaune considered for a moment, before saying, "For now, listening in on Atlas should be the priority. We can camp here for a few days while we make that our focus."

"And the Grimm?" asked Finnegan.

"They're just as likely to stumble across our camp as they are to stumble across us while we're walking. At least this way we can dig in and get ready for a potential attack. Naomi and Phil, I'll put you guys in charge of listening in on the transmitter for now. The rest of us will start building some kind of perimeter."

"We're really doing this," breathed Cat. "We're really going to try to get home."

"Yes," Jaune answered, "we are."

Again, I apologise for releasing this chapter later than usual. I only just came back from a trip to Sweden yesterday where I had no electricity for a week, meaning I couldn't write any fanfiction. I got back and basically realised I had a half finished chapter which needed to be uploaded yesterday. Sleep's overrated anyway, right?

That actually brings me quite nicely onto something I need to tell you guys about. I am now counting down the days until my GCSEs, so I am scrambling to cram the entire three year syllabus of, like, ten subjects into my brain. Because of this (as much as I hate to admit it) my fanfiction may need to take a back seat to that. I don't want to do that, so I'm going to keep trying to release a chapter every fortnight as I have been doing, but this is your warning that that may not be possible for a couple of weeks. I'm sorry if that's a bummer to any of you, and it sucks for me too, but we'll see. I'd appreciate your patience during this time.