Chapter 38

This was a mess, there was no other way to say it.

Jaune hadn't known what to expect when he'd been dragged to Earth, but being flung into battle against an unending horde of Grimm hadn't been at the top of his list. Admittedly, it was still somewhere in the top ten, but this was ridiculous. Grimm continued to clash against the Fae battle line, and the Fae tore them apart with their magics, killing Grimm in droves. Lightning crackled across the sky, thunder boomed against his ears, and rain poured in sheets. Molly was still doing battle with Cinder with no end in sight.

The Grimm had forced their way underground in an attempt to circumnavigate the Fae and get at the injured, further adding to the chaos. That was where RNJR had come in, acting as a wall of stone, throwing back wave after wave of Grimm. That was difficult enough with all four of them in place and the support of, what was his name, Marcone? It was difficult enough with Marcone's forces providing fire support.

But now they were a teammate down; Ruby was torn away from their group by one of the largest Beringel that Jaune had ever seen (not that he had seen many), and there was nothing they could do to help. The Grimm were still coming, and the rain was making the ground slick beneath their feet. Ruby was on her own for the moment.

Lightning flashed in the corner of Jaune's vision, and he flinched. A Beowolf lunged at him, crashing into his raised shield. He planted his feet on the slippery ground, and slid backwards several feet before coming to a stop. With a thrust of his sword, Jaune impaled the Beowolf below its ribs, eliciting a roar of furious rage. It pushed its weight down on him, an attempt to crush him with its superior strength.

Jaune ripped Crocea Mors from the Beowolf's side and jumped back. It stumbled and fell, nearly crashing to the ground. Jaune didn't give it time to recover and thrust the tip of his sword through its skull. The Grimm's eyes went out, and it evaporated in the rain.

His sword and shield were up and ready in an instant for the next wave of Grimm to descend on him, but they never came. For a brief moment, the gunfire had ceased and the torrent of Grimm had shrunk to a trickle.

Ren and Nora still stood together, Nora bashed Grimm aside with her hammer, her expression one of manic glee. Ren ghosted behind her, quickly tearing apart any Grimm that tried to flank her. Together they were unstoppable and pushing the waning horde back into the tunnels they'd sprung from.

It couldn't be helped, Jaune grinned and jogged back to them. Together they could plug the leak and focus on closing this portal for good. Things seemed to be turning around faster than he'd expected. That was reason enough for him to worry. Nothing ever went that smoothly for Jaune or his team; there were always complications.

He had just caught up with Ren and Nora, when said complication reared its ugly head.

There was a flash of grey and the crack of a shotgun. What felt like a sledgehammer hit Jaune across the back, knocking him face first to the ground in a spray of rainwater. He quickly pushed himself back up, wiping wet hair out of his face, and was up in time to see Mercury lunging at Ren.

Mercury's surprise attack on Jaune was more than enough to alert Ren of his presence, and he was able to whirl around in time to meet him head on. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Ren dodged under Mercury's kick, catching the heel of his boot on his knife and knocking him off balance. Mercury kicked out with his other leg, catching Ren under the chin, forcing him back.

Ren smoothly rolled away, keeping low to the ground, while Mercury casually backflipped away and landed with his arms and folded and still smirking at him, "Two on two, sounds like fair odds. What do you think?" he asked.

"I think your math is off," Ren scowled.

"Is it?" Mercury continued smirking.

There was a flash of orange and pink, Nora and Neo crashed between the two. Neo, her twin colored hair wet and flat against her head, leaped off of Nora's stomach and landed smoothly opposite Ren and to Mercury's right. She unfolded her parasol and held it overhead to block the rain, and smiled sweetly at Nora, her eyes flashing with an inhuman malice. Ren helped Nora up and the two stood side by side, facing Mercury and Neo respectively.

Jaune moved to help them when he realized something. Cinder hadn't had two people with her at the start of the fight, she'd had three. So if Mercury and Neo were fighting them, then where was their third member? Where was Emerald?

A chill of terror ran down Jaune's spine and he whirled towards the campground. It had fallen disturbingly quiet far too quickly. Maybe the Grimm had broken off their assault on the camp, and maybe Jaune was about to sprout wings and go soaring into the air. Grimm didn't stop attacking until they were dead, or unless a greater source of negative emotion drew them away. The implications gave rise to a shudder he couldn't suppress.

What could he do though? Mercury and Neo wouldn't let them leave, that was for sure. The Grimm were still surging out from their tunnels, in a trickle for now, but it wouldn't last forever. If Jaune stayed, then the Grimm would have a clear shot at the encampment, and if his hunch was right, Emerald would have free reign of the place, and she'd be alone with Pyrrha. But if he left, that would leave Nora and Ren to handle Mercury and Neo alone.

"Ren, the third one isn't here!" Jaune yelled.

Ren didn't take his eyes off Mercury, but gave a nod, "Okay. Check on the injured. Nora and I can buy you time."

Jaune smiled fiercely and nodded once, "Right. Be careful!"

He didn't wait for Ren to respond, turning on his heel and sprinting for the encampment as fast as his legs could carry him. He didn't get more than ten feet before he heard shouting and gunfire, followed by screams of surprise and pain. Fear wrapped its cold tendrils around his heart, and squeezed tight.

"Hold on Pyrrha, I'm coming!"

Gard was a strong, skilled, and determined woman who had given her all from the moment they'd arrived at the airport. The battle had been all too happy to take what it wanted from her, and though the woman didn't back down, she was in poor condition for more combat, especially close quarters. Her fight with Emerald was over before it had barely even begun.

An attempt at suppressive fire proved useless, the green haired girl had vanished from Gard's sight before she could squeeze off a round from the pistol she carried. Emerald had materialized by her side a moment later, slamming her knee into ribs that were already fractured. Bone snapped, and fiery pain ignited along her flank, sucking the air from her lungs. Gard stumbled to one knee, ground her teeth together in a fierce snarl, and surged back to her feet towards her attacker.

The sheer defiance caught Emerald off guard, but she was in far better shape than her opponent. Maybe if Gard had been at full strength, she could have prevailed. Wounded and battered as she was, it was pathetically easy for Emerald to avoid the lunge and seize Gard's right arm, twisting hard until bone snapped, followed rapidly with a brutally swift and powerful kick that almost pulverized Gard's ankle. Gard bit back most of a howl of agony and tensed against the pain, attempting to still move, still fight. Then her body went slack and she slumped to the ground, another victim amongst the other dozen or so that Emerald had left in her wake.

The few Grimm that had followed her, Creeps mostly, were keeping the rest of the guards busy while Emerald had zeroed in on her target. The screaming, yelling, and gunfire covered any chance of Pyrrha screaming for help, and the guards around her had joined Gard in unconsciousness. She'd made an effort to disable them with broken bones and knockout blows; Mercury had told her about the surprise resurrection of the men he killed, and she had no desire to relive his experience. All that was left now, was putting a bullet between the eyes of the young woman lying on the cot where Gard had been watching over her.

Pyrrha, unsurprisingly, did not remain passive though. When Emerald turned to face the redhead, she found her struggling for her weapons placed just out of reach, movements sluggish but determined. There were a lot of things that Emerald could say about Pyrrha, but the top of that list would be that the girl just didn't know when to give up. She would have admired it, if it weren't so pathetic.

Emerald slowly walked up to Pyrrha's sword and shield and kicked them away. She planted a foot on Pyrrha's outstretched arm and aimed both of her revolvers between those bright green eyes. Pyrrha stared up at them, no, past them, locking her eyes with Emerald's in a gesture of defiance. That little spark still burned, even through the pain and exhaustion that was struggling to drag Pyrrha back into unconsciousness.

"It isn't personal," Emerald assured her, though the words felt hollow in her mouth. "We just can't let any more loose ends survive this."

Pyrrha didn't give Emerald the satisfaction of a response, and continued to stare. Something dry and bitter tasted in the girl's mouth as she tightened her grip on her revolvers. Her hand was shaking a little and she was finding it hard to look past her eyes. It shouldn't be this hard, especially after Pyrrha had managed to hurt Cinder. The boss had made it very clear that if all else failed, she didn't want Pyrrha to leave this battlefield alive.

Emerald took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and pulled the trigger.

A sudden weight shoved her aside and her shot went wide. Emerald quickly gathered her senses even as she hit the ground, and managed to roll to her feet in one fluid motion, opening fire on her attacker as she did. Bullets ricocheted off of the brilliant white of Jaune's shield with barely a scratch, until the revolvers clicked empty.

She quickly reloaded, but didn't bother wasting her bullets on trying to get through what was obviously a bullet proof shield. Instead she smirked and put a hand on her hip, "Really? You, of all people? I feel insulted."

Jaune lowered his shield until her was peering over its edge at her. His eyes glared hard at Emerald with no amusement in them. When he spoke, his voice was deadly serious, and deadly calm, "As long as I'm here, you people will never hurt Pyrrha again."

"What, because you're going to stop us?" Emerald laughed, "I saw you fight in the tournament. You're a joke, kid, a loser. The only reason you and your team got as far as it did is because of her. Without her, you're nothing."

The young man's tone of voice didn't change, "Maybe. But I'm still not backing down."

"Jaune…" Pyrrha said. Her voice was tired, and filled with worry. He glanced back at her for a split second. It was all Emerald needed.

She rushed towards Jaune and vanished into thin air. Jaune only had time to blink in surprise before an unseen force knocked his legs out from under him and he went down hard face first. He lashed out a foot at random, hoping to catch his opponent unawares, and was rewarded with a surprised yelp from Emerald as she stumbled.

Jaune rushed back to his feet, weapons in hand, and slashed at the air above and around Pyrrha to no avail. Emerald seemingly vanished into thin air as far as he was concerned, and how was he supposed to hit something he couldn't see?

Another invisible blow struck him across the back of his knees, sending him falling. Jaune slashed wildly with Crocea Mors, and felt something grab his forearm and twist, flinging him onto his back. A heavy object slammed into his face, blocked only by the faint shimmering of his Aura. He realized it was Emerald's fist, and that she had pinned him to the ground to chip away at his Aura.

Jaune snarled and smashed his head forward, meeting Emeralds fist head on. She growled in surprise and the weight on his chest vanished. There was a faint scuffling sound, and then silence again, save for the gunfire from Marcone's men. Jaune got back to his feet again and readied his shield, keeping close to Pyrrha.

"Jaune..." She repeated, with more urgency in her voice.

"Don't worry Pyrrha," he assured her, "I won't let you down this time."

"Jaune!" she yelled this time.

He blinked and looked back at her. Pyrrha had propped herself up on one arm, and there was an expression of annoyance on her face. In her free hand, she held her tiara out to him, dangling on her fingers.

He arched a brow at her.

"Take it…" she wheezed. "It was… enchanted. You'll be able to see her if you… if you wear it."

Jaune stared at the tiara, unconvinced, "Um… are you sure? And do I have to wear it?"

"Jaune.." she hissed through clenched teeth.

He winced, "Right, sorry." and grabbed her tiara.

That was when Emerald tackled Jaune again, her fingers darting for the tiara in his hands. It was a predictable move, and Jaune had seen it coming a mile away. His grip on the tiara was like iron, and he had already put his shield between most of his body and from where he had thought Emerald would come from. With a growl and a shove, he shoved her back and put the tiara on.

Everything grew clearer, and Emerald materialized several feet away, crouched low on the ground with an angry sneer on her face. It flickered into amusement and she said, "Is court in session now, m'lady?"

"I thought you were here to fight?" Jaune shot back, ignoring the barb. He fell back into a relaxed position, his grip on his sword firm.

The sneer returned to Emerald's face, and she lunged without another word. She darted side to side, circling Jaune in an attempt to get around his defenses. If he let his guard down for a second, Jaune knew that the girl wouldn't hesitate to slip through them to get at Pyrrha. As long as he kept his defenses strong though, he could buy time until someone could help him.

Jaune held no illusions about his chances in a fight against Emerald; while he was definitely a better fighter than when he had arrived at Beacon, the fact was that he was still behind most other Huntsmen. The only thing he was good at, was hiding behind his shield and absorbing hits until someone else from his team could handle whatever was attacking him. It worked against Grimm and in the Vytal Festival, but he wasn't sure if it would work against Emerald.

Without warning, Emerald juked right, then darted left towards Jaune's sword arm, opening fire as she ran. He barely got his shield between himself and the rounds, and they harmlessly bounced off its surface. Emerald fell into a slide, and skid past Jaune. She caught one of her sickles on his leg and ripped it out from under him.

Jaune landed face first in the dirt and scrambled onto his back with his shield raised. Emerald slammed her sickles against it in a shower of sparks. She immediately fell back at Jaune's resistance and darted away.

Jaune got back to his feet, glared at her, and hefted his shield, "That all you got?"

That was how it unfolded. Emerald would try and dart past Jaune's defenses, cutting and firing as she went, only for Jaune to repel her. He simply refused to budge, and it was this solid immobility that was getting to Emerald. Without her Semblance, Jaune could make their fight into a real chore. He couldn't catch Emerald, he was nowhere near fast enough, but he could slow her down until help arrived.

Her usual tactics wouldn't work on him, and she knew it. Odds were good, it was only a matter of time before Emerald would try something crazy and desperate in an attempt to catch Jaune off guard. But until she did, all he had to do was keep himself in front of Pyrrha and in Emerald's way, and wait.

He didn't have to wait long.

Jaune shoved Emerald away again, slashing in a diagonal angle that would've laid the girl out if it hit. Emerald spun on her feet backwards, the swords tip missing her skin by inches, and flung her sickle chains forward as she came to a stop. They lashed out, wrapping tight around Jaune's arm. He was dragged to the ground with a surprised yell and Emerald darted past him towards Pyrrha.

Without looking, Jaune kicked his leg out and caught the girls ankle, sending her to the pavement. Unlike Jaune, she recovered faster, rolling with the fall to her feet and bringing both sickles down on Pyrrha.

Or rather, on Pyrrha's shield.

During their scuffle, Pyrrha hadn't remained idle. Though her injury was far from minor, Pyrrha had grabbed her weapons and prepared herself in case Emerald managed to sneak past Jaune. She was in no condition to fight off another Aura-user, but holding a shield she could manage.

Emerald let out a cry of frustration and stomped on Pyrrha's shield, pinning it to her chest. Pyrrha cried out in pain as Emerald crushed her beneath her own shield. Emerald may not possess the incredible strength that some did, but she was still far stronger than a normal human was. Without her Aura, Pyrrha was helpless to do anything but watch as Emerald pointed the sickle, now in its revolver form, between her eyes.

"I said stay away from her!" Jaune bellowed. On instinct, Emerald spun to face Jaune, while jumping backwards at the same time. She knew how far she needed to be to avoid the blade of his sword, and was already preparing her counter attack as she moved.

The massive sword Jaune now held in his hands though, was nearly two feet longer than the weapon Emerald had seen him wielding, and slammed into her gut with a force that would've shattered concrete. Emerald gasped for air as it was driven out of her, and a brilliant green light flared around her. She was flung away from Pyrrha to the ground, sucking in lungfuls of air even as she struggled to her feet.

Jaune didn't give her time to recover and went after her with murder in his eyes. He brought the longsword down on Emerald, and it was only her instincts that saved her. She scrambled out of the way of the blow by mere inches; it shattered the tarmac and a column of wind buffeted Emerald, which knocked her off her unbalanced feet.

Again and again, Jaune went after Emerald, swinging his sword with such strength that the air around them was whipped into a ferocious torrent. It took all Emerald had just to avoid his attacks, he was swinging faster and harder than he ever had when he had wielded his sword and shield, and gave her no time to recover.

Emerald dodged another horizontal swing that staggered her, and was shocked to see Jaune easily whip his sword overhead and bring it down in a great crashing attack that would likely split her in two if it hit. She managed, barely, to cross her sickles overhead, catching the blade at the cross and crying out at the sheer power behind the blow. She fell to one knee as Jaune pushed all his weight behind the blade, slowly overpowering Emerald every second.

Then the weight was gone, he was reeling back for another overhead blow. There was no time for her to dodge, Emerald prepared to catch the attack again. She didn't catch the faint smile on Jaune's face as he feinted the downward strike. Emeralds sickles clashed together in preparation overhead for the blow that never came.

Jaune waited until she had secured her guard, a gesture that took all of half a second, then slammed the hilt of his sword on top of Emerald's skull. It was a clumsy maneuver, and she never would have fallen for it earlier, but that was why Jaune had been so relentless. By giving Emerald no chance to recover, he'd worn her nerves down until he was able to get another clean hit on her.

The blow filled Emeralds vision with stars and she fell backwards, scrambling away from where she thought Jaune was. Her feet found purchase and she staggered up, still backing away from him as fast as she could. As her vision cleared, she was able to see Jaune sprint at her and slash at her with his sword one last time.

Her Aura ignited in brilliant jade fire for the briefest of moments, then shattered under the blow. Fire erupted across Emeralds stomach and she went sprawling across the ground, blood trickling from the long and thin cut Jaune had left across her midsection. She didn't get back up again.

Jaune's shoulders heaved and sweat poured down his face in rivers. His hands were shaking and the sword almost fell from his grip. He planted it in the ground and fell to one knee, wiping the sweat from his eyes. If Emerald had caught his feint, he would've been done. It had taken all his strength to attack as ferociously as he had with the sword, and he was still unfamiliar with the weight. Sheer luck and surprise had given him victory that day, nothing more.

"Jaune?"

The young man looked over his shoulder at Pyrrha. She was up on one elbow again, her eyes wide with surprise, pride, and a mixture of other smoldering emotions he couldn't quite make out. He gave her a weak smile and slowly got back to his feet.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Pyrrha blinked, "Am I? Yes, I'm… when could you do that with your sword?"

Jaune looked at his blade where one edge had been dyed a dark red. He used the edge of his jacket to clean his blade, and shrugged, "This old thing?" He squeezed a button on the guard, and the blade's edges retracted. His shield sprang to life a moment later and he pulled Crocea Mor from where it had rested in the center of it.

Pyrrha's eyes went wide, "I had no idea your sword could get so big! And you've learned so many new tricks since last time."

He shrugged, trying not to smile, "I figured I needed to practice more. And I could always make it bigger, I just couldn't use it before. I'm not very good with it yet though."

She flashed him a smile of her own,"There will be plenty of time to practice when this is all over,"

Emerald let out a pained groan, "Please… just kill me. I'd rather be dead than listen to you two try to flirt."

Jaune glared, he was sorely tempted to go over there and finish what he'd started. But cooler heads prevailed, when a pair of the mysterious gunmen that had been working with them approached their little warzone. It was only now that Jaune noticed the gunfire had died down during his fight with Emerald, and there wasn't a Grimm in sight.

The two men, both very tall and very muscular and clad in black body armor, advanced on them. They both held large blocky machine guns, with the barrels pointed down at the moment. Jaune never completely took his eye off Emerald, but turned to face the men as they arrived.

One of them broke off and went to Gard's side, while the other walked straight up to Jaune and pointed at Emerald, "She's one of those huntresses?" he asked. His tone reminded Jaune of the Atleasian soldiers, all serious and gruff.

"Yeah, she is. Do you have something we can restrain her with?" Jaune asked.

The man gestured back towards the rest of the similarly armed and armored men, "We've got chains and heavy duty cuffs. That work?"

Jaune nodded, "That works. Do you need help or…?"

If he could help he would, otherwise he wanted to be by Pyrrha's side to make sure she was okay. Had he tried to leave before the men talked to them, Pyrrha would have insisted he talked to them first before checking on her, but he was aching to see her.

"You're fine kid," the man replied, looking at Emerald as he spoke. The girl had propped herself up on one elbow and used her other arm to cover her stomach. It wasn't bleeding badly, but she definitely wasn't going anywhere at the moment.

"We'll keep double guards on her. No tricks to get past us." he continued.

No sooner had the words left his mouth, then the ground shuddered and an explosion shook the air. Jaune whirled back towards the outside, where the rain continued to pour. Steam filled the air, clouding any sight of the battlefield. And of Nora or Ren.

"Oh no…" Jaune was already moving, only stopping for a moment by Pyrrha's side to see if she would be okay.

"I'll be fine. Go to the others." she insisted.

He nodded and sprinted back out into the rain, sword and shield in hand. The steam parted for him and he readied himself for the fight of his life as a pair of figures came into view, turning towards him with weapons ready. He had handled Emerald, but only barely, and if he had to fight Mercury and Neo together, he was finished. But he'd give them the fight of their lives in the meantime.

Ren and Nora looked relieved when Jaune could finally see their faces. Without a word, Ren pointed behind them at the source of the chaos that had dragged him from the triage area. Jaune looked, and he couldn't hide his shock.

The earth had seemed to rise and swallow Mercury, dragging him into a lumpy cocoon of asphalt that covered everything but his nose and mouth so he could breath. Next to him, Neo had been frozen mid jump, ice holding her three feet in the air. Her hair was spread wide in a crazed fan of pinks and browns, and the ice sizzled as the rain drummed against it. Only her face remained untouched by the frozen water.

And standing to the side, grinning like a madman while leaning on his staff, was Harry Dresden and the remaining twenty or so Wardens.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," he said. "We were a little busy."

A/N: I live! After barely surviving my first quarter in university, I finally got this godforsaken chapter finished! It was shorter than I had initially planned, but I find I write smaller chapters better than longer page turners. At the very least, they're easier to write.

Anyway, before I go, I have a minor announcement to make. Once the main story of Remnant is finished, all that will be left is the epilogue. And the epilogue will take some time to finish as a result of something big. I call it 'Project: Editorial Mandate'. Basically, I'm well aware that Remnant is far from a perfect story and has some serious flaws here and there. Editorial Mandate is going to involve me going through every chapter and editing it. In some cases, even rewriting the entire damn thing. So that will take some time to complete. Obviously that won't come until after the main story, but that's going to take some serious time regardless. When the epilogue does go up though, make sure to read through the story again, as there's going to be many changes that create a more flowing and consistent narrative.

I hope.

Anyway, its great to be back, please let me know what you thought of the chapter, short as it is, in the reviews, and I'll see y'all next time!