"Pyrrha and I will take first watch." Jaune stated, and Pyrrha looked at her leader, surprised. She wasn't opposed to the idea, in fact if she was going to keep watch she would prefer it be with Jaune, but over the past four days the convention had been that one member of each team would take watch.

"You okay with that Pyrrha?" Ruby said, looking at her. Pyrrha didn't miss the deep weariness in those silver eyes. "I can take first watch if you want." The younger girl offered.

"I'm more than happy to take the watch." Pyrrha replied with a soft smile. Everyone else seemed too tired to keep first watch, including Jaune who had heavy shadows under his eyes

The past four days since they had come to Forever Fall had been incredibly arduous. They had run into so many Grimm packs that Pyrrha had lost count, and because of the incident with the Goliath, they now had almost twice the distance to cover. They were heading towards their destination in a large loop, and between the frequent battles, long treks and sparse food, the whole group was beginning to fatigue. Being in peak physical shape meant that they weren't affected as badly as they could have been, but nonetheless she could feel the effects of their labour wearing her down.

She looked towards the makeshift lean-to as team RWBY flopped onto their sleeping pads, not bothering to get into their sleeping bags. Ren helped Nora get settled, before himself sliding into bed for the night. Pyrrha looked at Nora with a bit of worry. She had never seen the energetic girl look so downtrodden, and it did not bode well that even the normally uncontainable girl was so tired.

"Sorry about putting you on the spot like that, Pyrrha." Jaune said from behind her, crouching down to sit next to the fire.

"It's fine Jaune, everyone really needs their rest." She walked over to sit next to him, holding her hands up to let the warmth of the fire seep into her weary limbs.

"Yeah, they really do. I also wanted to talk to you." Pyrrha looked at her partner and leader, seeing the dark expression on his face. Jaune was just as tired as the others, but he seemed to be carrying another burden on his shoulders.

"What is it?"

"I've just been thinking about what's happening here. I don't think seeing that jet was a coincidence."

"What do you mean?"

"The reports on Forever Fall have been showing an increasing trend in Grimm activity. Something's drawing them here, and I think it has to do with the dust that was floating out of that plane. I don't know why or how, but I think someone is drawing the Grimm here. Someone wants to gather them."

"Why would anybody want to do that?" Pyrrha asked, her mind working to try and understand. She had never heard of anybody being able to corral the Grimm, or even wanting to.

"I don't know, but whatever's happening here isn't normal. I think something bad is going to happen, and I think it's got something to do with that old scouting outpost. That plane was flying towards it, and I think that's where all the Grimm are headed."

"And that's where we have to go." Jaune nodded at her in affirmation.

"I'm just worried about all of us. Look at them." Jaune nodded towards where their party was sleeping. "They're all so tired, if we run into something we're not prepared for at that outpost, I don't know what will happen." Pyrrha nodded in agreement. The encounters they had had with the Grimm so far had all been relatively small and easy enough to deal with that, even as the group had fatigued, there was no real danger. If someone had managed to draw the Grimm to the outpost, there could be hundreds of the beasts there. Worse was the possibility that there was a rogue group in the outpost. If that were true, then they might have to fight some other trained huntsmen or huntresses who had not spent the past week trekking through Grimm infested forest. From team RWBY's descriptions of their encounters with Torchwick, that was not something they were up to doing in their current state.

"What should we do?" She asked Jaune, understanding his worry. "We have to get to the outpost to meet up with the dust plane."

"I'm still working on that." He said, his lanky blonde hair falling in front of his face. Pyrrha was overcome with compassion at the troubled look on his face, and reached up and rested her hand on his shoulder.

"There are seven other people here Jaune, we'll think of something. It's not all on you." He looked at her and smiled.

"Thanks Pyrrha." He studied her for a moment, and Pyrrha had to fight not to let her face flush at his intense study of her features. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"I'm fine," Pyrrha said removing her hand from his shoulder. It wasn't the whole truth, but she was doing well enough given the circumstances. Not to mention she didn't want to further burden Jaune with trivial troubles such as her well being.

"Come on Pyrrha, what's wrong?" Jaune laid his hand on top of hers, and Pyrrha felt an electric spark shoot through her body. She looked into Jaune's eyes, studying the deep, sky blue coloring of them. She had looked into them countless times before, and every time was met with the same dilemma. She felt her hurt flutter as he stroked her hand gently to comfort her, and Pyrrha lowered her eyes. How could she tell him the way she felt when she knew he wouldn't feel the same. She didn't want to trouble him with having to deal with the way she felt, especially not out here.

"It's nothing," She answered. It was a white lie, to shield him from the troubles that her affection would give him. It was better off that he didn't know. Beside her Jaune sighed.

"It's not, but if you don't want to talk about it that's okay." She didn't miss the note of hurt in his voice though. "We've been partners for the past three and a half years Pyrrha, you know you can tell me something if you need to."

Pyrrha looked back up to meet Jaune's eyes. She searched them, looking for something more, but just found the compassion and friendship that had been there for so long. It hurt her more than she would ever admit, and she looked away. There were some things that she couldn't tell him. When he had first arrived, Jaune had relentlessly pursued Weiss. Once he had given up his crush on her, Pyrrha had hoped that maybe she would be the recipient of some similar advances, but it had never happened.

"I know," She said, guilt crushing her stomach as she lied. She closed her eyes briefly, but other than that didn't allow herself to show anything. She felt one of Jaune's arms wrap around her shoulders and her eyes snapped open in surprise.

"Hey, it's alright." He said soothingly, and Pyrrha let herself relax against him. Jaune was one of the few people that could pick up on her minute displays of emotion. She had learned how to control her outward appearance at a very young age given all the attention she got for her successes in tournaments, but nonetheless, Jaune always seemed to know exactly what she was thinking.

"Thanks Jaune." She said, smiling softly at him. She wanted to tell him, to find some way to make him see her the way he had seen Weiss in their first year at Beacon, but she couldn't do anything. Trying to force it would just push Jaune away, and having him as a friend and partner was better than not having him at all. She sighed and pushed away from him.

They sat next to one another, their legs brushing slightly. It was comfortable. They chatted idly for the next few hours, and as always, Jaune made her laugh on more than one occasion. Despite the fact that she felt tired to her very bones, spending time with Jaune was enjoyable and made her forget how hard they had been working the past few days. Her heart lifted more the later into the night they talked, and she caught herself looking at her leader in admiration more than a few times. Eventually though, they both grew tired and decided it was time to rouse the next watch. Pyrrha stood and stretched, loosening up her joints that had grown stiff from several hours of sitting. She offered her hand to Jaune, who accepted it graciously, and pulled him to his feet. She let her fingers linger against his for a moment longer before dropping his hand.

They walked over to the lean-to, and Pyrrha knelt down next to Yang. She shook the golden haired huntress in training's shoulder, and was met with a loud growl of protest. Yang rolled over, and Pyrrha had to shake her friend three more times before the blonde finally woke up.

"The forest had better be on fire." She said, her eyes drooping.

"It's your turn to take watch Yang." Pyrrha said, smiling at her friend.

"Right," She answered, then rolled back over. Pyrrha laughed lightly, then realized that Yang had actually fallen asleep again.

It took about ten minutes, but Pyrrha finally managed to coax Yang off her bed roll, sending her to sit with Blake who had woken up right away when Jaune had shaken her. Pyrrha walked to the other side of the lean-to where team JNPR had taken up residence. She got into the bedroll she had set up earlier in the evening and pulled her sleeping bag up around her. Jaune had already tucked himself in, but had waited for her to be ready before going to sleep.

"You think they'll fall asleep?" Jaune asked as Pyrrha settled onto her roll.

"Yang might," Pyrrha said with a slight laugh. "But Blake should keep her in line."

"Yeah I guess." Jaune looked at her for a second and opened his mouth as though he was going to say more, then closed it again. She looked at him curiously until finally he spoke. "Um, goodnight Pyrrha."

"Goodnight Jaune." She answered as he rolled over. She looked at him for a moment more before relaxing and drifting off to sleep. Given how tired she was, it didn't take long for her to pass out.

/

The world came into blurry focus, and Pyrrha rubbed her eyes. When she removed her hands again, everything was much clearer, and she saw Jaune kneeling over top of her. His blond locks that were normally well kept were tousled and dirty. He had a few smudges of dirt on his face, and Pyrrha presumed that it was from rolling over onto the ground in the middle of the night.

"Time to wake up, come on." He said, smiling at her as she grabbed his offered hand and he lifted her up. Pyrrha looked around to see Ren waking Nora up and everyone else but Yang already awake. "Time for a mission meeting." Jaune said, and Pyrrha nodded. She rolled up her sleeping bag and travel roll and stuffed them into her small backpack. All the others did the same, and finally Weiss tried to wake Yang up. Yang responded a bit faster in the morning than she had last night, and only a few minutes after waking up, Pyrrha was standing in a circle with her friends around the fire pit.

"So Jaune and I were talking this morning," Ruby started, "And the incident with the Goliath has us worried. It was following that hover jet we saw, and we think it was heading towards the scouting outpost."

"So, that massive Grimm that could easily trample us without a second thought is at our extraction point?" Yang asked, one eyebrow raised and her eyes half lidded.

"Yep." Ruby nodded to emphasize her point.

"Great! Sounds like a plan!" Yang said cheerily in mock enthusiasm.

"Probably along with whoever lured it there and any other Grimm that were following that plane." Jaune added.

"So there's no way we can go there, right?" Weiss said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"We may not have a choice." Pyrrha offered, looking at Jaune and remembering their conversation last night. "We won't be able to get a signal out here to contact Beacon, and our only ride home will be going there."

"That sounds great." Yang said sarcastically.

"What would you have us do?" Ren asked the two leaders, who were standing side by side.

"Um, well, uh... You see... Jaune, you get to tell them." Ruby said sheepishly.

"Really? They're gonna kill me though." Jaune whined.

"Spit it out vomit-boy." Yang winked at him.

"Really? That was like, more than three years ago."

"Let's have it." Weiss said, her voice as cold as usual. Jaune slumped his shoulders in defeat and took a deep breath.

"Alright, we need to get to just outside the scouting outpost by the end of today. We'll be able to rest for a full day if we get there tonight, and we'll have a chance to see what we're getting into before going in the day after tomorrow. The jet is suppos-"

Whack.

Someone had thrown a bag at Jaune's head.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"You're asking us to go ten miles in one day. In case you haven't noticed, Jaune, I'm wearing heels. Do you have any idea what that's like?" Weiss said, her voice rising in pitch.

"Lady stilts hurt." Ruby admitted.

"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side." Jaune said.

"He's right though." Blake cut in before anyone threw anything else. "We don't really know what's happening, and whatever is going on in the forest right now is not normal. We need to be ready."

"I agree." Ren said.

"Looks like you'll have to suck it up, princess." Yang said to Weiss, smirking a bit. "Style comes at a sacrifice." Weiss rolled her eyes at that. Pyrrha looked around the group. Everyone was still tired to be sure, but they could likely get through the day without too much stress. The extra time the following day for rest would certainly be beneficial if it came down to a fight at the outpost.

"We should get going though." Jaune said, tossing the nap sack that had hit him in the face back to her. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we get there, the sooner we get to sleep and the sooner the Ice Queen gets to rest her feet."

"Would you please stop calling me that?" The heiress practically demanded, and her teammates gave her a pointed look. She made an exasperated sound and started to walk off. "Well then, let's go."

Pyrrha walked after Weiss and soon everyone else followed. Before they had moved more than a few hundred paces from their camp though, Blake asked everyone to stop. Pyrrha watched as her friend closed her eyes in concentration. She saw the faunus' ears twitch slightly, and the girl's eyes shot open.

"Grimm," She said definitively.

"Where?" Ruby asked, her scythe already extended.

"All around us, and there's a lot of them."

Blake furtively drew her blade, and the others followed her lead. Jaune looked around for a moment, then pointed at the tree branches sprawling overtop of them. Pyrrha nodded at him, understanding her partner immediately. She bounced three steps to the nearest tree trunk and jumped up it, digging her boot's toe into the tree and leaping off of it to catch a branch. In one fluid motion, she pulled herself up onto the branch and crouched low there. Catching on to the plan, Blake followed suit as did Ruby. They were the quietest in the group. The three of them crept along the branches, leaping from one to another, slowly making their way away from the rest of their teammates. Pyrrha scanned the forest ahead and below them until she saw them.

It was easily the largest pack of Beowolves she had seen in her life. The creatures were sprinting through the woods, their bodies pressed together as they pressed against one another trying to make their way through. It was a living river, a seething mass of Grimm. Pyrrha would have guessed at least a hundred of them, probably more. Pyrrha waited patiently, her body buzzing with her combat instincts. Finally Pyrrha looked back at Ruby and Blake, who were perched side by side, and nodded back in the direction they had come. The three of them made their way back as stealthily as they could. They took every precaution they could to not alert the massive pack of Beowolves, and it took them a few minutes for them to get back to the spot where the rest of the party was waiting. They dropped down, all three silent as could be, next to their teammates.

"What is it?" Jaune asked, his brow furrowed in worry.

"Boatload of wolves." Ruby said, the slightest edge of nervousness in her voice.

"Ren!" Nora squealed excitedly. "This is exactly like my dream! We can get their pelts and start a Grimm rug business!" The orange haired huntress in training had started bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Nora, Grimm disintegrate when they die. We can't make pelts. We talked about this." Ren said deadpan, though his lips twitched into a ghost of a smile.

"How many?" Jaune asked, directing his question at Pyrrha.

"At least a hundred." She replied militantly. The group was silent for a moment as everyone processed the new information.

"We can't fight that many," Weiss said. "Not by ourselves."

"Neither can anything else." Ruby said with a devilish grin.

"Oh no you don't." Weiss started when she saw the expression on her partner's face. "Whatever you're thinking do not say it. That's the kind of look that you had when you got me stuck on the back of a Nevermore."

"No one can see us coming if they're focused on a hundred Beowolves instead." Jaune said, and Pyrrha began to understand what was happening. She smiled to herself as everyone started to realize what the two leaders were suggesting.

"So... Who feels like chasing a massive pack of Grimm that would rip us to shreds if they realized we were behind them?" Yang asked the group, sounding quite chipper.

"You're all crazy." Weiss exclaimed, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

"Please Jaune," Nora said with a sparkle in her eye. "Let us go. Please, please, please, pleas-"

"Okay, okay Nora. We're going. It's going to be the safest way to travel today anyhow."

Pyrrha giggled as she saw the look of horror and shock on Weiss' face. She wondered if her friend regretted wearing high heeled boots on the mission now, not that Pyrrha herself was wearing anything more practical.

"Alright, then let's get going." Ruby said, tightening the straps of her backpack. Pyrrha followed the younger woman's lead, making sure that her pack was secure. It was going to be a long day of hard running, and she didn't want to have to stop to adjust her backpack. Weiss was the only one who hesitated to follow Ruby's lead, but as everyone got into line to jog out she let out a hmph and tightened her backpack. Pyrrha followed Jaune and ran beside Blake as they jogged into the woods.

Before long, Pyrrha was losing herself in the rhythm of the run, feeling her feet pounding against the ground. She could feel her heart pounding, sending blood roaring through her body, and her lungs burning ever so slightly as she breathed in and out. The steady cadence of her feet against the ground was like the beat of a drum, keeping her on pace. Around her, she could hear the other members of the party breathing hard, but Pyrrha was simply rejoicing in the physical effort. Running was one of her favorite activities, and the constant tempo of it reminded her of the even pacing of combat in a way.

After an hour or so, the sweat started to bead up on her brow and fall into her eyes, stinging them. She wiped it off, and kept moving, everyone around her doing the same. The party tore through the trees, dashing to keep pace with the pack of Beowolves ahead of them. Fortunately, likely thanks to Jaune and Ruby's decision, they didn't encounter any Grimm along their way. Though Pyrrha was enjoying herself, she knew that running at this pace was tiring to both herself and the others, and if they had to fight a large group of Grimm at the moment, they would be hard pressed to come out uninjured. The group continued on uninterrupted until the sun reached its peak, high above them, and Ruby slowed down. The group stopped, and Jaune undid his bag, tossing out a couple packs of dehydrated meat and some canned peaches. Pyrrha caught hers deftly, cracking the package of jerky. She took a bite of the stringy meat, enjoying the salty taste. She felt Ren pull something from her bag behind her, and he handed her that water bottle she had strapped into the bag earlier in the morning. She returned the favor, than moved to get Nora's for her so none of them had to remove their packs.

Pyrrha looked towards their destination, noticing how much closer they were than when they had left. Given their current pace, they should arrive within a few hundred meters of it by mid-afternoon. The party rested for about five more minutes before starting off again. Though they were all tired, the eight of them knew that their best chance of success lied with trailing those Beowolves, so they pushed themselves. The heat from the sun pounded onto the back of Pyrrha's neck, and she could feel the heat radiating off her skin. She was working hard to be sure, but she wasn't about to complain, and she knew the others weren't going to either. They were forced to stop once more to rest and rehydrate, but other than that, they kept moving the whole time. True to form, they stopped about a quarter of a mile from the structure.

Not much further beyond them the forest thinned out into a meadow that rose onto a hill upon which the scouting outpost stood. The base of the tower was the same size as that of Beacon, and Pyrrha was certain that at some point, it must have truly been a sight to behold. It was made of old, mossy stone, and most of the walls had collapsed. There were stones strewn all around the clearing surrounding the hill from the fallen walls, and everything had been overgrown by a thin layer of ivy. At the front of the tower, Pyrrha could see one of two doors that must have stretched twelve feet high, though it's other half was missing. Pyrrha could see a few bits of the higher floors, but most of them were in disrepair and ruin.

And around the base of the structure were more Grimm that Pyrrha had ever seen in one place before. There were Creeps, Beowolves and Ursas all snapping at one another, but also Tajitus and even a few Deathstalkers. Finally, Pyrrha's eyes rested on the Goliath they had seen a few days ago, milling back and forth in front of the tower. So many Grimm gathered in one place bothered Pyrrha, and she wasn't sure how they would get past all of them.

The loud roaring of an engine filled the air, and Pyrrha looked up to see a dust plane approaching from the right end of the clearing. It flew over to on top of the tower before descending through the ruins and disappearing. Underground, perhaps. She thought to herself. A few moments later, a crowd of Grimm rushed through the trees into the awaiting mass of their brethren.

Someone tapped her shoulder, and Pyrrha turned to see Blake nodding in the opposite direction. The rest of the group was already making their way around. Pyrrha followed quietly, and they kept moving until they moved from flat ground to an incline. They made their way halfway up the foothill they had come to before Ruby and Jaune stopped.

"Alright, let's set up camp here for tonight. We'll do some scouting tomorrow and we'll rest up."

Everyone broke off to do their daily duties. Yang and Nora gathered firewood, Ren got all his cooking supplies ready, Blake started setting up a shelter and Pyrrha accompanied Weiss as she set up a few warning glyphs. Setting up camp was one of the more humbling parts of Pyrrha's day. Having dedicated so much of her life to training, she had never learned many other skills. She may have been one of the strongest fighters of the group, but she was not particularly talented at the other duties required to survive in the wilderness. She could accomplish everything she needed to, such as preparing food and sanitizing water, but she couldn't make a feast out of dehydrated food like Ren could. Once Weiss was satisfied that the glyphs would warn her if there was an intruder, they made their way back to their modest camp. Ren and Weiss volunteered for first watch.

"They're gonna be real chatty." Yang said, and Pyrrha smiled lightly. Ren and Weiss were two of the quieter members of their party, and she could imagine that most of their watch would take place in silence.

She sat down on her bed roll as Yang got the fire going. Pyrrha watched the flames lick the bottom of the metal pot Ren was boiling water in. After a few minutes, the water boiled and Ren broke open several packets of their rations. Pyrrha's mouth watered as she breathed in the scent of whatever it was that Ren was making, and before long plates were being passed around with noodles, some beans and tomato sauce. It wasn't as good as his pancakes, but Pyrrha thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

"Great grub!" Ruby said between mouthfuls.

"Thank you, Ren." Pyrrha added. Everyone else chimed in, complimenting their chef. After dinner Pyrrha got ready for bed. Though she had always enjoyed running, she was still very tired from their long journey. So she tucked herself into her warm sleeping bag next to Jaune. He smiled at her as he got into bed, and she smiled back. She wanted to say something more, just to talk to him, but nothing came to mind and she didn't want to delay his sleep. She had noticed that the bags under his eyes had been growing while they were in the forest, so she just leaned back and watched the rosy petals fall around her.

"Beautiful," Jaune said from beside her, and Pyrrha's stomach jumped nervously.

"Pardon?" She said politely, sure Jaune was not in fact saying what she thought he was.

"The forest. It's beautiful. It's too bad we're only ever here on missions." He said, and Pyrrha found herself nodding in agreement. "We should come here sometime just for fun." He said.

"With all the Grimm?" She asked. It was far too dangerous to come into Forever Fall just to sightsee.

"Yeah, maybe not." He laughed slightly. "G'night Pyrrha."

"Goodnight Jaune," She replied. Pyrrha put her head on her pillow, thinking about what her leader had said. She would love to come to the forest with him, just the two of them, but that wasn't likely to happen. She sighed and rolled over, and before long exhaustion took her and she fell asleep.

/

This pretty much concludes the introduction portion of the story, and next chapter will be the real jumping off point of the story! From now on, character point of view will be dictated by whoever is going to be the important character(s) in the chapter, and the story should be picking up. I'm going to try and throw up another chapter before the weekend is over, as I'm very busy next week and will be unable to get anything out before thurs/fri. Anyways, I hope everyone's enjoying! I know it's been a bit of a slow start, but I can assure you that I have a lot of fun and excitement in store for the two teams. As per usual, I appreciate any and all criticism, thoughts, ideas or just straight up comments!

-Unjax