The shadowy image stood in front of Pyrrha, and she looked at it curiously. She wasn't sure how long she had been standing there, it might have been a minute, or maybe a year. Time, that which had always been a torrential river rushing along and pushing her forward, had lost its hold on her. She raised her hand in front of her and looked at it. She knew it would take time for her to lift that arm, but she hadn't the faintest how long it had taken. Everything here seemed still, unmoving, and untouched by the ages.

She looked back towards the silhouette, a vague outline set in a grey backdrop. It hadn't moved the entire time she had been there, waiting patiently for something. But it was waiting in a place that had no time, so Pyrrha thought it might be waiting forever. It was short, and stood on four legs, and as she looked at it, it seemed to become more clear. She could see now that it clearly resembled a dog, though the shape was still indistinct, almost watery against the shadowy world behind it.

It sat down on its haunches as Pyrrha looked at it, and it tilted its head at her. It seemed to be expecting something, but Pyrrha could not tell what. In this shadowy, indistinct world, she was not sure of anything. It was as though her mind, normally sharp and clear, was cloudy and airy, Pyrrha had always liked dogs, and this one seemed perfectly amicable, so she knelt on one knee and patted the side of her leg, beaconing it to come. It remained unmoved, however, simply gazing at her in response. A moment later, or maybe longer, for she could not tell, Pyrrha stood.

As she stood, the dog's ears perked up. The dog fascinated Pyrrha, being the only other thing that apparently existed here. She took a step towards it, and the dog stood back up, like a loyal companion patiently awaiting the return of its master. Pyrrha took another step towards it, seeing the ground beneath her feet become less distinct as she approached the dog. She was only a few steps away from it when its eyes darted over her shoulder, and it gave a soft bark of warning. Pyrrha turned to see what the dog was looking at, gasping at the sight she beheld.

Flames, shooting as high as the tallest trees were devouring the shadowy world, burning brightly in the void. They were still far from her, but even at a distance, Pyrrha could feel the heat and intensity of the flames. They leapt and shot to and fro, dancing and weaving in an intricate show of chaos and energy. She watched as they sprung forth from the non-existent ground, consuming the peaceful world where she had once stood.

Pyrrha instinctually shied away from the fire, somehow knowing that those flames were pain. She looked at the dog over her shoulder, seeing that it had turned away from her, looking at her over its own shoulder. Their gazes met, and the dog nodded its head towards the void in front of her that was untouched by the flames, almost as if telling her to follow it.

She looked back at the fire, now only a few paces from where she was standing. They would be painful, but the flames were also a change in this unmoving world, and she knew that if she followed that dog, it would never change again. The fire had stopped creeping forward, as though waiting for Pyrrha, calling to her to leap into its burning embrace. She looked at the dog once more, and it bowed its head. It turned away and trotted into the murky shadows.

Pyrrha turned back to the burning flames, flickering wildly in front of her. She took a step towards them, and they rocketed towards the sky in anticipation, matching the leap of her heart into her throat. Pyrrha's heart was beating wildly now, almost as if she was in the middle of a vicious combat. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

Her eyes opened, and she charged headfirst into the fire.

She awoke with a gasp, her back arching violently as she sucked in a heavy breath as though she had just been saved from drowning. The world around her was bright and white, as she sucked in air as though it was the first time she had breathed in years. She felt something squeeze her hand, and Pyrrha's entire body tensed as she whipped towards her side, eyes searching for whoever had touched her. She saw a well muscled man with shaggy blond hair wearing a hoodie under a chest plate and holding her hand gingerly.

It was Jaune.

Pyrrha relaxed immediately as she recognized him, feeling the roaring pulse in her ears calm to a dull thudding. She kept her eyes fixed on his ocean blue ones as she forced her breathing to slow to a normal rate and she felt her mind come back into control after the wild, uncontrollable panic that had gripped her as she woke. It had been a foreign and strange feeling, something she had never felt before. It was almost as if Pyrrha had just outrun the most terrifying Grimm in the world, and her instincts were on high alert.

She squeezed his hand and smiled.

"Hey Pyrrha," He said with a thin smile, and she could see the worry and relief fresh in his eyes. "How ya feeling?"

Pyrrha was unsure how to answer the question. She felt like she had been beaten down by fifty Deathstalkers, her entire body aching and every muscle complaining at even the slightest movement. There was also a fatigue that penetrated right to her bones, and Pyrrha wanted to sleep for a month. On top of all of that, she was famished. However, when she looked at Jaune, the soreness seemed to ease and the lethargy lifted a little.

"I'm fine, thank you." She answered politely, but she meant it. All of the pain she was feeling right now was temporary, and it would all fade in time.

/

Ruby closed the door behind her, leaving Jaune alone with his partner. Team RWBY made their way out of the hospital wing. Yang hadn't spoken a word since she had returned with the foreign woman, who had herself disappeared almost immediately, and the entire group walked in tense silence. The second they were outside, Yang stormed off, away from the group.

"I should go after her." Blake said, turning to Ruby for permission. Ruby nodded, and Blake jogged after her partner.

"So," Ruby turned to Weiss. "Any idea who in dust that was?" She asked the question, referencing the mysterious woman who had shown up with Blake and Yang in tow. Ruby and Weiss had seen the trio walking briskly through Beacon, and Blake had motioned for them to follow. She and Weiss had fallen into step behind the crimson clad woman. Ruby had followed along curiously as they made their way to the medical wing, and the woman had, with Yang's direction, made her way to Pyrrha's room. Outside the room, the woman, Raven Blake had called her, had handed Yang two vials of clear dust. She had told Yang to get Pyrrha to ingest it, then walked briskly away. There was a faint scarlet glow around the corner, and when Ruby had gone to investigate, she had found the woman missing.

"I've got a sneaking suspicion that Yang does." Weiss commented.

"Yeah," Ruby responded hollowly, her mind thinking about her sister. She had hardly ever seen Yang like that. Angry Yang was normally much more... Destructive, but the way Yang was right now seemed much closer to the way that Ruby felt whenever she thought of her mother. "I get the feeling its going to be an interesting couple weeks."

"More than you know." Weiss added slyly, and Ruby eyed her partner carefully. Something seemed off about her. She was wearing the same white dress, her hair was done the same way and she still had Myrtenaester at her side, but...

"You're smiling." She stated suspiciously.

"So?" Weiss asked, the smile evaporating as she looked at Ruby accusatorially. "I'm not allowed to smile?"

"You're always allowed to smile, but you never do. I can count the number of times I've seen you smile with my fingers."

"Uh!" Weiss exclaimed. "You cannot!"

"Okay," Ruby said, grinning with the challenge, thinking for a moment. Her smile, however, faded. "Fine, you actually smile more than that, but my point is you don't smile a lot, and you were. So, Weiss Schnee, what happened?" Ruby pointed her finger at Weiss' face, who crossed her arms over her chest and looked away haughtily.

"Hmph!" Came the indignant response. Ruby studied her partner closely, thinking about it. There were only a handful of things that could make Weiss smile. Puppies, overly organized events, winning fights, good grades and-

"Neptune," Ruby said, almost smiling to herself. Of course it was Neptune. Weiss immediately began blushing and Ruby fist pumped in celebration. She had nailed it!

"Fine, yeah." Weiss said, suddenly shyer, tucking a strand of stray hair back into its neat position behind her ear.

"Knew it!" Ruby practically squealed. "What did he do?" Ruby waited until Weiss opened her mouth to speak, before interrupting her. "Did he get you flowers?" Weiss gave her a glare, then opened her mouth to speak. "Or cake? Or Cookies? Cookies would be great." Weiss gave her a icy cold stare, and Ruby finally relented. Over the years, Ruby had become adept at bugging Weiss, and she took joy in breaking Weiss of her very structured world.

"No, you annoying girl." Weiss' voice was cold, but not unkind. "He asked if I would be his girlfriend." Ruby looked at her dumbfounded.

"Um, haven't you two been together for, like, two years now?" She inquired, completely confused.

"No, well I certainly had... Feelings for him. And I think he did for me, but we had never talked about it. So until now, there was nothing really there."

Ruby stopped walking, just staring at Weiss. A moment later, the laughter bubbled out of her throat and Ruby let out a loud guffaw. She started giggling relentlessly, and she could feel her stomach muscles tightening up as she laughed at Weiss.

"Weiss!" She exclaimed, trying to catch breaths between laughter. "You're impossible!"

"Excuse yourself." Weiss demanded.

"You don't need to put titles on these things all the time!" Ruby explained. Weiss was so funny sometimes. She was smart, Ruby would never deny that, but when it came to dealing with other people, all the politics and attention as a child had made it so Weiss would never trust anything that wasn't practically carved into stone. So it was natural, Ruby supposed, that Weiss would only acknowledge the relationship when there was a title on it.

"You could at least congratulate me." Weiss griped.

"That's great!" Ruby said, beginning to walk again. "Honestly, I'm glad. Half because now we don't all have to pretend like there's nothing official there when there totally was."

"If only we could get Pyrrha and Jaune on the same page." Weiss joked with a smile, and Ruby began laughing again.

/

"You're not dead!" Nora shouted excitedly as she threw the door open, her arms open wide as though she was going to dive in for a hug. She doubled over though, pain flashing across her face, and Jaune saw Ren immediately lay his hands on the girl's sides. Ren hugged her as Nora recovered slightly.

Jaune smiled sadly. He was glad that Nora's optimism had remained undiminished by her brush with death, but it bothered him that his teammate had been injured so badly. It bothered him more that half his team had been hurt.

"Not this time." Pyrrha answered cheerfully, though her voice came out weakly.

"Good!" Nora cheered as she walked carefully towards them, Ren supporting her the entire way.

"I certainly hope so." Pyrrha's voice bubbled as she joked.

"I think we're all glad you're alright." Jaune added, only hinting at the relief he felt. He had tried his best to stay calm in the past few hours since Pyrrha woke up, but when her eyes had opened, his heart had leapt and started racing, drumming along like the hooves of a horse.

He had wanted to hug her, kiss her, hold her and scream to whatever gods there were in thanks, but he had done none of that. He had smiled at her, squeezed her hand, and done his best to stay collected. He had found himself doing that a lot more lately; hiding the way he really felt in favour of what he thought would be best for his teammates. Despite this though, Jaune could hardly deny the excited energy that shot through his system every time he looked into her bright, shinning, lively, emerald eyes, and Jaune was so happy just to see her alive.

The past few days had been hell.

Jaune had moved away from her side only once, to see Nora when she came out of surgery. Other than that, he had sat beside her, hardly able to move with the crippling pit in his stomach growing wider every day, consuming everything he felt until there was nothing but an empty, hollow feeling wrapping itself around his mind, constricting it until only one thought could squeeze its helpless way into his consciousness, running through it over and over again.

What if she never wakes up?

The thought had terrified him. He couldn't imagine a world without Pyrrha in it. He couldn't even begin to fathom what it would be like to wake up in his bed and look over at a vacant bed, knowing who would normally be resting there. He had tried not to think about it, but the thoughts had invaded his mind, filling it with nightmarish visions of the worst world that Jaune could imagine. He thought about going up to the roof without her, not having her by his side in class, never getting to see her smile again, never talking to her deep into the night when one of them couldn't sleep.

And he had never felt so alone as when he looked down at her soft, pale features and imagined a world without Pyrrha.

Not when he was a child; a social pariah that hardly anyone ever talked to. Not when he went to school for the first time and couldn't bring himself to talk to any other student. Worse than the years of friendless solitude that Jaune had lived through. At least then he had his family around, his sisters, his father and his mother, to comfort him. No matter how bad it had gotten, they would make him smile. But he couldn't imagine waking up in a world where Pyrrha never had. He didn't know if having a family, or even the friends he had now, would be enough to relieve the dull, throbbing ache that had twisted its way into his stomach.

And then she woke up, and the world took on colour once more.

"Jaune?" Hearing his name, Jaune snapped out of his reverie, looking around to see who had spoken. Ren was looking at him impassively, as Ren always was.

"Yeah?" He asked, shaking the thoughts from his mind.

"Nora and I are going back to the dorm so she can lay down, and to go make some food. Do you want to come?"

"You guys just got here though." Jaune said, frowning in surprise, looking down at his scroll. "Oh," He muttered as he realized what time it was.

"We'll save you something then!" Nora said, bobbing up and down on her heels. Jaune laughed a little.

"When's the last time you saved any of Ren's food?"

"Good point!" Nora beamed. "Guess I'll just have to eat your share too then." She pursued her lips for a moment, pressing her index finger against them. "And Pyrrha's too."

"Or we could just make as many servings as there are people eating." Ren suggested with the faintest hint of mock irritation. Nora looked at him, and she seemed genuinely surprised.

"Why would we ever do that?" She asked, utterly confused. Ren just smiled and started making his way to the door though.

"Come on Nora, let's get going. You shouldn't be on your feet for too long yet."

Nora hummed as she skipped after her partner, before Ren reached out and hooked his arm through hers, forcing her to stop hopping. Nora didn't seem to mind though, pressing against Ren as the two exited.

"You seemed quite lost in thought there, fearless leader." Pyrrha's voice caught Jaune's attention and he turned towards his partner.

"Nah," He lied, trying not to let it show. "Just figured I'd let Nora do the talking. She has some missed time to make up for from when she was in surgery."

"Jaune," Pyrrha's voice was not unking, but it held a note of warning, and he sighed.

"Yeah, I guess I've just had a few things on my mind." He admitted, locking eyes with his partner. He had always found Pyrrha's gaze to be transfixing, breathtaking, but above all, comforting.

"I hope I didn't cause you too much stress." She joked halfheartedly. Jaune squeaked his stool a bit closer to the bedside table and leaned on it so he was beside Pyrrha.

"Might be too soon for those jokes." Jaune sighed, looking at his partner. They sat in silence for a moment, Jaune trying to organize his thoughts. He took a deep breath, then released it before opening his mouth to speak. "I'm sorry," He whispered softly.

There was a brief pause, and Jaune couldn't bring himself to meet her gaze.

"What?" Pyrrha asked, and Jaune could hear genuine confusion in her voice.

"I'm sorry," He repeated, this time a bit louder. "I'm your leader, and its my job to make sure that you're alright. I should have stoppe-"

"There's nothing you could have done." Pyrrha's voice was gentle, but stern. "We were being held at gunpoint, and all she did was touch my shoulder. There was no way you could have known." Jaune lowered his gaze to the floor, fixating upon a cross-section in the brilliant white linoleum tiles.

"I shouldn't have let it go that far anyhow. I should have done something to stop us from getting captured, I should have realized that Neo was gone." He balled his fists up, and he could feel his nails digging into his skin.

When he had first come to Beacon, he knew he was going to be the weakest link in the school. He had faked his way in for dust's sake. He had done his best, but it had always been his friends bailing him out, giving him a hand, and helping him. Pyrrha had done the most, tutoring him through lessons and teaching him how to fight outside of class. Jaune had done his part too; he had frequently gone on runs and worked out to get in shape, but without the help of those around him, he would never have made it through first year. By the time third year rolled around, Jaune could hold his own against the Grimm and most of the other students, but he still wasn't good enough. He was a leader, and that meant that he had to be more attentive, more thoughtful and more assured than the others. Jaune's job was to make sure that no matter how bad things got, his team was able to walk away with their chins up.

And he hadn't been able to do that.

"Jaune, we're still students. None of us were ready for what happened, and it caught us all off guard." Pyrrha reached her hand across the short distance separating them and took his hand, squeezing it gently.

"Maybe, but I promise that from now on I won't let anything happen to my team. I don't care what it takes." He spoke softly, but with resolution. Half of his team had been hurt on the last mission, and he would fight tooth and nail to make sure no harm befell his friends next time. Because if there was one thing that Jaune knew, it was that this wasn't over.

There would be a next time, and next time he wouldn't fail.

/

Okay, so Pyrrha waking up took a lot longer than I though it would, but she's awake now! And that means that we can get back on track to the next exciting event! Raven will show up periodically throughout the story, but her path is almost parallel to RWBY and JNPR's. Oh, and because it was asked, she got Gambol Shroud because she was following team RWBY, and the person who put her up to it will be revealed in short order. Other than that, all the slow stuff should be done for the moment, and we can get on to the next encounter with Cinder's little group of criminals. Hope you're enjoying! Any comments, tips, criticisms or advice are more than welcome, and always help me improve my writing! Thanks for reading!

-Unjax